Long COVID is extremely complex and many people are struggling to recover their health. Our Functional Medicine approach is designed to help you heal.
WHAT IS LONG COVID?
Long COVID is a term to describe the effects of COVID-19 that continue for weeks or months beyond the initial illness. The health watchdog, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), defines long COVID as lasting for more than 12 weeks, although some people consider symptoms that last more than eight weeks to be long COVID.
The symptoms of Long COVID include:
- Fatigue
- Breathlessness or shortness of breath
- Difficulty sleeping
- Anxiety and depression
- Heart palpitations
- Chest tightness or pain
- Joint or muscle pain
- Inability to think straight or focus (‘brain fog’)
- Change to your sense of smell or taste
- Persistent cough
- Dizziness on standing
- Mood changes
Two primary mechanisms may account for long-haul symptoms: persistent immune imbalance and a disturbed gut microbiome. One thing that’s been found in people who haven’t recovered from an acute infection is consistent up-regulation of white blood cells (immune cells). The body is unable to stop acute immune reactions and that creates persistent inflammation in the body.
This up-regulation of immune cells can be traced back to the way COVID inactivates the ACE-2 enzyme. ACE-2 is the doorway the virus uses to enter our cells. It is one of the best tools our body has to control inflammation. With the loss of ACE-2 activity, we have problems with energy metabolism and mitochondria, it can result in cardiac problems, blood clots, stroke, kidney failure, pneumonia, seizures, brain fog, and autoimmune disease.
There are many ACE-2 inhibitors in the GI tract as well, and COVID commonly produces gut dysbiosis (an imbalance of bacteria and microbes in your body). This allows pro-inflammatory bacteria to thrive in the gut microbiome and contributes to other inflammatory symptoms, he says.
At Core Wellness Functional Medicine our goal is to treat and reverse the root cause of symptoms of Long COVID. We have specific programs to address the effects of Long COVID that include:
SPECIFIC TESTING
We use specific tests such as an advanced stool testing test to measure gut dysbiosis, the microbiome and inflammation in your digestive system and nutritional analysis tests to measure your mitochondria, your detox systems, and your amino acids.
INFLAMMATION AND AUTOIMMUNE IMBALANCE
Our approach focuses on reducing inflammation in your body and supporting your immune system. This allows your body to respond better to treatment decreasing the risk for relapse.
NUTRITION
We use nutrition and food as medicine to reduce inflammation, improve gastrointestinal health, rebalance the microbiome, and support the immune system, enabling other COVID therapies to be more effective.
