Long Covid
You’ve probably heard people talk about Long Covid, but what is it and why does it linger?
Our Immune systems do an incredible job at protecting our bodies from pathogenic material which we then must excrete via detox pathways so the immune system will then decompress & recover.
Have you or someone you know had Covid recently and feel as though you never completely recovered? Common symptoms include persistent brain fog, fatigue, poor concentration or memory problems perhaps even shortness of breath, heart palpitations or skin conditions such as psoriasis or eczema.
The common denominator in all these presentations is unregulated chronic inflammation due to the persistence of pathogenic material beyond the acute infection. This is not exclusive to COVID and applies to various viruses, bacteria and pathogens and contributes to an individual’s “viral load”.
Those that are presenting with long Covid symptoms in clinic often already had a pre-existing viral load.
When the body has been dealing with a viral load for an extended period the body develops hard-wired immune responses to cope. However, long-term this can result in unregulated inflammation so when another infection occurs (in this case COVID) the inflammation is exacerbated, and symptoms become more apparent.
To resolve the issue, the body increases the immune response to these pathogens.
These changes are observed under a microscope where we see increased production of eosinophils, neutrophils, and fibrin.
A by-product of normal hard-wired immune responses is histamine.
Histamine is the key player in mast cell activation and the single biggest contributor to chronic inflammation, especially in the circumstances where the presentation is primarily via the skin.
Our approach to Long Covid aims to restore the adaptive capacity of the immune system. As a result, flexibility is restored as you’re able to manage a viral load with more ease and completely recover.