If you follow the news, you know that patients with the most severe and long-lasting COVID-19 symptoms are those with underlying chronic medical conditions, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, heart disease, lung disease, and neurological disorders. The common denominator of all these conditions is inflammation, the result of immune system dysfunction that can often be traced to an underlying condition called increased intestinal permeability (aka leaky gut or leaky gut syndrome). Taking a step back for a moment, the quotation that, “all disease begins in the gut” is commonly attributed to Hippocrates, the ancient Greek physician commonly referred to as the Father of Medicine. And modern medicine mostly dismissed that claim — until recently. Today, most medical experts recognize the integral relationship between the gut and the immune system and the vital role that the gut plays in defending the body against infectious diseases. By several estimates, about […]
COVID Long Haul
COVID-19 is persistent in more ways than one. What some people initially believed would be a 15-day lockdown is now well into a second year. According to current statistics, the world has recorded more than 190 million confirmed cases resulting in more than four million deaths. Of those, the U.S. claims more than 34 million confirmed cases resulting in more than 609,000 deaths. In our state of Florida, we’ve had nearly 2.5 million confirmed cases resulting in slightly fewer than 39,000 deaths. Most of those infected experience mild to moderate symptoms and fully recover within a couple of weeks. Unfortunately, about 10 percent of those infected — even those with only mild or no symptoms initially, suffer long after the usual two-week recovery period and even after they’ve tested negative for the virus. These “long haulers” commonly experience one or more of the following symptoms, some of which can be