(July 11, 2023)
Long-COVID is a group of health problems that either persist or begin after a typical COVID recovery period (3 months after onset), and is long-term, multi-system, and often severe. CDC COVID statistics say over 6 million Americans have been hospitalized from it and over 1 million have died (almost 400 times the deaths from the “9-11” attacks). Unvaccinated status has 6 times the risk of developing COVID and 14 times the risk of dying from it. (Most severe cases are spread from contact with someone with mild or minimal symptoms.)
The most common Long-COVID symptoms are fatigue, shortness of breath, and memory problems (with possible increased future dementia risk). Every body system can be affected (to different degrees depending on previous health status, with poor health such as diabetes dramatically increasing risk of severity). These symptoms impact daily functioning, resulting in increased numbers of people staying off work or leaving their jobs, often due to chronic fatigue and low energy.
So many parts of the body are affected because of immune system malfunction; Long-COVID starts to act like an autoimmune disease in arteries, damaging everything else, including the immune system’s “memory function” which we depend on to protect against future recurrences. Long-COVID prevalence is estimated at 5-50% (tens of millions of Americans), depending on definition of diagnosis and severity. There are no standard lab tests for diagnosis, and no drug treatments for it. (You can’t repair biological damage with drug molecules that don’t exist in nature, because the body is made from nutrient molecules that do exist in nature.)
Although Long-COVID is less likely if the initial infection was milder, it can occur even after non-apparent initial cases. It overlaps with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and both can involve reactivation of old Epstein-Barr Virus (in the Herpes family of viruses, which hibernate lifelong in the nervous system).
Health factors with increased risk include diabetes, overweight, insulin resistance, hypertension, and lung disease, which are all mediated by biochemical inflammation. Lifestyle factors include poor nutrition, smoking, stress, and poor sleep (under 8 hours). (Sugar & high-carb diets increase risk even without diabetes.) The best lifestyle defense is to stay healthy (healthful “organic diet”, exercise, low stress, don’t smoke, low alcohol, and good-quality sleep).
People often ask about COVID nutritional supplements. Studies show help from antioxidants such as Vitamin C up to 2000 mg daily spread throughout the day, and Astaxanthin 1 gelcap daily (a potent oil-soluble antioxidant that penetrates cell membranes). Oil of oregano mobilizes the immune system quicker (take one gelcap immediately at onset of any viral symptoms; available at Sprouts Market; keep refrigerated for freshness). Other supportive nutrients (buy good quality) include vitamin D3 (keep blood levels of 25-OH D3 up to 50s or 60s), Magnesium, Zinc, and Selenium. (Minerals should be in chelated form for bioavailability, not as “oxide”. Anti-acid drugs interfere with absorption.)