This modified excerpt from Version 8 of my COVID Guide is a review of the science that will be useful to anyone trying to understand the causes of long-COVID.
Chris, I would love to order ‘The Covid Guide’ for a family member with lingering lung issues but the Shopify link won’t allow an order. Please advise, thank you much.
Do you have any thoughts on astaxanthin for long covid? I've seen some good results when it has been added - perhaps due to it's fibrolytic capacity, effect on superoxide and immune modulation... But reading this now I question whether it may interfere with antigen clearance. It does seem to reduce inflammation and oxidative stress while increasing certain b & t cell populations without increasing cytotoxic T cells, al least according to this study.
Nice. I have exited the COVID topic, and what I believe is most important is in the protocol, but I support you and others exploring and using my guide for insights.
With long Covid, could there be an explanation for plasma pH at 8.5 and simultaneously urine pH at 6.8? They were measured a couple of days apart, so maybe it fluctuated, but theoretically is it possible that they differ?
I’m of the opinion it isn’t very productive to look for explanations for something specific to long-COVID. It’s normal for urine and plasma pH to differ. And your urine pH is normal. The question is why plasma was so implausibly alkaline and whether there was any measurement error. Why was it measured in the first place (that’s rare) and who measured it?
Hi Chris, how would you check and address potential STAT3 / leptin resistance in Long Covid (strong loss of satiety signalling coupled with rapid weight gain on an otherwise health-conscious whole-foods Mediterranean diet, low-to-moderate protein intake, normal-to-optimal standard blood panel)? Fatigue and rapid exercise exhaustion is an issue as are waves of severe pain in feet and hands. Loss of smell and taste for over 1y but slowly improving. Thank you!
I’m not sure what you mean by check. Inflammation raises STAT3 and leptin resistance. I don’t think you need to test intermediates in the molecular mechanisms or treat it any differently than any other case of weight gain.
The other symptoms sound very much like zinc and iron. Have you tried my protocol for any of this?
That can both be completely true, yet not very useful.
The reality is inflammation is going to have a huge overlap in symptoms even if driven by diverse causes, and many of those are not even best addressed by trying to calm inflammation.
Case in point, overweight itself causes inflammation that itself drives leptin resistance, and the best approach is to reduce food palatability and establish a sustainable caloric deficit.
All inflammation no matter the cause will lead to iron sequestration. If sustained long enough, the inflammation can go away, and the iron remains sequestered. The solution is to liberate the iron or to supplement iron, to in either case raise bioavailable iron.
A pathogen-specific model is not always — and I would venture to say is usually not — the best way to understand persistent problems after an infection.
In essence, are you saying not to worry about the microclotting? My d-dimer has been between 1900 and 3400 for over 11 months. That has been my primary focus and now my vision is deteriorating and I have developed many floaters. I was attributing it to microclotting. Bilirubin, glucose, cholesterol all persistently high. Iron and ferritin normal, but I can see what you are suggesting in the early phases affecting it and I think I had a propensity for anemia pre-covid, funny how that has resolved but these other things have not. I'll have to re-read you suggestions but what are your thoughts on antivirals including TCM?
I don't think there is anything specific about COVID beyond that it does the things discussed above, and as such all symptoms should be presumed to flow from those causes until suggested otherwise. So, for example, if your iron status is anemic and you have foamy urine, you shouldn't be trying to find the cause the foamy urine, you should just fix the anemia and see if it goes away. If it doesn't, you look for the next thing that makes sense. There are too many things that can go wrong with metabolism if anything simple is present as a cause, such as anemia, or such as the pore-forming toxin effect of the spike protein, that it is not productive to use a symptom-based approach that is so granular it tries to find the specific proximate cause of each symptom.
I actually tracked down the testing kit they designed for the study but I'm negative.
Also working with a top Covid research team that diagnosed me with inactive viral persistance (s1 fragments of the original infection) which I have been treated for and foam didn't go away. Other symptoms did.
We'll see how my investigation on this turns out. This foam thing is new to them too.
I read the abstract, and I see nothing in it proposing this is mediated by live virus.
From the abstract, it appears to provide no information at all on the cause of foam.
It’s almost certainly the case you do not have live virus in your urinary tract. Possible? Sure. Not likely at all though.
I stand by what I said earlier. The list of things in that previous paper could *easily* be invoked to be caused what is in your urine as a result of COVID.
I agree it doesn't seem likely that I have a live virus given that I've tested myself for that using the exact same method they did.
This is the punchline from that study:
"The peptides of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) (the cause of COVID-19 in humans) and the metabolites of specific chemical reactions caused by the virus are excreted in the urine"
I'll do the tests first.
Then we'll probably be having another appointment :)
Sometimes the foamy urine can be caused by the circulation of free-fatty acids that are excreted in the urine. Vitamin B3 reduces its circulation. If you take some vitamin B3 (niacinamide will do it, without creating any skin flushing the way regular niacin might), you could quickly check if it helps.
Great overview, thank you. I take my hat off to you for writing about complex issues in a way that is enjoyable and very easy to understand.
Chris, I would love to order ‘The Covid Guide’ for a family member with lingering lung issues but the Shopify link won’t allow an order. Please advise, thank you much.
Thanks Chris..this is a goldmine of information.
Do you have any thoughts on astaxanthin for long covid? I've seen some good results when it has been added - perhaps due to it's fibrolytic capacity, effect on superoxide and immune modulation... But reading this now I question whether it may interfere with antigen clearance. It does seem to reduce inflammation and oxidative stress while increasing certain b & t cell populations without increasing cytotoxic T cells, al least according to this study.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2845588/
Nice. I have exited the COVID topic, and what I believe is most important is in the protocol, but I support you and others exploring and using my guide for insights.
Of course Chris - you've dedicated a lot to helping covid. Looking forward to Vitamins and Minerals 101!
Thanks!
With long Covid, could there be an explanation for plasma pH at 8.5 and simultaneously urine pH at 6.8? They were measured a couple of days apart, so maybe it fluctuated, but theoretically is it possible that they differ?
I’m of the opinion it isn’t very productive to look for explanations for something specific to long-COVID. It’s normal for urine and plasma pH to differ. And your urine pH is normal. The question is why plasma was so implausibly alkaline and whether there was any measurement error. Why was it measured in the first place (that’s rare) and who measured it?
No mention whatsoever of orthostatic intolerance anywhere. Impossible to talk about Long Covid without even covering one of its main issues.
Hi Chris, how would you check and address potential STAT3 / leptin resistance in Long Covid (strong loss of satiety signalling coupled with rapid weight gain on an otherwise health-conscious whole-foods Mediterranean diet, low-to-moderate protein intake, normal-to-optimal standard blood panel)? Fatigue and rapid exercise exhaustion is an issue as are waves of severe pain in feet and hands. Loss of smell and taste for over 1y but slowly improving. Thank you!
I’m not sure what you mean by check. Inflammation raises STAT3 and leptin resistance. I don’t think you need to test intermediates in the molecular mechanisms or treat it any differently than any other case of weight gain.
The other symptoms sound very much like zinc and iron. Have you tried my protocol for any of this?
Ok, thx Chris. The iron and zinc protocol is first thing on the to-do-list.
All of your symptoms have been linked to post-covid mast cell activation.
That can both be completely true, yet not very useful.
The reality is inflammation is going to have a huge overlap in symptoms even if driven by diverse causes, and many of those are not even best addressed by trying to calm inflammation.
Case in point, overweight itself causes inflammation that itself drives leptin resistance, and the best approach is to reduce food palatability and establish a sustainable caloric deficit.
All inflammation no matter the cause will lead to iron sequestration. If sustained long enough, the inflammation can go away, and the iron remains sequestered. The solution is to liberate the iron or to supplement iron, to in either case raise bioavailable iron.
A pathogen-specific model is not always — and I would venture to say is usually not — the best way to understand persistent problems after an infection.
In essence, are you saying not to worry about the microclotting? My d-dimer has been between 1900 and 3400 for over 11 months. That has been my primary focus and now my vision is deteriorating and I have developed many floaters. I was attributing it to microclotting. Bilirubin, glucose, cholesterol all persistently high. Iron and ferritin normal, but I can see what you are suggesting in the early phases affecting it and I think I had a propensity for anemia pre-covid, funny how that has resolved but these other things have not. I'll have to re-read you suggestions but what are your thoughts on antivirals including TCM?
No I am not saying that. COVID Guide Version 8 has a protocol that addresses clotting.
Anything about post-covid constant foam in urine which isn't protein and doesn't seem to be kidney related?
See here for causes of foamy urine:
https://cjasn.asnjournals.org/content/14/11/1664
If nothing shows up on standard urinalysis, urine amino acids and organic acids might help identify it.
I've actually seen that study. Just wasn't sure if Covid can cause any of these conditions or did it cause something new unknown to science yet..
24h collection was normal for Protein/Albumin/Creatinine/Urea. Twice.
I guess I'll try a microscopic exam and then proceed to an amino acid breakdown as you suggested.
I don't think there is anything specific about COVID beyond that it does the things discussed above, and as such all symptoms should be presumed to flow from those causes until suggested otherwise. So, for example, if your iron status is anemic and you have foamy urine, you shouldn't be trying to find the cause the foamy urine, you should just fix the anemia and see if it goes away. If it doesn't, you look for the next thing that makes sense. There are too many things that can go wrong with metabolism if anything simple is present as a cause, such as anemia, or such as the pore-forming toxin effect of the spike protein, that it is not productive to use a symptom-based approach that is so granular it tries to find the specific proximate cause of each symptom.
I don't know if you've seen this study
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33381691/
It explains how a live Covid virus causes foam.
I actually tracked down the testing kit they designed for the study but I'm negative.
Also working with a top Covid research team that diagnosed me with inactive viral persistance (s1 fragments of the original infection) which I have been treated for and foam didn't go away. Other symptoms did.
We'll see how my investigation on this turns out. This foam thing is new to them too.
I read the abstract, and I see nothing in it proposing this is mediated by live virus.
From the abstract, it appears to provide no information at all on the cause of foam.
It’s almost certainly the case you do not have live virus in your urinary tract. Possible? Sure. Not likely at all though.
I stand by what I said earlier. The list of things in that previous paper could *easily* be invoked to be caused what is in your urine as a result of COVID.
I agree it doesn't seem likely that I have a live virus given that I've tested myself for that using the exact same method they did.
This is the punchline from that study:
"The peptides of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) (the cause of COVID-19 in humans) and the metabolites of specific chemical reactions caused by the virus are excreted in the urine"
I'll do the tests first.
Then we'll probably be having another appointment :)
Sometimes the foamy urine can be caused by the circulation of free-fatty acids that are excreted in the urine. Vitamin B3 reduces its circulation. If you take some vitamin B3 (niacinamide will do it, without creating any skin flushing the way regular niacin might), you could quickly check if it helps.
That’s a good self test. It wouldn’t have perfect specificity but it would help point in the right direction.