The Doctor, the Biohacker, and the Quest to Treat Their Long COVID
THE DOCTOR IS HERE NOW.
医生现在就在这里。
Matthew Light, MD, pops onscreen in his baby-blue T-shirt beneath a cardigan.
医学博士马修·莱特 (Matthew Light) 身穿淡蓝色 T 恤，内搭羊毛衫出现在银幕上。
He’s 42, with hair graying on the sides, a narrow nose, thick dark eyebrows.
他今年 42 岁，两侧头发花白，鼻子窄，眉毛又粗又黑。
Patients from all walks of life log on from living rooms, kitchens, sofas, beds.
各行各业的患者都可以从客厅、厨房、沙发、床上登录。
Some are at home with their cameras off, while others rally a week’s worth of energy to be here in person on this frosty winter night, in a conference room at Colorado’s UCHealth Medical Center of the Rockies, attending this rare kind of support group led by Dr. Light.
有些人在家里关掉了相机，而另一些人则聚集了一周的精力，在这个寒冷的冬夜亲自来到科罗拉多州落基山脉 UCHealth 医疗中心的会议室，参加由 Light 博士领导的这种罕见的支持小组。
There is an understanding among them, a camaraderie.
他们之间有一种默契，一种友情。
They know Dr. Light is like them.
他们知道莱特博士和他们一样。
And it is not easy right now to be them.
现在成为他们并不容易。
He gets it.
他明白了。
Everyone here gets it.
这里的每个人都明白。
What it’s like to be doubted by friends and loved ones.
被朋友和亲人怀疑是什么感觉？
To have their symptoms disregarded by strangers or misdiagnosed by doctors.
他们的症状被陌生人忽视或被医生误诊。
How brain fog can submerge the mind some days, thoughts sloshing around in a murky soup.
有时，脑雾会淹没大脑，思想在浑浊的汤里晃荡。
He endures the fatigue, understands how it comes in spurts and hits like a tsunami in the early afternoon.
他忍受着疲劳，明白疲劳是如何在午后像海啸一样突然袭来的。
It is a weighted sled he cannot stop pushing.
这是一个他无法停止推的加重雪橇。
Like all of them, he desperately wants to feel better.
像所有人一样，他迫切希望感觉好一点。
Walking on a treadmill at home, Levi Henry listens in via Microsoft Teams through a pair of bulky headphones, his shaggy blond-brown curls tucked beneath an army-green beanie.
利维·亨利 (Levi Henry) 在家里的跑步机上行走，戴着一副笨重的耳机，通过 Microsoft Teams 收听节目，他蓬松的金棕色卷发塞在一顶军绿色的无檐小便帽下。
Before he got sick, the 35-year-old had been in the best shape of his life, doing “ Murph ” CrossFit workouts—300 squats, 200 pushups, 100 pullups, followed by a one- or two-mile run—daily.
在生病之前，这位 35 岁的老人一直处于一生中最好的状态，每天进行“Murph”CrossFit 锻炼——300 次深蹲、200 次俯卧撑、100 次引体向上，然后进行一到两英里的跑步。
But his breathing began to feel like a constant whacking to the throat, cutting off air with each inhale.
但他的呼吸开始感觉像是不断地重击喉咙，每次吸气都切断了空气。
The difficulty in catching his breath was like trying to run wearing an extremely restricting corset.
他呼吸困难，就像穿着极其限制性的紧身胸衣跑步一样。
This oxygen choke hold triggered anxiety, something he’d never really had before.
这种氧气窒息引发了焦虑，这是他以前从未真正经历过的。
He had to remind himself: You’re not gonna die right now .
他必须提醒自己：你现在还不会死。
Never one to believe that doctors have all the answers, Levi does not show up to this long COVID support group seeking specialists with expertise in his condition.
莱维从来没有人相信医生能给出所有答案，他也没有出现在这个长期的新冠支持小组中，寻求对他的病情有专业知识的专家。
He comes for the regular folks like him who are commiserating freely, troubleshooting potential treatments without feeling judged, discussing everything from digestive problems to nerve pain, sweating, numbness, vertigo, tingling, dizziness, difficulties smelling or tasting, trouble socializing, and sleeping.
他是为像他这样的普通人而来，他们自由地表达同情，在不感到被评判的情况下解决潜在的治疗问题，讨论从消化问题到神经疼痛、出汗、麻木、眩晕、刺痛、头晕、嗅觉或味觉困难、社交困难和睡眠等各种问题。
They turn to each other, because who better to turn to?
他们互相求助，因为谁更好呢？
Science does not yet have the answers.
科学还没有答案。
Five years after the COVID-19 pandemic first swept across the planet, as many as 20 million Americans and at least 400 million people worldwide suffer from long COVID, a debilitating condition that still has no approved treatment.
在 COVID-19 大流行首次席卷全球五年后，多达 2000 万美国人和全球至少 4 亿人长期患有新冠肺炎，这种使人衰弱的疾病目前尚未获得批准的治疗方法。
Some people find themselves unable to participate in normal activities, like working or socializing.
有些人发现自己无法参加正常活动，例如工作或社交。
Many are turning to remedies they hear about online—even if that means putting their bodies at risk—and poring over small studies that might show some evidence of symptom relief, in a desperate attempt to feel better again.
许多人开始求助于他们在网上听到的治疗方法——即使这意味着将他们的身体置于危险之中——并仔细研究可能显示出一些症状缓解证据的小型研究，拼命试图让自己再次感觉好起来。
Not only is there no known cure, but there isn’t even a clear understanding of what it is.
不仅没有已知的治疗方法，甚至连它是什么也没有清楚的了解。
Researchers believe that long COVID—which, according to the American Academy of Neurology, is the third-leading neurological disorder in the U.S., behind tension-type headaches and migraines—likely has many subtypes that affect the brain, lungs, heart, kidneys, and digestive system.
研究人员认为，长期新冠病毒（根据美国神经病学学会的数据，是美国第三大神经系统疾病，仅次于紧张型头痛和偏头痛）可能有许多亚型，影响大脑、肺、心脏、肾脏和消化系统。
The disease may manifest differently and respond differently to treatments, making research challenging.
该疾病的表现可能不同，对治疗的反应也不同，这使得研究具有挑战性。
Meanwhile, clinical trials have been slow to complete, as patients are often unable to participate because they are homebound, too unwell, or disabled.
与此同时，临床试验的完成速度很慢，因为患者常常因为居家、身体不适或残疾而无法参与。
One novel phase 2 drug trial, launched in 2023, is allowing patients to participate from their own homes, but we won’t be able to fully grasp the long-term consequences of the condition for years to come.
2023 年启动的一项新颖的 2 期药物试验允许患者在家中参与，但我们在未来几年内无法完全掌握这种情况的长期后果。
All of this has led Levi and the others here to this very room.
所有这一切都将利威尔和其他人带到了这个房间。
Levi hadn’t planned on meeting, much less liking , Dr. Light.
利威尔并没有计划去见莱特博士，更不用说喜欢莱特博士了。
If nothing else, this pulmonologist was a bit of a curiosity, he thought: A doctor who has long COVID too?
不出意外的话，这位肺科医生还是有点好奇，他想：一个医生也患有新冠肺炎吗？
But maybe this could be his chance to get a lead on a breakthrough treatment.
但也许这可能是他在突破性治疗上取得领先的机会。
To finally feel like himself again.
终于再次感觉像自己了。
LYING ON HIS BACK in a hospital gown, Levi felt himself sliding backward into a glass dome.
穿着病号服仰面躺着的利威尔感觉自己向后滑进了一个玻璃穹顶。
It was a hyperbaric oxygen therapy chamber, which administers oxygen at air pressure levels up to three times higher than a person would breathe normally.
这是一个高压氧治疗室，其气压水平比人正常呼吸高出三倍。
As a result, more oxygen dissolves into the bloodstream.
结果，更多的氧气溶解到血液中。
The treatment , which can last up to two hours, is commonly used for speeding up muscle recovery, as well as treating decompression sickness in scuba divers, carbon monoxide poisoning, trapped air bubbles in blood vessels, and diabetic foot ulcers.
这种治疗可持续长达两个小时，通常用于加速肌肉恢复，以及治疗水肺潜水员的减压病、一氧化碳中毒、血管内气泡和糖尿病足溃疡。
But Levi was using it for a different reason.
但利威尔使用它是出于不同的原因。
In his online research, he came across some hopeful studies about the treatment.
在他的在线研究中，他发现了一些关于治疗的有希望的研究。
A 2021 study of just 10 patients found reduced fatigue and better cognitive function after hyperbaric oxygen therapy, and a 2022 study of 73 people saw improved neurocognitive function and diminished symptoms post-COVID.
2021 年的一项研究仅对 10 名患者进行了研究，发现高压氧治疗后疲劳减轻，认知功能得到改善；2022 年的一项研究对 73 人进行了研究，发现新冠病毒后神经认知功能有所改善，症状有所减轻。
So he decided to find a clinic and try it.
于是他决定找一家诊所试试。
Levi lay in silence as his ears popped.
利威尔静静地躺着，耳朵嗡嗡作响。
He could talk to staff members through an intercom system.
他可以通过对讲系统与工作人员交谈。
But if he felt claustrophobic or started to panic, it could take up to 20 minutes to exit the chamber, so as not to cause eardrum damage from a rapid change in pressure.
但如果他感到幽闭恐惧症或开始恐慌，可能需要长达 20 分钟才能离开密室，以免压力快速变化造成耳膜损伤。
He was warned, before entering, of other possible risks as well: seizures, temporary nearsightedness, oxygen poisoning, even fire.
在进入之前，他还被警告其他可能的风险：癫痫、暂时性近视、氧气中毒，甚至火灾。
(Though the chambers are deemed generally safe, a 5-year-old boy was recently killed inside a hyperbaric chamber at a Michigan medical facility when it exploded during his treatment, and in another case a 37-year-old died after suffering an oxygen-toxicity seizure in one.)
（尽管这些高压舱被认为总体上是安全的，但一名 5 岁男孩最近在密歇根一家医疗机构的高压舱内接受治疗时因高压舱爆炸而丧生，在另一起案件中，一名 37 岁的男孩因氧中毒癫痫发作而死亡。）
No matter.
没关系。
This would be just one of many treatments Levi would try since he first contracted COVID in December 2021.
这只是利维自 2021 年 12 月首次感染新冠病毒以来尝试的众多治疗方法之一。
He and his wife, along with their toddler and infant, came down with the virus after a family holiday party.
他和他的妻子以及他们的幼儿和婴儿在一次家庭假日聚会后感染了病毒。
Though a vaccine had been available for 12 months, Levi’s family had opted not to get it, unsure of the side effects it might have on their bodies, particularly that of their unborn child (his wife was pregnant with their second child when the vaccine first became available in December 2020).
尽管疫苗已经上市 12 个月，但李维的家人选择不接种，因为不确定疫苗可能对他们的身体，特别是未出生的孩子产生副作用（2020 年 12 月疫苗首次上市时，他的妻子正怀着第二个孩子）。
Taste and smell disappeared.
味道和气味消失了。
Body aches set in.
身体开始酸痛。
They spent Christmas Day exchanging gifts with other family members outside on their porch.
圣诞节那天，他们在门廊外与其他家庭成员交换礼物。
Five days later, a ferocious wildfire, propelled by 100-mile-per-hour winds, licked at the edges of their suburban town of Westminster, Colorado, 16 miles north of Denver.
五天后，一场由时速 100 英里的风推动的凶猛野火席卷了丹佛以北 16 英里的科罗拉多州郊区小镇威斯敏斯特的边缘。
Worried the inferno would charge toward them as they slept—and they wouldn’t even be able to sense it without their smell intact—Levi and his family evacuated.
由于担心大火会在他们熟睡时向他们袭来——如果没有完整的气味，他们甚至无法感觉到它——利维和他的家人撤离了。
They checked into a hotel, weakly carrying the few bags of luggage they could muster the energy to pack, and collapsed on the bed, feeling defeated, thinking, This is the day the world is going to end .
他们住进了一家酒店，无力地拎着勉强收拾的几袋行李，瘫倒在床上，感到挫败，心想：这就是世界末日了。
But it didn’t.
但事实并非如此。
By New Year’s Eve, Levi and his family had returned to their house.
除夕夜，利威尔和家人回到了家。
His other family members got better, and Levi, who would soon return to working from home as an actuarial manager for a nonprofit health-care company, thought he had to be getting better too.
他的其他家庭成员的情况也有所好转，而利维很快将回到家中担任一家非营利医疗保健公司的精算经理，他认为自己也必须好转。
Except the symptoms worsened.
除非症状恶化。
His breathing suddenly felt labored.
他突然感到呼吸困难。
His brain fog felt like a lingering fuzziness that reminded him of what it was like to wear a crooked football helmet.
他的脑雾感觉像是一种挥之不去的模糊感，让他想起戴着歪歪扭扭的橄榄球头盔的感觉。
But this helmet he could not take off.
但这顶头盔他却无法摘下。
The fatigue hit at different moments.
疲劳在不同的时刻袭来。
He tried to run, but his strength sputtered out abnormally fast and he had to nap for hours after, as if he had run a full marathon.
他试图跑步，但他的体力消耗得异常快，之后他不得不小睡几个小时，就像跑了一场全程马拉松一样。
He tried reading books to his kids at night but felt so wiped out.
他尝试在晚上给孩子们读书，但感到筋疲力尽。
He leaned over an armchair, telling his wife he didn’t have the strength to put the kids to bed.
他靠在扶手椅上，告诉妻子他没有力气让孩子们上床睡觉。
Doctors told him, “Well, you have young kids.
医生告诉他：“好吧，你有小孩。
Aren’t all parents wiped out?” But Levi knew that this kind of exhaustion was not just from parenting.
父母不是都死光了吗？”但利威尔知道，这种疲惫不仅仅来自于养育子女。
Their advice was not useful.
他们的建议没有用。
It actually felt like gaslighting.
实际上感觉就像是煤气灯操纵。
It did not take Levi long to realize on his own: This is long COVID .
没过多久，利维自己就意识到：新冠疫情已经过去了。
The term had only recently emerged into the public consciousness, created in the spring of 2020 by people who had not seemed to recover from the virus.
这个词最近才进入公众意识，是由那些似乎尚未从病毒中恢复过来的人于 2020 年春天创造的。
It would take the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine two more years to announce the definition of long COVID , a condition that still has no clear blood test or widely accepted biomarker.
美国国家科学、工程和医学院还需要两年的时间才能宣布长期新冠病毒的定义，这种疾病仍然没有明确的血液测试或广泛接受的生物标志物。
The definition says that symptoms persist at least three months after infection and may include difficulty breathing, brain fog, dizziness, extreme fatigue, loss of taste or smell, and fast heart rate.
该定义称，感染后症状至少持续三个月，可能包括呼吸困难、脑雾、头晕、极度疲劳、味觉或嗅觉丧失以及心率加快。
It can also lead to stroke, blood clots, and diseases like postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), fibromyalgia, and diabetes.
它还可能导致中风、血栓和体位性心动过速综合征 (POTS)、肌痛性脑脊髓炎/慢性疲劳综合征 (ME/CFS)、肥大细胞激活综合征 (MCAS)、纤维肌痛和糖尿病等疾病。
Levi’s original major as an undergrad at the University of Colorado Boulder was biology, on the pre-med track.
莱维在科罗拉多大学博尔德分校读本科时最初的专业是生物学，是医学预科课程。
He had always been fascinated by health but never thought traditional Western medicine had all the answers.
他一直对健康着迷，但从未想过传统的西医能解决所有问题。
“I tend to go more of the Eastern medicine approach…vegan, herbs, supplements, traditional Chinese medicine,” he says.
“我更倾向于采用东方医学方法……素食、草药、补充剂、传统中药，”他说。
A college advisor told Levi he might want to consider switching majors.
一位大学顾问告诉利维，他可能想考虑换专业。
He loved math and data and decided to major in that instead.
他喜欢数学和数据，并决定主修数学和数据。
As time went on, he continued to gravitate toward the idea that “you’re your own doctor.” Long COVID put this into even sharper perspective for him.
随着时间的推移，他继续倾向于“你是你自己的医生”的想法。长新冠病毒让他对这一点有了更清晰的认识。
Levi saw many clinicians, including two nurse practitioners and a nutritionist, within the first two years of living with the condition.
在患有这种疾病的头两年内，利维见过许多临床医生，包括两名执业护士和一名营养师。
He told them his theory that he had long COVID, and based on his symptoms, they agreed with him.
他告诉他们他的理论，即他患有长期新冠病毒，根据他的症状，他们同意他的观点。
But no one had conclusive answers.
但没有人给出确凿的答案。
Doctors and researchers seemed to be hitting walls as much as the public was in trying to understand specific causes and come up with surefire treatments.
医生和研究人员在试图了解具体原因并提出万无一失的治疗方法方面似乎与公众一样碰壁。
Meanwhile, long COVID patients and advocacy groups had long been pushing for a more rapid, urgent government response.
与此同时，长期感染新冠病毒的患者和倡导团体长期以来一直在推动政府采取更迅速、紧急的应对措施。
Unwilling to just sit around and wait for slow clinical trials and other underfunded scientific research to come through, Levi decided he would take up researching potential long COVID treatments himself.
利维不愿意坐等缓慢的临床试验和其他资金不足的科学研究完成，他决定亲自研究潜在的长期新冠治疗方法。
This approach lined up with his own health beliefs.
这种方法符合他自己的健康信念。
“I’ve always told people, ‘If I get cancer, I’m not doing chemotherapy.’ And I stand by that,” he says.
“我总是告诉人们，‘如果我得了癌症，我就不会做化疗。’我坚持这一点，”他说。
“I will do more natural treatments, anything under the sun.”
“我会做更多自然疗法，任何阳光下的事情。”
He immediately began scouring medical journals, news articles, forums, Reddit and Facebook communities, newsletters, and websites to formulate his own game plan, starting with hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
他立即开始搜索医学期刊、新闻文章、论坛、Reddit 和 Facebook 社区、时事通讯和网站，以制定自己的游戏计划，从高压氧治疗开始。
In all, Levi would complete 20 sessions at the Rocky Mountain Hyperbaric Institute over the next year, and he felt like they helped with some of his breathing issues.
明年，利维总共在落基山高压研究所完成了 20 次课程，他觉得这些课程对他的一些呼吸问题有所帮助。
But the treatments were expensive—about $200 each—and since this is an experimental therapy, insurance did not cover it.
但治疗费用昂贵——每次约 200 美元——而且由于这是一种实验性疗法，保险不承保。
His search continued.
他的搜寻仍在继续。
A COUPLE YEARS before the pandemic hit, Dr. Light finished his medical fellowship at the University of California San Diego.
在大流行爆发前几年，莱特博士在加州大学圣地亚哥分校完成了医学研究。
Both of his parents had worked in health care when he was growing up, and he ended up becoming a doctor—in pulmonary and critical care, treating lung disease at the UC San Diego hospital and the San Diego VA Medical Center.
在他成长的过程中，他的父母都曾从事医疗保健工作，而他最终成为了一名医生，从事肺部和重症监护，在加州大学圣地亚哥分校医院和圣地亚哥退伍军人医疗中心治疗肺部疾病。
As COVID spread, all of a sudden patients everywhere needed him.
随着新冠病毒的传播，突然间各地的病人都需要他。
It was exciting, terrifying, and dreadful.
这是令人兴奋的，令人恐惧的，也是可怕的。
In 2020, during the early days of the pandemic, he was working at a hospital one night and intubating a woman suffering from COVID.
2020 年，大流行初期，他在一家医院工作的一个晚上，为一名患有新冠病毒的妇女插管。
Usually when he inserted the breathing tube, the respiratory therapist would clamp it so the patient’s spit and other bodily secretions wouldn’t spew out everywhere.
通常当他插入呼吸管时，呼吸治疗师会夹住它，这样病人的口水和其他身体分泌物就不会喷得到处都是。
But this time, the therapist forgot, and Light was sprayed with all the fluid in her lungs.
但这一次，治疗师忘记了，莱特肺部的所有液体都被喷洒了。
Though he spent day after day around patients, his COVID tests always came back negative.
尽管他日复一日地与病人相处，但他的新冠病毒检测结果总是呈阴性。
As a frontline doctor, when the first vaccine was approved, he was among the first to receive it.
作为一线医生，当第一个疫苗获得批准时，他是最先接种的人之一。
At 39, he considered himself to be in good health at the time.
39岁的他认为自己当时身体状况良好。
He rode his Peloton bike for an hour a couple of times a week, at one point burning 1,100 calories in a single ride.
他每周骑几次 Peloton 自行车，每次一小时，一次骑行消耗了 1,100 卡路里的热量。
Even if COVID did get to him, Dr. Light thought he stood a good chance of rebounding.
即使新冠病毒确实感染了他，莱特博士也认为他康复的机会很大。
“I was a little cavalier about it,” he says.
“我对此有点漫不经心，”他说。
His wife is from Colorado, so in 2021 they decided to move to the Denver area with their two young kids to be near family.
他的妻子来自科罗拉多州，因此 2021 年，他们决定带着两个年幼的孩子搬到丹佛地区，离家人更近。
Dr. Light eventually landed a job at the UCHealth Pulmonary Clinic.
Light 医生最终在 UCHealth 肺科诊所找到了一份工作。
That same year, he and his wife found a home in Westminster.
同年，他和妻子在威斯敏斯特找到了家。
It took him over an hour to get to the clinic, but the commute was worth it for the chance to live in a peaceful, family-oriented neighborhood, in a town known for its walking trails, farmers markets, and craft breweries.
他花了一个多小时才到达诊所，但为了有机会生活在一个以步行道、农贸市场和精酿啤酒厂而闻名的小镇上，一个以家庭为中心的宁静社区，通勤的时间是值得的。
Still, the pandemic lingered, with an estimated 34.5 million COVID cases reported in 2021.
尽管如此，疫情仍在持续，2021 年估计有 3,450 万例新冠肺炎病例。
Everything from antivirals like Paxlovid, remdesivir, and Lagevrio to more dubious drugs like hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin had been suggested as potential treatments for the virus.
从 Paxlovid、remdesivir 和 Lagevrio 等抗病毒药物到羟氯喹和伊维菌素等更可疑的药物，所有药物都被认为是治疗该病毒的潜在药物。
But none of these had shown any significant success in preventing long COVID, which more and more people began sharing their experiences with online.
但这些都没有在预防长期新冠病毒方面取得显着成功，越来越多的人开始在网上分享他们的经验。
In February 2021, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced what is now called RECOVER: Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery Initiative—a $1.15 billion nationwide research program established to understand, treat, and prevent long COVID.
2021 年 2 月，美国国立卫生研究院 (NIH) 宣布了现在的“恢复：研究新冠病毒以促进恢复计划”——这是一项耗资 11.5 亿美元的全国性研究计划，旨在了解、治疗和预防长期新冠病毒。
And it needed to happen quickly: By the end of the following year, an estimated 7 percent of U.S. adults reported having had long COVID , with those ages 35 to 49 the most likely to have had it in the past or to have it currently.
而且这需要迅速发生：到次年年底，估计有 7% 的美国成年人报告长期感染过新冠病毒，其中 35 岁至 49 岁的人最有可能在过去或现在感染过新冠病毒。
The National Research Action Plan on Long COVID , created by the Department of Health and Human Services under the Biden administration, was also underway .
拜登政府下属的卫生与公众服务部制定的《长新冠病毒国家研究行动计划》也在进行中。
But many wondered if all of this would be enough and if the research momentum would carry on, as pandemic fatigue had already taken over the nation.
但许多人想知道这一切是否足够，研究势头是否会继续下去，因为大流行疲劳已经席卷了整个国家。
On a February afternoon in 2023, Dr. Light was at the clinic when muscle aches took hold of him.
2023 年 2 月的一个下午，莱特医生在诊所时突然感到肌肉疼痛。
It felt like the flu, but different, and he suspected what it was.
感觉就像流感，但又不同，他怀疑那是什么。
He couldn’t dodge it forever, and he figured his time had finally come: Dr. Light tested positive for COVID.
他无法永远逃避，他认为自己的时刻终于到来了：莱特博士的新冠病毒检测结果呈阳性。
He stopped at Whole Foods on the way home and bought supplies to hunker down with in the basement and watch Netflix for a few days.
他在回家的路上停在了全食超市，买了一些用品，然后在地下室里看几天Netflix的节目。
A staycation.
居家度假。
But two days into it, he felt violently short of breath, as if somebody had taken a belt and wrapped it around his chest, squeezing, refusing to let go.
但两天后，他感到剧烈的呼吸急促，就好像有人拿了一条带子，将它缠在他的胸口上，紧紧地捏着，不肯松手。
He went to the emergency room and got chest X-rays.
他去了急诊室并做了胸部X光检查。
But they looked okay, and so did his oxygen level.
但他们看起来还不错，他的氧气水平也是如此。
Doctors would listen to his lungs and say, “Well, it doesn’t sound too bad.”
医生会听他的肺部情况并说：“嗯，听起来还不错。”
“As a pulmonologist, I don’t know what to tell you,” Dr. Light replied.
“作为一名肺科医生，我不知道该告诉你什么，”莱特博士回答道。
“I really can’t breathe.”
“我真的无法呼吸了。”
They sent him home, but he returned to the ER two more times, with no clear test results or diagnosis.
他们送他回家，但他又两次回到急诊室，没有明确的检查结果或诊断。
He tried to gulp for air but felt as if he were drowning instead.
他试图大口呼吸空气，但感觉自己好像快要被淹死了。
Eight weeks passed.
八个星期过去了。
I can’t work.
我无法工作。
I can’t take care of my kids.
我无法照顾我的孩子。
I can barely sit here on the couch without panicking .
我几乎不能坐在沙发上而不惊慌。
Dr. Light tried inhalers, pulmonary medication samples.
莱特博士尝试了吸入器、肺部药物样本。
He even did an ultrasound of his own heart.
他甚至对自己的心脏进行了超声波检查。
To be a pulmonologist struggling to breathe felt like a special kind of hell.
作为一名肺科医生，呼吸困难感觉就像一种特殊的地狱。
His mind raced with all the potential COVID-related problems: Inflammation of the heart.
他的脑子里浮现出所有与新冠病毒相关的潜在问题：心脏炎症。
Constriction of the heart by the pericardium, the surrounding sac.
心脏受到心包、周围囊的收缩。
Blood clots in the lungs.
肺部出现血栓。
Organizing pneumonia, an inflammation that can damage the lungs but is not an infection like general pneumonia.
机化性肺炎是一种会损害肺部的炎症，但与普通肺炎不同的是感染。
Is that what’s happening to me?
这就是发生在我身上的事吗？
A chest X-ray, he knew, catches organizing pneumonia only half the time.
他知道，胸部 X 光检查只能发现一半的机化性肺炎。
At one point, Dr. Light asked himself, Am I the problem?
有一次，Light 博士问自己，我是问题所在吗？
Did I just take care of a lot of COVID patients and see a lot of people die, and now that I have COVID, it just scares the crap out of me?
我是不是刚刚照顾了很多新冠病毒患者，看到很多人死亡，现在我感染了新冠病毒，这简直把我吓坏了？
He barely managed day by day.
他一天天勉强过日子。
By May, Dr. Light thought he felt somewhat better and would take a chance and visit a friend in Ojai, California.
到了五月，莱特博士认为自己感觉好多了，并愿意冒险去拜访加利福尼亚州奥海的一位朋友。
The travel and socializing demolished him.
旅行和社交让他崩溃了。
His shortness of breath returned with a vengeance.
他的呼吸急促又回来了。
He felt demoralized and incapacitated.
他感到士气低落、无能为力。
Six months after testing positive for COVID, with no relief from his symptoms, Dr. Light thought, Could this be what people are referring to as long COVID?
在新冠病毒检测呈阳性六个月后，他的症状并未缓解，莱特博士想，这可能就是人们所说的长期新冠病毒吗？
He reached out for specialized help.
他寻求专业帮助。
Access to long COVID specialists can be difficult, as there are so few out there, but he heard about a clinic specializing in long COVID at the University of Colorado, part of the same health system in which he works.
接触长期新冠病毒专家可能很困难，因为那里的专家太少了，但他听说科罗拉多大学有一家专门治疗长期新冠病毒的诊所，该诊所与他工作的同一卫生系统是一部分。
Dr. Light sent an email to a doctor: “Can I come and talk to you about this?
莱特博士给一位医生发了一封电子邮件：“我可以来和你谈谈这件事吗？
Because I just am not feeling better.”
因为我只是感觉不太好。”
The visit finally put all his symptoms into perspective.
这次访问终于让他了解了所有症状。
The specialist told him, “You have a typical long COVID symptom—shortness of breath with activity—and it sounds like you have developed chronic fatigue syndrome as a result of COVID.”
专家告诉他，“你有典型的新冠长期症状——活动时呼吸短促——听起来你像是因为新冠而患上了慢性疲劳综合症。”
Dr. Light was surprised that it had taken someone this long to put the pieces together.
莱特博士很惊讶有人花了这么长时间才把这些碎片拼凑起来。
Now he had a diagnosis.
现在他有了诊断。
Long COVID.
长新冠病毒。
This is what I’m up against.
这就是我所反对的。
Still, the core problem remained: Even specialists didn’t have a clear-cut treatment plan.
尽管如此，核心问题仍然存在：即使是专家也没有明确的治疗计划。
None exists.
不存在。
Medical care was Dr. Light’s profession.
医疗保健是莱特医生的职业。
And this was his life .
这就是他的生活。
Now he just had to find a way to recover.
现在他只需要找到恢复的方法就可以了。
And if he could do that, maybe he could help other patients who were feeling lost or on their own too.
如果他能做到这一点，也许他也可以帮助其他感到迷失或孤独的患者。
AFTER THE HYPERBARIC oxygen treatments, Levi got interested in red light therapy.
高压氧治疗后，利维对红光疗法产生了兴趣。
He read studies on how SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, “really messed up people’s mitochondria,” which produce energy in the cells.
他阅读了有关导致 COVID-19 的病毒 SARS-CoV-2 如何“真正扰乱人们的线粒体”的研究，而线粒体在细胞中产生能量。
It’s true.
这是真的。
Some research has found that mitochondrial stress can lead to organ system problems commonly found in long COVID patients, like heart failure or injury, pulmonary fibrosis, and chronic kidney disease.
一些研究发现，线粒体应激可能导致长期新冠患者常见的器官系统问题，如心力衰竭或损伤、肺纤维化和慢性肾脏疾病。
Levi thought, Well, what can I do to boost my mitochondria?
利威尔想，那么，我能做些什么来增强我的线粒体呢？
In online searches, he found experimental studies suggesting that red light therapy may have a positive effect on mitochondria.
在网上搜索中，他发现实验研究表明红光疗法可能对线粒体产生积极影响。
The therapy also showed signs of balancing the function of the immune system, improving diaphragm performance and ventilation, and decreasing inflammatory markers, though the evidence for those was small.
该疗法还显示出平衡免疫系统功能、改善膈肌性能和通气以及减少炎症标志物的迹象，尽管这些证据很小。
Levi would eventually purchase a four-foot-by-one-foot MitoPRO 1500x panel for around $1,200 and install it in his home.
Levi 最终以 1,200 美元左右的价格购买了一块 4 英尺乘 1 英尺的 MitoPRO 1500x 面板，并将其安装在家里。
With rows of circles emitting red light, it looks like a long giant domino.
一排排散发着红色光芒的圆圈，看起来就像是一张长长的巨型多米诺骨牌。
He hung the machine near a door and would stand in front of it for about 15 to 20 minutes five or six times a week (usually without clothes on), soaking in the warm light, gradually feeling a little better, and noticing some improvement in his sleep.
他把机器挂在门边，每周五六次（通常不穿衣服）站在机器前约 15 到 20 分钟（通常不穿衣服），沐浴在温暖的灯光下，逐渐感觉好一点，并注意到他的睡眠有所改善。
But as with most of the personalized treatments he tried, he says, the impact seemed minimal.
但他说，与他尝试过的大多数个性化治疗一样，效果似乎微乎其微。
His wife told him he Googled everything too often.
他的妻子告诉他，他经常用谷歌搜索所有内容。
But how could he not?
但他怎么可能不呢？
The same questions that haunted him also befuddled doctors: What actually is causing long COVID?
困扰他的同样的问题也让医生们感到困惑：到底是什么导致了长期的新冠肺炎？
Today it’s understood that between 10 and 30 percent of people who contract COVID-19 will experience long COVID.
目前，据了解，感染 COVID-19 的人中有 10% 至 30% 会经历长期 COVID 感染。
There are a handful of main theories as to what causes it, but research suggests that a particular protein that forms a spike on the surface of the virus continues to circulate in some long COVID patients’ blood up to 14 months after infection.
关于其病因有几种主要理论，但研究表明，一种在病毒表面形成刺突的特殊蛋白质在感染后长达 14 个月的时间里继续在一些长期感染新冠病毒的患者的血液中循环。
Other studies show that the COVID virus may trigger other autoimmune conditions or the chronic inflammation of cells.
其他研究表明，新冠病毒可能引发其他自身免疫性疾病或细胞慢性炎症。
The jury is still out on the role the COVID vaccine plays in all of this.
对于新冠疫苗在这一切中所扮演的角色，目前还没有定论。
In one study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases , people who were unvaccinated at the time of a COVID infection were at greater risk of developing long COVID.
《柳叶刀传染病》发表的一项研究表明，感染新冠病毒时未接种疫苗的人患长期新冠病毒的风险更大。
A recent study of 1,300 patients, published in Brain Communications , found that while fewer vaccinated people had long COVID symptoms, being vaccinated prior to COVID-19 infection did not have much impact on neurologic long COVID symptoms (such as brain fog and headache).
最近发表在《Brain Communications》上的一项针对 1,300 名患者的研究发现，虽然接种疫苗的人出现长期新冠症状的人数较少，但在感染 COVID-19 之前接种疫苗对神经系统长期新冠症状（例如脑雾和头痛）没有太大影响。
Whether someone is vaccinated or not, research does show that reinfection with COVID can trigger long COVID (or make it worse), as each episode puts a person at higher risk.
无论某人是否接种了疫苗，研究确实表明，再次感染新冠病毒可能会引发长期新冠病毒感染（或使情况变得更糟），因为每次发作都会使人面临更高的风险。
And overall, long COVID prevalence and severity are similar across COVID variants.
总体而言，不同新冠病毒变种的长期新冠病毒流行率和严重程度相似。
“Maybe there’s damage to your lungs, or maybe your immune system is just lit on fire,” Levi says, or maybe it has something to do with your gut microbiome.
“也许你的肺部受到了损害，或者你的免疫系统被点燃了，”利维说，或者可能与你的肠道微生物组有关。
Some research, he knew, has shown that gut health is linked to long COVID.
他知道，一些研究表明肠道健康与新冠病毒长期存在相关。
A study using machine learning associated symptoms of long COVID, like abdominal pain and bloating, with the microbiome.
一项利用机器学习将长期新冠肺炎症状（如腹痛和腹胀）与微生物群相关的研究。
Levi figured a meat-heavy diet could be a good way to “reset the gut microbiome.” He began following Paul Saladino , a controversial influencer who promotes raw milk and an animal-based diet.
利维认为，以肉类为主的饮食可能是“重置肠道微生物组”的好方法。他开始关注保罗·萨拉迪诺（Paul Saladino），一位有争议的影响者，提倡生奶和动物性饮食。
Levi devoured organ meats, which include livers , hearts, brains, and intestines.
利威尔吃掉内脏，包括肝脏、心脏、大脑和肠子。
In the spring of 2023, he spent $1,000 a month on meat from a local butcher and noticed that his energy increased significantly.
2023 年春天，他每月花 1000 美元从当地肉店购买肉，发现自己的精力显着增加。
Over time, he spent money on as many as 20 different supplements—including ashwagandha, magnesium, L-carnitine, nystatin, Candidase (for yeast control), L-glutamine, omega-3, vitamin D, Pendulum Akkermansia, H-PLR, Yeastonil, Ortho Biotic, N-acetylcysteine, zinc, rhodiola, black seed oil, spirulina.…
随着时间的推移，他花钱购买了多达 20 种不同的补充剂，包括南非醉茄、镁、L-肉碱、制霉菌素、念珠菌酶（用于酵母控制）、L-谷氨酰胺、omega-3、维生素 D、Pendulum Akkermansia、H-PLR、Yeastonil、Ortho Biotic、N-乙酰半胱氨酸、锌、红景天、黑籽油、螺旋藻……
With most of them, though, he didn’t notice any major improvement, and he soon had to cut back on his spending.
然而，对于大多数人来说，他没有注意到任何重大改进，他很快就不得不削减开支。
Between the meats and the supplements, it was getting way too pricey, and the diet was difficult to maintain when eating with his family.
肉类和补品的价格太贵了，与家人一起吃饭时很难维持饮食。
Besides, he and his wife now had a third child on the way.
此外，他和妻子现在即将迎来第三个孩子。
AFTER DR. LIGHT received his diagnosis, he started trying to control what he could: drinking more water, swimming, stretching.
继博士之后莱特收到诊断后，开始尝试控制自己能做的事情：多喝水、游泳、伸展运动。
Life changes that felt manageable.
生活的变化感觉是可以控制的。
Like so many long COVID patients, he battled chronic fatigue and, if he overdid it mentally or physically at work or with exercise, experienced post-exertional malaise (when symptoms worsen after mild exertion).
像许多长期的新冠患者一样，他与慢性疲劳作斗争，如果他在工作或运动中精神或体力过度，就会出现劳累后不适（轻度劳累后症状恶化）。
Just 25 minutes on the Peloton could feel good in the moment but overwhelm his body, leading to a crash, the worst of it sometimes occurring the next day.
在主车上仅 25 分钟可能会感觉良好，但他的身体却不堪重负，导致撞车，最糟糕的情况有时会发生在第二天。
“Sleep doesn’t help,” Dr. Light says.
“睡眠没有帮助，”莱特博士说。
“It can last for a few days and then lightens up again.
“它可以持续几天，然后再次变亮。
It fluctuates.”
它会波动。”
He read a study in Nature on people with post-COVID chronic fatigue syndrome that tested their blood and muscle before and after exercising.
他在《自然》杂志上读到了一项关于新冠肺炎后慢性疲劳综合症患者的研究，该研究在运动前后测试了他们的血液和肌肉。
He found it reassuring that those who pushed themselves too hard in workouts didn’t appear to have more muscle damage.
令他放心的是，那些在锻炼中太过努力的人似乎并没有遭受更多的肌肉损伤。
Some long COVID patients just can’t exert themselves, he says, because they have autonomic dysfunction—so their heart rate might get out of control when they exercise.
他说，一些长期患有新冠肺炎的患者无法锻炼身体，因为他们有自主神经功能障碍，因此他们在锻炼时心率可能会失控。
Dealing with the condition is about paying attention to your body.
处理这种情况就是要注意你的身体。
At this point, however, the mainstream medical community still hadn’t agreed on any treatment.
然而，此时主流医学界仍未就任何治疗达成一致。
In July 2023, two months after President Biden declared an end to COVID as a national emergency and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention discontinued publishing COVID-19 case data, the NIH opened enrollment for phase 2 clinical trials.
2023 年 7 月，即拜登总统宣布结束新冠肺炎国家紧急状态、疾病控制与预防中心停止发布新冠肺炎 (COVID-19) 病例数据两个月后，美国国立卫生研究院 (NIH) 开始了 2 期临床试验的招募。
These trials would evaluate at least four potential treatments for long COVID, with several more expected in the coming months, based on findings from the RECOVER Initiative (though some critics argued that the NIH had already fumbled the program , from its selection of scientists to its focus on “observational research” rather than treatments).
这些试验将评估至少四种针对长期新冠肺炎的潜在治疗方法，根据“恢复计划”的研究结果，预计未来几个月还会有更多的治疗方法（尽管一些批评者认为，NIH 已经搞砸了该计划，从科学家的选择到对“观察研究”而不是治疗的关注）。
The trials would test drugs, biologics, medical devices, and other therapies, like a longer regimen of the antiviral Paxlovid to see if it improved symptoms, brain training to boost cognitive function, wakefulness-promoting drugs for excessive daytime sleepiness, and a drug used to treat chronic heart failure for people with autonomic nervous system issues.
这些试验将测试药物、生物制剂、医疗设备和其他疗法，例如抗病毒药物 Paxlovid 的长期治疗方案以观察其是否改善症状、增强认知功能的大脑训练、针对白天过度嗜睡的促进清醒药物，以及用于治疗患有自主神经系统问题的人的慢性心力衰竭的药物。
In the meantime, a colleague of Dr. Light’s who also has long COVID shared some research about naltrexone , which has typically been used to treat substance use disorders, like alcohol or opiate abuse.
与此同时，莱特博士的一位长期感染新冠病毒的同事分享了一些关于纳曲酮的研究，纳曲酮通常用于治疗药物滥用障碍，如酒精或阿片类药物滥用。
Naltrexone blocks opiate receptors, which regulate pain, reward, and addiction centers in the body.
纳曲酮可阻断鸦片受体，从而调节体内的疼痛、奖赏和成瘾中心。
Addicts who take typical doses of naltrexone can’t get high anymore.
服用典型剂量纳曲酮的瘾君子就不会再兴奋了。
A low dose of the drug has been used to relieve pain in autoimmune diseases such as Crohn’s and fibromyalgia.
低剂量的该药物已用于缓解克罗恩病和纤维肌痛等自身免疫性疾病的疼痛。
Research into its effectiveness on long COVID remains thin, with clinical trials underway in Australia and Canada .
关于其对长期新冠病毒有效性的研究仍然很少，澳大利亚和加拿大正在进行临床试验。
But naltrexone is also affordable, safe, and well tolerated by patients, Dr. Light says, with very few side effects.
但莱特博士说，纳曲酮价格实惠、安全，并且患者耐受性良好，而且副作用很少。
“By blocking your opiate receptors just a little bit, it stimulates your body to make its own endogenous opiates, or feel-good hormones, so it can really help with fatigue and brain fog.”
“通过稍微阻断你的阿片受体，它会刺激你的身体产生自己的内源性阿片，或感觉良好的激素，所以它确实可以帮助缓解疲劳和脑雾。”
He knows this as a pulmonologist who now prescribes—and takes—low-dose naltrexone, between one and six milligrams.
作为一名肺科医生，他知道这一点，他现在开出并服用低剂量的纳曲酮，剂量为一到六毫克。
“It’s not a fix,” he says, but the drug has had a measurable impact on his own fatigue.
“这不是解决办法，”他说，但这种药物对他自己的疲劳产生了明显的影响。
When he has stopped taking it for periods, he’s noticed that his symptoms return.
当他停药一段时间后，他发现症状又出现了。
LEVI WAS NO STRANGER to the far-out corners of the Internet where communities talked about alternative methods of improving health.
李维对互联网上的遥远角落并不陌生，那里的社区讨论着改善健康的替代方法。
But he started noticing more traffic in these hubs as people began awakening to discussions of long COVID, despite a CDC survey reporting that, as of August 2023, one-third of Americans still hadn’t heard of the condition.
但他开始注意到，随着人们开始开始关注长期新冠病毒的讨论，这些中心的人流量开始增加，尽管 CDC 的一项调查报告称，截至 2023 年 8 月，三分之一的美国人仍然没有听说过这种情况。
Celebrities like Alyssa Milano, Brandon Sutter of the National Hockey League, and Colin Farrell spoke openly about their own experiences as long-haulers.
艾莉莎·米兰诺、国家冰球联盟的布兰登·萨特和科林·法雷尔等名人公开谈论了自己作为长途运输者的经历。
Meanwhile, a group called the Long Covid Action Project demanded more research funding and that long COVID be declared a national emergency.
与此同时，一个名为“长期新冠行动项目”的组织要求提供更多研究经费，并要求宣布长期新冠为国家紧急状态。
During his late-night research, Levi continued to come across intriguing studies and articles.
在深夜研究中，利维不断发现有趣的研究和文章。
He read one about how researchers found SARS-CoV-2 RNA and proteins in the brain stems of some COVID patients.
他读到一篇关于研究人员如何在一些新冠患者脑干中发现 SARS-CoV-2 RNA 和蛋白质的文章。
This region contains mechanisms that regulate the respiratory, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, and neurological processes.
该区域包含调节呼吸、心血管、胃肠道和神经系统过程的机制。
Other researchers believe long COVID mirrors elements of traumatic brain injury .
其他研究人员认为，长期新冠病毒反映了脑外伤的因素。
A study in Cell found that patients with long COVID can show reduced serotonin, which plays a key role in memory, sleep, and digestion and regulates the vagus nerve, a system of neurons that mediate body-brain communication.
《细胞》杂志上的一项研究发现，长期感染新冠病毒的患者的血清素水平会降低，而血清素在记忆、睡眠和消化中发挥着关键作用，并调节迷走神经，这是一种介导体脑通讯的神经元系统。
To stimulate his vagus nerve, Levi tried lymphatic drainage massage, a gentle technique to improve the circulation of lymph fluids.
为了刺激迷走神经，利维尝试了淋巴引流按摩，这是一种改善淋巴液循环的温和技术。
During the day, he was still working from home and splitting the child care for three kids with his wife.
白天，他仍然在家工作，并与妻子分担照顾三个孩子的责任。
In the evenings, he Googled, “What can boost your serotonin levels?” Familiar recommendations popped up: diet and exercise.
晚上，他在谷歌上搜索：“什么可以提高你的血清素水平？”熟悉的建议突然出现：饮食和锻炼。
Except exercise can be a struggle for long COVID patients.
但对于长期感染新冠病毒的患者来说，锻炼可能是一件很困难的事情。
It may actually exacerbate symptoms, and some patients don’t even have the strength to try.
它实际上可能会加剧症状，有些患者甚至没有力气去尝试。
Levi kept searching, until he stumbled upon a wildly popular trend: ice baths.
利维不断寻找，直到他偶然发现了一种非常流行的趋势：冰浴。
At first, he tried dumping snow and ice in his bathtub.
起初，他尝试将雪和冰倒入浴缸中。
After dipping himself in for a couple minutes, he noticed his brain fog dissipating.
浸入水中几分钟后，他注意到脑雾消散了。
A few months later, his brother-in-law bought him his first vinyl cold-plunge tub for his backyard, a tub just big enough for one person.
几个月后，他的姐夫为他的后院买了第一个乙烯基冷浸浴缸，这个浴缸只够一个人使用。
Levi plunged into the arctic water, with “Confidence” by Ocean Alley playing in the background.
利维跳入北极水域，背景音乐是 Ocean Alley 的《Confidence》。
Snow blanketed his patio and yard.
雪覆盖了他的露台和院子。
Only his head showed above the water.
只有他的头露出在水面上。
Levi took ice baths outside in the winter 84 days in a row, from January to March 2024, at 33 degrees Fahrenheit, for about two to four minutes each time.
从 2024 年 1 月到 2024 年 3 月，利维在冬天连续 84 天在温度为 33 华氏度的室外冰浴，每次大约两到四分钟。
He noticed a spike in his energy, the kind of rush and rejuvenation he might have gotten from CrossFit pre-COVID.
他注意到自己的精力激增，就像新冠疫情之前的 CrossFit 运动中带来的那种活力和活力。
When temperatures warmed in the summer, he couldn’t get the chill he needed.
当夏天气温变暖时，他无法获得所需的凉爽。
So he bought 10-gallon, 10-pound silicone cubes to fill with water and freeze.
于是他买了 10 加仑、10 磅的硅胶块来装满水并冷冻。
But they became a hassle to fill.
但它们却成为了一个需要填补的麻烦。
Some days, he and his wife drove up to the mountains so he could sit in a cold stream.
有时，他和妻子开车到山上，这样他就可以坐在冰冷的溪水中。
Finally, he bought an aquarium chiller, the kind that keeps fish cold.
最后，他买了一台水族箱冷却器，可以给鱼降温的那种。
He attached it to his home tub to recirculate the cold water.
他将它连接到家里的浴缸上以循环冷水。
It cost him $1,500.
他花了 1,500 美元。
AFTER A LONG YEAR of living with long COVID in a society that had pretty much moved on from the pandemic, Dr. Light posed a simple question to himself: Who is supposed to take care of long COVID patients?
在一个几乎已经摆脱了大流行的社会中与长期新冠病毒一起生活了很长一段时间后，莱特博士向自己提出了一个简单的问题：谁应该照顾长期新冠病毒患者？
A family medicine doctor?
家庭医生？
An internal medicine doctor?
内科医生？
A pulmonologist?
肺科医生？
As a patient himself, he experienced firsthand how hard it is to understand the condition: “Your whole body betrays you.
作为一名患者，他亲身经历了理解病情是多么困难：“你的整个身体都背叛了你。
But to everyone else, you look okay.” Dr. Light decided that since he had lots of experience with long COVID and was already a trained pulmonologist who treats breathing and sleep issues, he would be a good place to start.
但在其他人看来，你看起来还不错。” Light 医生认为，由于他在长期治疗新冠肺炎方面拥有丰富的经验，并且已经是一名训练有素的肺科医生，专门治疗呼吸和睡眠问题，因此他将是一个很好的起点。
He opened his clinic to more long COVID patients, and as word spread, they began flocking.
他向更多长期新冠患者开放了诊所，随着消息传开，他们开始蜂拥而至。
Primary care doctors and other pulmonologists across the region increasingly referred their patients to him.
该地区的初级保健医生和其他肺科医生越来越多地将患者转诊给他。
Dr. Light, who considers his own symptoms, now more periodic, to be milder and more manageable than those of many of the patients he has met in his clinic, divides long COVID into three main types based on its symptoms.
莱特博士认为，与他在诊所遇到的许多患者相比，他自己的症状现在更加周期性，更温和，更容易控制，他根据症状将长期新冠病毒分为三种主要类型。
“There are the patients who have breathing difficulty after COVID, and oftentimes that’s very poorly explained by any kind of standard tests—lung function test, CAT scans,” he says.
他说：“有些患者在感染新冠病毒后出现呼吸困难，而任何标准测试（肺功能测试、CAT 扫描）通常都很难解释这一点。”
“Then there’s two other flavors.
“还有另外两种口味。
One is neurocognitive—people with a lot of issues with their nervous system.” Those symptoms, he says, include brain fog, chronic fatigue syndrome, neuropathic pain, and headaches.
一种是神经认知方面的——神经系统有很多问题的人。”他说，这些症状包括脑雾、慢性疲劳综合症、神经性疼痛和头痛。
This is the biggest group.
这是最大的群体。
“And then there’s the people with dysautonomia.
“还有一些患有自主神经功能障碍的人。
They have a lot of issues with standing up, racing heart rate when they’re trying to do any activity, even at much lower levels than before.”
他们在站立时会遇到很多问题，当他们尝试进行任何活动时，心率会加快，即使心率比以前低得多。”
Dr. Light got to know so many long COVID patients with various symptoms and treatment needs that he realized it could be helpful for them to also meet and get to know each other.
Light 医生认识了很多患有各种症状和治疗需求的新冠肺炎长期患者，他意识到让他们见面并相互了解可能会有所帮助。
“We needed a forum to make sure people got good information and are doing things safely and are getting the treatment that they need.
“我们需要一个论坛来确保人们获得良好的信息，安全地做事，并得到他们需要的治疗。
Not just kind of grasping at straws out of desperation.” There are people who will take advantage of long COVID patients, he says, trying to sell them unproven treatments or even suggesting treatments that might be risky.
不仅仅是出于绝望而抓住救命稻草。”他说，有些人会利用长期感染新冠病毒的患者，试图向他们推销未经证实的治疗方法，甚至建议可能有风险的治疗方法。
He has to sift through the noise for himself as well as for his patients.
他必须为自己和病人筛选噪音。
Dr. Light and a couple of his colleagues who also have long COVID started the Long COVID Information, Discussion, and Support Group in February 2024, which quickly drew over 100 in-person and remote patients from Colorado and beyond.
Light 博士和他的几位同样长期感染新冠病毒的同事于 2024 年 2 月成立了长期新冠病毒信息、讨论和支持小组，该小组很快吸引了来自科罗拉多州及其他地区的 100 多名现场和远程患者。
At each monthly group session, Dr. Light reviews the smorgasbord of emerging research, citing the pros and cons of each study.
在每个月的小组会议上，Light 博士都会回顾新兴研究的大杂烩，并列举每项研究的优缺点。
Then patients discuss their own symptoms and their approaches to managing them.
然后患者讨论他们自己的症状以及治疗这些症状的方法。
As long as they’re being safe and smart, he is supportive.
只要他们安全、聪明，他就会支持。
“A lot of people kind of shotgun it,” he says.
“很多人都采取了类似的行动，”他说。
“We try to be more specific and systematic: What symptoms are you trying to treat?
“我们尝试更加具体和系统化：你想治疗什么症状？
What data is out there for this particular supplement?
该特定补充剂有哪些数据？
Do we think it’s effective?”
我们认为这有效吗？”
Nicotine patches started flying off store shelves after small studies showed improvements in cognitive function and energy in long COVID patients who used them.
在小型研究显示使用尼古丁贴片的长期新冠患者的认知功能和精力有所改善后，尼古丁贴片开始在商店货架上热销。
(The idea is that the virus might bind to nicotine cell receptors , which are involved in areas that long COVID also seems to affect.) But the evidence “was really weak,” Dr. Light says.
（这个想法是，病毒可能与尼古丁细胞受体结合，而尼古丁细胞受体参与了长期新冠病毒似乎也会影响的区域。）但莱特博士说，证据“非常薄弱”。
One study “basically took a few people with long COVID and gave them nicotine and made some graphs about how their symptoms improved after they started.
一项研究“基本上选取了一些长期感染新冠病毒的人，给他们服用尼古丁，并制作了一些图表，显示他们开始感染后症状如何改善。
There were a lot of leaps there.” He continues, “It seems like some shoddy science.
那里有很多跳跃。”他继续说道：“这似乎是一些伪劣的科学。
If you give a bunch of people who are tired a stimulant like nicotine, yeah, some of them are going to feel better.”
如果你给一群疲倦的人提供尼古丁等兴奋剂，是的，他们中的一些人会感觉更好。”
He worries about fads like triple anticoagulation therapy , in which people at home try taking aspirin, an antiplatelet medication, and blood thinners to try to dissolve blood clots—even though the medical community has yet to demonstrate whether that’s a key problem in long COVID.
他担心三重抗凝疗法等流行趋势，即人们在家尝试服用阿司匹林（一种抗血小板药物）和血液稀释剂来溶解血栓，尽管医学界尚未证明这是否是长期新冠肺炎的一个关键问题。
“That one is worrisome,” Dr. Light says, “because that could be really dangerous.”
“这令人担忧，”莱特博士说，“因为这可能非常危险。”
Dr. Light is also concerned that people are overspending on ideas that don’t have a proven benefit.
莱特博士还担心，人们在没有经过证实有益的想法上花费过多。
A patient requested a $1,000 immunology profile, which they heard is the “gold standard” for diagnosing long COVID, since routine lab tests commonly used by doctors often can’t identify the disease in patients.
一名患者要求提供价值 1,000 美元的免疫学资料，他们听说这是诊断长期新冠肺炎的“黄金标准”，因为医生常用的常规实验室测试通常无法识别患者的疾病。
He tries to explain to people who are clearly struggling and seeking testing, “I think your money would be better spent somewhere else.”
他试图向那些显然正在苦苦挣扎并寻求检测的人们解释，“我认为你的钱最好花在其他地方。”
He reminds them that often tests come back normal, and doctors don’t even know exactly what they’re looking for in the results.
他提醒他们，检查结果通常会恢复正常，而医生甚至不知道他们在结果中到底要寻找什么。
He asks patients, “What information are we going to gain from this?” If they’re still determined, Dr. Light tries to assist, while also steering them toward other options.
他问患者：“我们将从中获得什么信息？”如果他们仍然下定决心，莱特博士会尽力提供帮助，同时引导他们做出其他选择。
“A lot of people pretend to be experts on long COVID or really get vocal about what they think works,” he says.
他说：“很多人假装自己是长期新冠病毒专家，或者真正直言不讳地说出他们认为有效的方法。”
“On social media, there’s more hearsay than there is actual data.”
“在社交媒体上，传闻多于实际数据。”
DESPITE SPENDING AT LEAST $10,000 on ice baths, red light therapy, meat, blood work, and supplements, Levi still experienced some dark days, his mind racing, unsure of what long COVID could eventually lead to: Am I going to get cancer?
尽管在冰浴、红光疗法、肉食、血液检查和补充剂上花费了至少 10,000 美元，利维仍然经历了一些黑暗的日子，他的大脑飞速运转，不确定新冠病毒最终会导致多久：我会得癌症吗？
Am I at a higher risk of stroke?
我患中风的风险较高吗？
Did I just age my brain by 10 or 20 years?
我的大脑是否衰老了 10 或 20 岁？
His grandfather had dementia.
他的祖父患有痴呆症。
Would it hit him, too, only younger?
他也会受到同样的打击吗？只是他还年轻而已？
He would go down Internet rabbit holes at 1 a.m., freaking himself out with the dire possibilities.
他会在凌晨 1 点进入互联网兔子洞，被可怕的可能性吓坏了。
Am I going to have long COVID for the rest of my life?
我的余生会长期感染新冠病毒吗？
It wasn’t a far-fetched thought.
这并不是一个牵强的想法。
The CDC recently updated its recommendations , telling people it was no longer necessary to isolate after testing positive for COVID-19, despite millions of others, like him, who were still suffering from the effects of the virus.
CDC 最近更新了建议，告诉人们在 COVID-19 检测呈阳性后不再需要隔离，尽管像他这样的数百万人仍然受到该病毒的影响。
During his Web searching, Levi came across a Colorado long COVID support group.
在网络搜索过程中，利维遇到了科罗拉多州的一个新冠支持小组。
It was about an hour away from his home in Westminster.
距离他在威斯敏斯特的家大约一个小时车程。
Intrigued, he drove to the UCHealth Medical Center of the Rockies on a chilly March weeknight to check it out.
出于好奇，他在三月一个寒冷的工作日晚上开车前往落基山脉大学健康医疗中心进行检查。
For two years, he had been navigating his symptoms essentially alone, only interacting with other long COVID patients online.
两年来，他基本上都是独自应对自己的症状，只在网上与其他长期感染新冠病毒的患者互动。
Now, for the first time, he found himself sitting in a conference room full of about 50 of them, women and men mostly ranging in age from 20s to 60s.
现在，他第一次发现自己坐在一个大约有 50 人的会议室里，其中男女大多年龄在 20 多岁到 60 多岁之间。
He listened as one woman said she couldn’t remember four months of her life because she had been on a ventilator.
他听到一位女士说，她不记得自己有四个月的生活了，因为她一直在使用呼吸机。
Levi looked around in awe.
利威尔敬畏地环顾四周。
These are people—not online—who are like me , he thought.
这些人——不是网上的——和我一样，他想。
Real people.
真实的人。
Right here.
就在这里。
Trying to get help .
试图寻求帮助。
He was so excited to meet them.
他很高兴见到他们。
He thought of the past couple of years, always working from home and living through lockdowns.
他想起过去几年，总是在家工作，在封锁中生活。
He missed those small interactions with people—shopping at the grocery store, saying hello on the street, seeing a smile in person.
他怀念那些与人相处的小互动——在杂货店购物、在街上打招呼、看到人的微笑。
These strangers could completely relate to his own long COVID journey.
这些陌生人完全可以与他自己漫长的新冠之旅联系起来。
Levi introduced himself to the group, explaining how he suffered from shortness of breath and extreme fatigue.
利威尔向大家做了自我介绍，解释了他如何感到呼吸急促和极度疲劳。
Dr. Light said that coming back from a vacation could leave him feeling completely gassed for a couple of days.
莱特博士说，度假回来可能会让他在几天内感到完全喘不过气来。
“You almost start scheduling your life around some of these symptoms.”
“你几乎开始围绕其中一些症状来安排你的生活。”
Dr. Light went on, sharing how once, when he was in a pool, he felt the total fatigue take over.
莱特博士继续说道，有一次，当他在游泳池里时，他感到完全疲劳了。
“Does anyone know anything about guitar amplifiers?” Dr. Light asked the group.
“有人了解吉他扩音器吗？”莱特博士向小组询问。
Levi plays guitar.
利维弹吉他。
He loves the instrument and knows, for example, that a guitar amplifier has different knobs for treble, bass, reverb, and so on.
他喜欢这种乐器，并且知道吉他放大器有不同的高音、低音、混响等旋钮。
“I relate long COVID, each symptom, to being like a knob on this amplifier,” Dr. Light explained, pointing to an image he had pulled up on a screen to demonstrate his point.
“我将新冠病毒的每一种症状都与放大器上的旋钮联系起来，”莱特博士解释说，他指着屏幕上拉出的一张图像来证明他的观点。
He told them to consider how sleep overlaps with long COVID symptoms and to think of it as the master volume knob on the amplifier.
他告诉他们要考虑睡眠如何与长期的新冠症状重叠，并将其视为放大器上的主音量旋钮。
He suggested turning down the volume—the equivalent of getting sleep.
他建议调低音量——相当于睡觉。
“Your other symptoms become a little less pronounced,” he said.
“你的其他症状变得不那么明显了，”他说。
This guy is just cool , Levi thought after spending two hours at the meeting.
这家伙太酷了，利威尔在会议上待了两个小时后想。
Driving home, he couldn’t wait to tell his wife about this doctor with long COVID and how exhilarating the support group had been.
开车回家后，他迫不及待地告诉妻子这位患有长期新冠肺炎的医生以及支持小组的情况是多么令人兴奋。
Levi would soon learn that Dr. Light lives in the same Westminster neighborhood as him, just two minutes away.
利威尔很快就会得知莱特博士和他住在威斯敏斯特的同一个街区，距离酒店只有两分钟路程。
They had probably crossed paths, not even knowing it, because they are members of the same neighborhood recreation center, where Dr. Light swims.
他们很可能在不知情的情况下相遇了，因为他们是莱特博士游泳的同一个社区娱乐中心的成员。
As they got to know each other in the long COVID support group, they also ran into each other at their kids’ soccer games and on the street.
当他们在长期的新冠病毒支持小组中相互了解时，他们还在孩子的足球比赛中和街上遇到了对方。
“I feel like I’ve always thought of doctors as...I don’t want to say not human, but just not coming down to my level,” Levi says.
“我觉得我一直认为医生......我不想说不是人类，但只是没有达到我的水平，”利维说。
But Dr. Light—this fellow guitar fan, neighbor, and, unfortunately, COVID long-hauler—was surprisingly relatable.
但莱特博士——这位吉他迷、邻居，不幸的是，他还是新冠病毒的长期携带者——出人意料地让人产生共鸣。
AMID A GROWING CULTURE of long COVID denialism that believes the symptoms are psychosomatic (likely tied to the anti-science, anti-vaccine movement), Dr. Light’s long COVID group and clinic felt to him like a calling.
在一种日益增长的长期否认新冠病毒的文化中，这种文化认为这些症状是心身性的（可能与反科学、反疫苗运动有关），莱特博士长期的新冠病毒小组和诊所对他来说就像一种召唤。
When he was younger, he once thought he might not go into medicine at all (he had been leaning toward a career in finance), but now his choice to become a pulmonologist seems serendipitous.
当他年轻的时候，他曾经认为自己可能根本不会进入医学领域（他一直倾向于从事金融职业），但现在他选择成为一名肺科医生似乎很偶然。
He seizes the chance to enlighten and, hopefully, help others.
他抓住机会启发并希望帮助他人。
He spends hours putting together meticulous PowerPoint presentations for his patients, poring through the latest research and synthesizing it—even when he’s fighting through his own long COVID malaise after a long workday at the clinic.
他花了几个小时为病人精心制作 PowerPoint 演示文稿，仔细研究最新的研究并进行综合——即使在诊所结束了漫长的工作日后，他正在与自己长期的新冠不适作斗争。
At a recent long COVID meeting, Dr. Light moved through his interactive lecture, pausing to take questions or acknowledge feedback from people in the room, on camera, or in the chat.
在最近一次长时间的新冠病毒会议上，莱特博士进行了互动演讲，停下来回答房间里、镜头前或聊天中的人们的问题或反馈。
“Dr. Light, I’ve read a bunch about metformin.
“Light 博士，我读过很多关于二甲双胍的文章。
Can you take that if you are not diabetic?” one patient asked.
如果你没有糖尿病，你能接受这个吗？”一位病人问道。
While there has been buzz about metformin (a common diabetes medication), fluvoxamine (an antidepressant), and ivermectin (an antiparasitic drug) as potential treatments for long COVID, a study of all three showed no benefit.
虽然二甲双胍（一种常见的糖尿病药物）、氟伏沙明（一种抗抑郁药）和伊维菌素（一种抗寄生虫药）作为长期新冠肺炎的潜在治疗方法一直备受关注，但对这三种药物的研究表明，这三种药物都没有任何益处。
But Dr. Light explained that research on metformin has also considered whether it might prevent long COVID.
但莱特博士解释说，二甲双胍的研究也考虑了它是否可以预防长期新冠病毒。
A study in The Lancet Infectious Diseases showed that if taken within seven days of a COVID infection, it may reduce the risk of long COVID by 41 percent.
《柳叶刀传染病》的一项研究表明，如果在感染新冠病毒后 7 天内服用，可以将长期感染新冠病毒的风险降低 41%。
He told the group he would dig deeper to see who is studying it as a potential treatment and possibly do a presentation at an upcoming meeting.
他告诉小组，他将更深入地了解谁正在将其作为一种潜在的治疗方法进行研究，并可能在即将举行的会议上进行演示。
“It might be an interesting topic to explore.”
“这可能是一个值得探索的有趣话题。”
But he also issued a caution on all the research so far: “I try not to get too excited about any of these studies, and I always assume that they’re wrong or that it’s not going to work.” He warned that the sample sizes are small and that there is often cognitive bias in science.
但他也对迄今为止的所有研究发出了警告：“我尽量不要对这些研究过于兴奋，我总是认为它们是错误的，或者不会起作用。”他警告说，样本量很小，科学中经常存在认知偏差。
“As with anything, larger trials are going to have to be done before we can get definitive answers.”
“与任何事情一样，在我们得到明确的答案之前，必须进行更大规模的试验。”
Except now, under the Trump administration, it’s unclear what the future might hold for long COVID research.
但现在，在特朗普政府的领导下，尚不清楚长期新冠病毒研究的未来会怎样。
The president’s pick to head the NIH, Jay Bhattacharya, is a Stanford professor who gained attention during the pandemic for opposing lockdowns in order to expose more people to the virus and achieve herd immunity.
总统任命的美国国立卫生研究院院长杰伊·巴塔查亚 (Jay Bhattacharya) 是斯坦福大学教授，他在疫情期间因反对封锁以使更多人接触病毒并实现群体免疫而受到关注。
Bhattacharya has called for an overhaul of the NIH, a potential restructuring that many fear will sabotage critical research.
巴塔查亚呼吁对国家卫生研究院进行彻底改革，许多人担心这一潜在的重组会破坏关键研究。
AFTER DR. LIGHT'S PRESENTATION, the support group broke into online and in-person discussions.
继博士之后在 LIGHT 的演讲中，支持小组进行了在线和面对面的讨论。
He listened as a few patients compared notes on various supplements they had tried and reported the advice they’d received after meeting with a nutritionist.
他倾听一些患者就他们尝试过的各种补充剂进行比较，并报告了他们在与营养师会面后收到的建议。
Alcohol use came up.
酒精的使用出现了。
“I don’t drink at all anymore, because I feel like I’d probably die after I smell a beer,” Levi chimed in.
“我不再喝酒了，因为我觉得闻到啤酒的味道后我可能会死，”利威尔插话道。
Since his third child was born in April 2024, Levi has attended more of the groups virtually.
自从他的第三个孩子于 2024 年 4 月出生以来，李维以虚拟方式参加了更多的活动。
“Not being able to tolerate alcohol should be added to the diagnostic criteria for long COVID,” replied Dr. Light.
“不能耐受酒精应该被添加到长期新冠肺炎的诊断标准中，”莱特博士回答道。
“It’s like the one reliable sign.”
“这就像一个可靠的标志。”
Talk turned to hunger.
谈话变成了饥饿。
“Ever since COVID, I get these hunger attacks,” Dr. Light said.
“自从新冠疫情发生以来，我就经常出现饥饿症状，”莱特博士说。
Like a revved-up sympathetic nervous system.
就像加速的交感神经系统一样。
“I feel terrible, like everything is off all of a sudden.” He said he carries protein bars just to keep himself from passing out.
“我感觉很糟糕，好像一切都突然消失了。”他说他携带蛋白质棒只是为了防止自己昏倒。
“You talk about eating to help curb symptoms,” Levi said.
“你说吃东西可以帮助抑制症状，”利瓦伊说。
“Has anyone tried the opposite?
“有人尝试过相反的做法吗？
Not eating?”
不吃饭？”
Levi had been looking into intensive fasting lately, after a doctor online claimed that “if you have done one seven-day water fast in your life, your risk of cancer goes down 70 to 80 percent,” Levi told the group.
莱维最近一直在研究强化禁食，因为一位医生在网上声称，“如果你一生中进行一次为期 7 天的清水断食，你患癌症的风险就会降低 70% 到 80%，”莱维告诉该组织。
He explained that two weeks ago, before Thanksgiving, he completed a 72-hour water fast.
他解释说，两周前，也就是感恩节之前，他完成了 72 小时的清水断食。
“I thought I was gonna die from 24 to 48,” he said.
“我以为我会在 24 岁到 48 岁之间死去，”他说。
Two days in, though, he felt like he could keep going for a week.
不过，两天后，他感觉自己可以继续坚持一周。
“I didn’t,” he added, “because my wife doesn’t like when I fast.
“我没有，”他补充道，“因为我的妻子不喜欢我禁食。
She claims I get crankier.”
她声称我变得脾气暴躁。”
Dr. Light said fasting would be hard for most normal people and was not a recommended practice for most long COVID patients.
莱特博士表示，禁食对于大多数正常人来说会很困难，对于大多数长期感染新冠病毒的患者来说，禁食并不是推荐的做法。
The group went on to discuss alpha lipoic acid, gabapentin, guanfacine, taking multiple medications, and measuring shortness of breath.
该小组继续讨论α硫辛酸、加巴喷丁、胍法辛、服用多种药物以及测量呼吸急促。
Dr. Light offered clarifications and cautions whenever he felt necessary.
莱特博士在他认为有必要的时候提供了澄清和警告。
At every meeting, Levi writes down notes or ideas.
在每次会议上，利维都会写下笔记或想法。
He appreciates that Dr. Light is a traditional doctor who is also not closed off to alternative approaches, like supplements or ice baths or hyperbaric oxygen therapy—which Dr. Light even did an entire presentation on during one support meeting, citing the same studies Levi had read.
他赞赏莱特博士是一位传统的医生，他也不会拒绝其他方法，例如补充剂、冰浴或高压氧疗法——莱特博士甚至在一次支持会议上做了完整的演示，引用了莱维读过的相同研究。
Levi was impressed that Dr. Light admitted he might even try hyperbaric oxygen therapy one day, if he comes into unlimited money.
莱特博士承认，如果他有无限的钱，有一天他甚至可能尝试高压氧疗法，这给利威尔留下了深刻的印象。
But for now, Dr. Light told them, he is primarily sticking with low-dose naltrexone.
但莱特博士告诉他们，目前他主要坚持使用低剂量纳曲酮。
Levi doesn’t feel the need to try low-dose naltrexone himself, despite Dr. Light’s approval of it.
尽管得到莱特博士的认可，利维并不觉得有必要亲自尝试低剂量纳曲酮。
And Dr. Light understands.
莱特博士明白。
He knows Levi prefers to experiment with other methods first.
他知道利威尔更喜欢先尝试其他方法。
Dr. Light did give Levi an inhaler for those particularly hard-to-breathe moments, which Levi appreciated.
在那些呼吸特别困难的时刻，莱特博士确实给了利威尔一个吸入器，利威尔对此表示赞赏。
IT'S A FRIGID NIGHT when the long COVID support group, which now has about 300 members, convenes online and in person exactly one year after its inception.
这是一个寒冷的夜晚，这个拥有约 300 名成员的长期新冠肺炎支持小组在成立一年后，在网上和现场召开了会议。
Levi is there virtually, per usual, in a gray beanie and an olive-green shirt.
利威尔几乎像往常一样戴着灰色无檐小便帽，穿着橄榄绿衬衫。
Dr. Light seems to match him in an olive Patagonia pullover, his glasses reflecting off the screen.
莱特博士似乎与他穿着一件橄榄色巴塔哥尼亚套头衫很相配，他的眼镜反射在屏幕上。
Dr. Light launches the meeting with a presentation on studies related to red light therapy and long COVID—a topic inspired by his conversations with Levi.
Light 博士在会议开始时介绍了与红光疗法和长期新冠病毒相关的研究——这一主题的灵感来自于他与 Levi 的对话。
Both men say they are feeling better, especially compared to the earlier days of long COVID, but are still not 100 percent.
两人都表示，他们感觉好多了，尤其是与长期感染新冠病毒的早期相比，但仍不是 100%。
They both exercise regularly, though Dr. Light sticks to swimming while Levi runs, gets 10,000 steps a day, and does full-body workouts.
他们都定期锻炼，但莱特博士坚持游泳，而利维则坚持跑步，每天走 10,000 步，并进行全身锻炼。
Both know that pushing too much can exhaust them.
两人都知道，过度推动会让他们筋疲力尽。
So can too little sleep.
睡眠过少也是如此。
Levi is less hopeful that modern medicine will find a “cure” for the disease.
莱维对现代医学找到治愈这种疾病的方法不太抱有希望。
“I don’t think doctors are going to be the ones in a lab solving long COVID,” he says.
“我不认为医生会成为实验室里解决长期新冠病毒问题的人，”他说。
“I think it’s going to be people just trying things on themselves and figuring things out—with some of the people who are doing research finding key pieces of the puzzle, but not all of it.” But Dr. Light’s optimism and openness do lift Levi’s spirits.
“我认为人们只是自己尝试并解决问题——一些正在进行研究的人找到了谜题的关键部分，但不是全部。”但莱特博士的乐观和开放确实让李维精神振奋。
Dr. Light is not giving up on science and medicine, despite any potential setbacks that await.
尽管有任何潜在的挫折等待着，莱特博士并没有放弃科学和医学。
Last month, an executive order from the Trump administration demanded that the Department of Health and Human Services terminate the recently established Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Long COVID , which was formed to bring outside expert opinions to the government in order to help shape policies around testing and treatment.
上个月，特朗普政府发布行政命令，要求卫生与公共服务部终止最近成立的长新冠病毒部长咨询委员会，该委员会的成立是为了向政府提供外部专家的意见，以帮助制定有关检测和治疗的政策。
And bills like the Long COVID Research Moonshot Act of 2024 , which would provide the NIH with $1 billion in mandatory funding per year for a decade to support studies, treatments, and the expansion of care for U.S. patients impacted by the condition, will be difficult to pass.
2024 年《长期新冠研究登月法案》等法案将很难通过，该法案将在十年内向 NIH 每年提供 10 亿美元的强制性资金，以支持研究、治疗和扩大对受该疾病影响的美国患者的护理。
With or without government help, people like Levi and Dr. Light will never stop searching for answers.
无论有没有政府的帮助，像莱维和莱特博士这样的人都永远不会停止寻找答案。
Levi wants to do more testing, including getting another echocardiogram; he had one done before contracting COVID and would like a follow-up to see if there are any differences in his heart.
利瓦伊想要做更多测试，包括再做一次超声心动图；他在感染新冠病毒之前曾做过一次检查，并希望进行后续检查，看看他的心脏是否有任何差异。
He also wants to repeat his pulmonary function and microbiome tests.
他还想重复他的肺功能和微生物组测试。
And he’s looking forward to trying vagus nerve stimulators, lung strengtheners, monoclonal antibodies, ozone therapy, and a device that uses audiovisual stimulation and cranial-electrical stimulation to influence brain activity.
他期待着尝试迷走神经刺激器、肺强化剂、单克隆抗体、臭氧疗法以及使用视听刺激和颅电刺激来影响大脑活动的设备。
After the meeting ends, Levi invites Dr. Light to drop by his house one day soon, try out his red light panel, and see if he notices any improvements.
会议结束后，利威尔邀请莱特博士很快有一天去他家，试用他的红光面板，看看他是否注意到任何改进。
Levi swerves his camera to show the panel hanging on his door.
利威尔转动相机，拍摄挂在门上的面板。
Dr. Light smiles and tells Levi he might just take him up on that offer.
Light博士微笑着告诉利威尔他可能会接受他的提议。
If you or your loved ones are living with long COVID and are looking for information and resources on the condition, start here .
如果您或您所爱的人长期患有新冠肺炎，并且正在寻找有关这种情况的信息和资源，请从这里开始。