LONG COVID IS BACK

The syndrome of symptoms that follows an acute infection with COVID-19 has been recognized for over a year. Lately, this prolonged disability has been in the news once again because of increasing infections by COVID variants in the United States and around the world.

The primary symptoms are overwhelming fatigue, cognitive disorders including memory loss, neurological problems like pain, heart palpitations, muscle aches, sleep disorders, and shortness of breath. Breathing difficulties are the least surprising considering this virus initially invades the sinuses and the lungs, causing a severe inflammatory reaction.

Except for the respiratory issues, the Long Covid symptoms are the same as those seen in other chronic mystery illnesses. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Persistent Lyme Disease, Fibromyalgia, the Yeast Syndrome (also known as Candida), and prolonged headache all exhibit these maladies. The same problems become evident after surgery, acute trauma, and shocking life events like sudden loss of a loved one.

Not only do these illnesses share similar symptoms, unremitting courses, and disabilities, they also appear after apparent resolution of another disease. Infection, heart attack, stroke, and unexpected lifestyle change precede these manifestations. Though the patient presents with multiple complaints, findings on physical examination and laboratory testing are normal.

Why should similar symptom complexes follow acute stresses? This should not be surprising. There are a limited number of ways the body can respond to infectious, traumatic, or noxious assaults. It behooves us to identify and understand why similar outcomes result from different predecessors.  

Understanding begins with an appropriately named diagnosis.   

Because these diseases materialize from an instigating event, they should be considered and studied together as “After-Illnesses.” This characterization allows consideration for what they have in common as we search for a treatable etiology. The after-illness by other names has been observed for hundreds if not thousands of years. Our bodies do not recover well when the insult is grave. Older people are more likely to have chronic symptoms following an acute disease.

Diagnoses proposed to explain the after-illness include depression with neurotransmitter deficiencies, autoimmune disease, new or unresolved infection from a virus or other microorganism, inflammatory activation, and subclinical organ damage. More than one of these processes may be present in a single patient. Their possible etiologic contributions to the after-illness should be investigated. Research into Long COVID is currently focused on these diagnoses.

These mysterious after-illnesses include some – like Chronic Lyme Disease and the Yeast Syndrome – that are not recognized in the medical scientific literature. It is time to reverse this thinking and be more open to new ideas.

Common and nearly identical sequelae following disparate triggers strongly suggest a shared etiology. In fact, all of these after-illnesses arise from the same pathogenesis.

Medical science has focused on the initial infection to explain Long COVID and other post infectious disease symptoms. However, the truth is revealed by examining the normal deteriorative processes of the body. This decline invites the chronic illness to take hold. 

Micronutrient depletion causing intracellular inadequacy and malfunction increases susceptibility to the after-illness. This deficiency is the common thread uniting all these conditions. 

In my 40+ years as a primary care physician, I successfully treated hundreds of patients for these after-illnesses. People consulted me after seeing many other primary care and specialty physicians. My initial therapy consisted of high-dose nutritional supplementation. I was pleased and surprised when patients’ long standing fatigue and other problems improved after ingesting comprehensive vitamin and mineral supplements.

My experience taught me that depletion of intracellular vitamins and minerals contributes to the development of after-illnesses, including Long COVID. Cellular nutrient inadequacy is not the only factor, but it is an important one.

My personal experience in treating this problem is supported by observations of patterns of function and metabolism in the human body. Research into a single defined disease helps to explain the underlying nature of the after-illness.  

Osteoporosis, a disease of deficient bone calcium concentration, is a model for how we metabolize all the micronutrients. Medical research has given us an extensive grasp of the biological bases and dysfunctions involved in osteoporosis. Wisdom gained about this disease  reveals insight of the essence of the after-illness. 

The specific lessons are that tissue depletion of calcium can be a natural consequence of living, the blood level of calcium does not reflect bone density, and very high doses of calcium and vitamin D supplements are required to prevent and to treat this condition. It is an easy disease to study using readily available data from blood and radiographic imaging. Calcium concentration in osseous tissue can be reliably estimated from a bone density scan. 

Measuring tissue levels of every other vitamin and mineral is not so easy.

Our metabolic processes are governed by a relatively few patterns of function. The pattern illustrated by osteoporosis can be generalized to other vitamins and minerals.  Therefore, we can use our knowledge of this disease as a model for how micronutrients behave in the body. The metabolism of all these substances mirrors that of calcium.

All micronutrients become depleted in the tissues, even while maintaining normal blood concentrations. 

Diagnosing muscle or nerve depletion of a vitamin or mineral requires a biopsy. Because of the risk of infectious complications from this procedure, data about intracellular levels is lacking. Micronutrients other than calcium are evaluated using readily obtainable blood measurements. Yet the osteoporosis model – proving that blood levels do not reflect tissue quantities – argues against this approach. 

Knowledge of osteoporosis suggests that measurements of quantities of vitamins and minerals in the blood remain normal despite low tissue concentrations. We cannot use serum calcium to diagnose bone calcium loss. Therefore, we cannot accept the blood concentration of any micronutrient to determine their muscle, nerve, or other tissue levels. 

This analysis combined with my experience supportss the presumption that intracellular vitamins and minerals are reduced over time. Life’s traumas, illnesses, and stresses reduce the quantities of these important substances. These deficiencies cause cells and organs to lose their power to function and resist disease. A milieu is created wherein an after-illness readily arises. 

An instigator like COVID-19, Lyme, heart attack, or surgery precipitates onset of the debilitating after-illness. Developing an after-illness is facilitated by biologic weakness brought on by cellular micronutrient deficiency. This inadequacy develops in the normal course of living.

There is a widespread belief that the food supply should be adequate for the needs of our bodies. This assumption has no teleological or scientific basis. It is not true, as the following discussion illustrates.

All animal life evolved based upon the available opportunities to acquire adequate sustenance. The evolutionary imperative ensuring survival of the species dictates that we live long enough for our progeny to become independent. To accomplish this goal, humans must survive to about age 40. Naturally obtainable food is sufficient to provide only what our bodies require to reach this goal. Human evolution went as far as the available food supply permitted. 

Preventing diseases of old age is not part of that evolutionary imperative. If we are expecting to age in good health, we cannot depend upon food that was meant to get us to age 40. Reasonable food intake cannot provide the amounts of micronutrients to maintain cellular vigor. The standard recommendation to treat or prevent osteoporosis is about 1,500 mg. of calcium and 1,000 units of Vitamin D daily beginning in the teenage years. This quantity from food translates into drinking 3 glasses of milk a day every day. And that is just to maintain intracellular calcium.

Every vitamin and mineral requires the support of all the micronutrients for proper cellular functioning. They all work together. This concept is consistent with the broader understanding that everything in life is related. From microscopic to telescopic observation, it is clear we live in an interdependent universe. Obtaining equivalent amounts of all these substances from food would demand an unreasonable calorie intake. Considering just the obesity consequences, this is not a practical solution. To compensate, we innovate and adjust by producing nutritional supplements.

Beginning at birth, we age and we build. Development predominates over decline. Around age 30, this dynamic reverses. Youthful blossoming decelerates, losing the ability to overcome the ravages of life. Adolescent vigor is no longer sufficient to maintain intracellular micronutrient levels. That is a crucial reason why we peak physically at age 30. 

The natural food supply does not contain the excess needed to slow deterioration. We evolved in this earthly environment, which provided the nutrients ensuring survival of our species. Our needs were to make it to age 40.

The supplement I prescribed (Basic Preventive 5 by Douglas Laboratories) contains the necessary constituents and doses in my recommended 6 tablets a day, taken in divided doses. 

If you get an upset stomach, reduce the quantity. The yellow color of urine is from the Para-Aminobenzoic Acid, and is not harmful.

Dietary supplements are only beginning to be prescribed by medical doctors. The choice of treatment is most often a single pill a day.  

Medical science claimed to prove that dietary supplements were useless, except in documented deficiency diseases like osteoporosis and pernicious anemia. Research into depletions of other vitamins and minerals consisted of single nutrient manipulation to show whether increased consumption was effective. 

This study model was deemed appropriate despite reality dictating that micronutrients have always been taken together. These substances work together for optimal function. Every component in the human body requires an association with all the other constituents. Taken together, as supplied by food, is the natural way these nutrients do their metabolic work. 

The quantities in the food are inadequate to help us live healthier and longer lives.

The problem in Long COVID and other after-illnesses is cellular depletion of vitamins and minerals. 

A single daily vitamin pill is far from what is needed to maintain cellular levels throughout life. It is better than no supplementation. For optimal effectiveness, I advise the quantities available in a 6-a-day multivitamin/multimineral supplement, taken in 2-3 doses, with food. Vitamin A toxicity precludes taking 6 pills of a once-a-day supplement. Ideally, this program begins in childhood. Personal tolerance, but not preference or convenience, should dictate how many of the six pills can be ingested. 

It’s never too late to begin building up your cellular micronutrient reserve. Whether your goal is prevention, replenishment, or healing, this is the program for you.