The Long Haul: Part 2
Here the top contributing clinical factors with long haulers along with the most current data on Long-Covid:
As seen clinically by myself and other doctors who are familiar with treating long haulers (from any/all viruses):
It turns on a chronic cytokine activation, inflammatory process in the body via persistent immune activation
Persistence of viral load and/or potential chronic reactivation of the viral load
Mitochondrial damage
Persistent auto-antibodies leading to autoimmune presentation
All of this leads to eventual immune “burn out”
Co-infections are not held at bay and allowed to surface/resurface
Inflammation trigged in the brain leads to persistent “down stream” neurologically driven, system-wide issues
The term ‘post-viral syndrome’ is a catch-all term for the wide range of health symptoms that are present ≥4 weeks after infection.
Reality is, as it’s been for me personally and for the many patients I’ve seen in my career, that some people don’t snap back fast after a particularly nasty virus. Sometimes it’s a slow, long haul back to optimal vitality.