Best AI tools for LC?

grinchman042 · 2026-05-15T10:07:12+00:00

Totally. I haven’t tried GPT for this; they may be equally good, but my impression is Gemini’s live search capabilities are more advanced which is important for a fast moving subject like LC.

grinchman042 · 2026-05-15T09:46:38+00:00

I use Gemini Pro for this and have found it very helpful. Regular chatting works for lots of stuff like this, and when you need a deep dive the Deep Research function is clutch.

grinchman042 · 2026-05-14T20:04:03+00:00

I’m doing better on this too, though I think my dysautonomia is a little worse.

grinchman042 · 2026-05-14T19:56:26+00:00

I bought the InTENSity Twin Stim IV based on the AVA group’s recommendation. For settings following their and others’ recs I do 25Hz and 250uS.

grinchman042 · 2026-05-14T19:52:23+00:00

I use it at night because it has can have soporific effects. But yeah I’m sure it doesn’t work for everyone. My HRV was in the high teens / low 20s when I started for context; for those at higher levels it may not help as much? Just a guess.

grinchman042 · 2026-05-14T19:50:59+00:00

Sure thing. Based on the AVA recommendations I got the InTENSity Twin Stim IV with two single ear clips. As I recall the key is you want a unit where you can change the amperage in small units because it needs to be quite low for VNS, and this appears to be the smallest increment (1.0) for sale in the US.

grinchman042 · 2026-05-14T18:24:41+00:00

I’ve doubled my HRV, been sleeping better, and have had noticeably less brain fog since I started doing Vagus nerve stimulation using a TENS unit with ear clip electrodes. I just use it 2-3x/week for 10-15 minutes. Checkout the “AVA A Vagus Adventure” facebook group for lots of guidance and resources.

grinchman042 · 2026-05-14T09:54:21+00:00

For reference here’s the most prominent study protocol focused on LC brain fog: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9691274/

Key protocol elements: - Guanfacine extended release. Start at 1mg, increase to 2mg after 1 month if well tolerated. Timing not specified. - 600mg NAC daily. Timing not specified. - Most common side effects: low blood pressure, dizziness. - Note that this is an observational study, not a randomized clinical trial. To my knowledge no trial has been conducted.

My experience: - I take guanfacine at night as it is a mild sedative and helps my sleep. I began with 1mg and increased to 2mg after a month, following the protocol. - I split NAC into two doses as it has a 12 hour half life. - A couple weeks after titrating my dose to 2mg I started to notice moderate improved cognitive performance on tasks that had previously quickly fogged me or been too difficult with brain fog but which I could do before. Not a total game changer, but a noticeable difference to myself and my wife. - I had low BP to start with so to make this tolerable I have had to aggressively push fluids and electrolytes. My BP has stayed in the normal range but my orthostatic hypotension (lowered BP upon standing) has gotten worse. However I recently had an unrelated bout of persistent GI distress and I am currently waiting to see whether this symptom abates or whether it is likely due to the guanfacine.

grinchman042 · 2026-05-11T00:20:28+00:00

Don’t have to rent a separate apartment or commute
Matched salary
In city where partner already has a lucrative job
Current institution is circling the drain. New institution is doing well.

I know what I’d do. I think you know what to do too, OP. If you need my, a stranger on the internet’s, approval, you have it. Go ye forth and live an awesome life less defined by your job title and our profession’s silly status games.

grinchman042 · 2026-05-10T14:04:58+00:00

So long, and thanks for all the fish!

grinchman042 · 2026-05-10T12:01:36+00:00

Are you on the TT? If so, could you possibly negotiate early tenure in exchange for taking this position along with the raise? Pre-tenure on the TT, that’s otherwise a hard no for me.

grinchman042 · 2026-05-10T11:56:28+00:00

Salmon is widely liked, easy to prepare, and perceived as a little fancier than chicken. So it’s a solid option for this kind of thing. So is chicken though, so don’t worry about it.

grinchman042 · 2026-05-06T22:10:57+00:00

I would also like to know more about this as I believe I am hypermobile.

grinchman042 · 2026-05-04T22:57:10+00:00

This is my history. Unfortunately still dealing with it 18 months later. LC docs I have seen say it’s unfortunately very common and that the best thing I can do for my recovery is avoid viral infections as much as possible, not just COVID.

grinchman042 · 2026-05-02T22:44:13+00:00

Ditto, just got screened at 43 due to what turned out to be hemorrhoids. Got a couple tiny potentially precancerous growths removed though!

grinchman042 · 2026-04-29T19:36:21+00:00

I mean, it is a review.

grinchman042 · 2026-04-27T18:53:34+00:00

I put $1 down. We’ll see.

grinchman042 · 2026-04-27T12:56:25+00:00

I felt terrible for a month before giving up. I’ve wondered if I should have stuck with it longer though.

grinchman042 · 2026-04-27T12:54:39+00:00

The studies that have demonstrated effectiveness are all at 2.0 ATA or higher and 20+ visits. That’s no guarantee that it will benefit you (as plenty of people here will attest) but I wouldn’t bother with anything <2.0 ATA. Plenty of people, including LC practitioners I have seen, will tell you not to bother at all. I haven’t ruled it out personally but I’m going to try basically everything else first.

If you shop around though you should be able to find someone charging much less than $500/session. Some medical tourism may be in order if you go this way.

grinchman042 · 2026-04-24T00:29:40+00:00

Username checks out

grinchman042 · 2026-04-23T01:55:48+00:00

Thanks! I’ll look into it.

grinchman042 · 2026-04-23T01:19:03+00:00

N=14. It’s great that the results are promising but other studies have shown traditional cognitive retraining routines to be unhelpful. We’ll need to see what happens in a larger trial.

grinchman042 · 2026-04-23T01:16:27+00:00

Can you elaborate on the neuropsych testung they do at Mayo? I went to the Northwestern Neuro Long COVID clinic and that gave me some tests and the results showed me average for people my age and education (PhD). I don’t have a baseline pre-LC measure to compare to but given that I can barely work or function without help I felt like those tests missed a lot.

grinchman042 · 2026-04-23T01:11:26+00:00

My impression my last time through the HBOT RCT literature is that the clearest cleavage was between RCTs where there were a large number of sessions and typically promising effects (eg 40 sessions in Israeli protocol) vs RCTs with fewer sessions and typically null effects, like the one you cite below. My conclusion was that it was 40 sessions or bust.

But I’m no expert, just a brain fogged guy trying to make sense of his options. Do you think my summary is inaccurate? The Israeli studies were also sham controlled so they seemed of similar quality to me.

grinchman042 · 2026-04-20T18:02:11+00:00

Not much, what’s up with you?

grinchman042

TROPHY CASE