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It aimed to identify the range of treatments used for self-management, explore the sources of these treatments, factors influencing treatment choices, and associated out-of-pocket expenses. A cross-sectional electronic survey was provided to individuals experiencing long COVID. It included questions on the use of OTC medications, supplements, and other therapies, where they were sourced, decision-making influences, and financial costs. Descriptive statistics and thematic analysis were applied to analyse the data.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Among the 193 surveyed participants, significant use of vitamins, minerals, and herbal treatments (88.8%), and analgesics (73.6%) was reported, with 42% exceeding recommended dosages. Some participants sought relief through alternative therapies such as physiotherapy and acupuncture, often incurring significant personal expenses. Choices about self-management were influenced by medical professionals, family, friends, and online sources, including support groups and social media.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>People with long COVID may access a wide range of OTC medicines, dietary supplements, herbal remedies, and non-pharmacological therapies to self-manage symptoms. Healthcare providers should be aware of the use of non-prescribed therapies among long COVID sufferers and consider these in their treatment plans. Public health policies should focus on providing accurate information and guidance for patients self-managing long COVID symptoms.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1186\/s12889-026-28017-5","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,2]],"date-time":"2026-07-02T06:13:32Z","timestamp":1782972812000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Self-management of long COVID symptoms with over-the-counter medicines and other non-prescribed therapies: a cross-sectional survey"],"prefix":"10.1186","volume":"26","author":[{"given":"Naijie","family":"Guan","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Grace","family":"Turner","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Richard","family":"Hotham","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Daniel","family":"Lange","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kirsty R.","family":"Brown","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Christel","family":"McMullan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sarah E.","family":"Hughes","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Olalekan Lee","family":"Aiyegbusi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Karen","family":"Matthews","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Louise","family":"Jackson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Asma","family":"Yahyouche","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yvonne","family":"Alder","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Felicity","family":"Jeyes","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lewis","family":"Buckland","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Amy","family":"Chong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"David","family":"Stanton","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Melanie","family":"Calvert","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shamil","family":"Haroon","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,2]]},"reference":[{"key":"28017_CR1","unstructured":"Overview | COVID-19 rapid guideline: managing the long-term effects of COVID-19 | Guidance | NICE. 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Available from: https:\/\/pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/articles\/PMC8575536\/.","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cmi.2021.11.002"}],"container-title":["BMC Public Health"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/article\/10.1186\/s12889-026-28017-5","content-type":"text\/html","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/content\/pdf\/10.1186\/s12889-026-28017-5.pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/content\/pdf\/10.1186\/s12889-026-28017-5.pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,22]],"date-time":"2026-09-22T00:29:01Z","timestamp":1790036941000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/10.1186\/s12889-026-28017-5"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,2]]},"references-count":51,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,12]]}},"alternative-id":["28017"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1186\/s12889-026-28017-5","relation":{"has-preprint":[{"id-type":"doi","id":"10.21203\/rs.3.rs-8139408\/v1","asserted-by":"object"}]},"ISSN":["1471-2458"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1471-2458","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,2]]},"assertion":[{"value":"17 November 2025","order":1,"name":"received","label":"Received","group":{"name":"ArticleHistory","label":"Article History"}},{"value":"28 May 2026","order":2,"name":"accepted","label":"Accepted","group":{"name":"ArticleHistory","label":"Article History"}},{"value":"2 July 2026","order":3,"name":"first_online","label":"First Online","group":{"name":"ArticleHistory","label":"Article History"}},{"value":"Ethical approval was obtained from the Solihull Research Ethics Committee, West Midlands (21\/WM\/0203) as part of the wider Therapies for Long COVID (TLC) Study research program (National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR): COV-LT-0013).\u00a0Both verbal and written explanations of the experimental protocol were provided to the participants. The experimental protocol was developed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study, which also included consent for data publication.","order":1,"name":"Ethics","label":"Ethics approval and consent to participate","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Declarations"}},{"value":"Not applicable.","order":2,"name":"Ethics","label":"Consent for publication","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Declarations"}},{"value":"OLA receives funding from the NIHR Birmingham Biomedical Research Centre (BRC), NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC), West Midlands, NIHR Blood and Transplant Research Unit (BTRU) in Precision Transplant and Cellular Therapeutics at the University of Birmingham and University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation, LifeArc, Innovate UK (part of UK Research and Innovation), The Health Foundation, Gilead Sciences Ltd, Merck, Anthony Nolan, GSK, and Sarcoma UK. He declares personal fees from Gilead Sciences, Merck, Innovate UK, and GSK outside the submitted work. SEH receives funding from the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC), West Midlands, NIHR Blood and Transplant Research Unit (BTRU) in Precision Transplant and Cellular Therapeutics at the University of Birmingham, and Anthony Nolan. SEH declares personal fees from Cochlear Ltd and Aparito Ltd outside the submitted work. CM receives funding from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Surgical Reconstruction and Microbiology Research Centre, the NIHR Blood and Transplant Research Unit (BTRU) in Precision Transplant and Cellular Therapeutics, CIS Oncology, Innovate UK, Anthony Nolan and has received personal fees from Aparito Ltd outside the submitted work. SH receives funding from NIHR and UKRI. He has received royalties from commercial licenses for the Symptom Burden Questionnaire TM for Long COVID. He has undertaken paid consultancy work for the Phoenix Group. MJC received personal fees from Astellas, Boehringer Ingelheim, Aparito Ltd, CIS Oncology, Gilead, Halfloop, Takeda, Merck, Daiichi Sankyo, Glaukos, GSK, Vertex and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) outside the submitted work. In addition, a family member owns shares in GSK. MJC receives funding from the NIHR Birmingham Biomedical Research Centre, NIHR Surgical Reconstruction and Microbiology Research Centre, NIHR Blood and Transplant Research Unit (BTRU) in Precision Transplant and Cellular Therapeutics, and NIHR ARC West Midlands at the University of Birmingham and University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, LifeArc, Health Data Research UK, Innovate UK (part of UK Research and Innovation), Macmillan Cancer Support, European Regional Development Fund \u2013 Demand Hub, SPINE UK, UKRI, UCB Pharma, GSK, Anthony Nolan, and Gilead Sciences. All other authors declare no competing interests.","order":3,"name":"Ethics","label":"Competing interests","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Declarations"}}],"article-number":"2643"}}