This Sugar Cured One Woman’s Long Covid Symptoms
"No more exhaustion or staring longingly out the window. I am back to living my life to the fullest!”
Although she beat the virus, Tammy Krotz was plagued by lingering, debilitating fatigue and brain fog. Doctors told her she just had to learn to live with it, but Tammy refused — and found a simple natural cure for her long Covid that restored her life.
Did he really just say I should see a therapist? Tammy Krotz stared at the doctor in stunned disbelief. The Hiawatha, Iowa, special-ed teacher had been suffering for months with extreme exhaustion and brain fog. It started a few weeks after recovering from a mild case of COVID-19.
Tammy’s regular doctor explained she had long-haul COVID, in which people experience a range of health issues — trouble breathing, fatigue, inability to focus, coughing, headache and more — weeks and months after recovering from COVID.
Hoping the symptoms would pass, Tammy tried to push through. She dragged herself to work and did little else. The woman who had regularly walked 3 to 4 miles a day struggled to go 100 feet.
Her sister shopped and prepared meals for her because Tammy slept from 4 pm, when she got home from school, until her alarm chirped at 6 am the next morning. Tammy watched as autumn, then the holidays rolled by with no improvement.
Confused, frightened and frustrated, in February 2021, she made an appointment at the COVID clinic at the University of Iowa to be evaluated by their experts. But instead of offering help, the doctors told her there was no treatment or hope for her recovery. They said she needed to “modify her expectations about her new, restricted life” and suggested counseling. No, I won’t accept this, Tammy thought fiercely.
An amazing solution
Tammy began searching for options and discovered an online interview with energy specialist and internist Jacob Teitelbaum, M.D., author of From Fatigued to Fantastic! , in which he cited D-ribose supplements having been found to restore energy in people suffering from chronic fatigue.
D-ribose, Tammy learned, is a simple sugar found naturally in our bodies. When consumed, it is preserved by the body for the vital work of making the energy molecule that powers our heart, muscles, brain and other tissues. One study she read showed that taking D-ribose for just one week stimulated energy recovery by 45 percent.
“D-ribose improves sleep and mental clarity, plus boosts energy”
—Jacob Teitelbaum, M.D.
Hopeful, Tammy began taking 1 1 ⁄4 tsp. of S.H.I.N.E. D-ribose powder ($26 for 56 servings, EndFatigue.com) in a glass of water in the morning and another at lunch. She paired it with a supplement of ashwagandha and rhodiola, both energy boosters, three times a day. Within just a couple of weeks, the overwhelming brain fog and fatigue she had battled for 10 months finally started to lift.
Tammy was thrilled to be able to do her own shopping and cooking. She felt more alert and energetic than she had in nearly a year and was hopeful about her future. Two months later, Tammy was strong enough to take a girls’ trip and happily walked and dined with her sister and niece, joyful to be feeling so great and present again.
Today, Tammy still takes D-ribose and feels amazing. “I had been filled with despair at the thought of having to live a diminished life,” the 57-year-old shares. “Now, I’m filled with excitement. No more exhaustion or staring longingly out the window. I am back to living my life to the fullest!”
A version of this article originally appeared in our print magazine, Woman’s World.
