We have come full circle again to needing discernment so this is a perfect time to reprint a blog article from 2020. My latest updated thoughts are included at the end.
It takes guts to admit when you are wrong. I humbly admit that I finally agree with Dr. Fauci on something. Okay, if you don’t know already, I am very frustrated with the flip-flopping of our so called medical experts in government. Dr. Fauci has gone back and forth on multiple topics, but I think he hit the nail on the head this time. Given that I know he won’t take his latest position (at time of writing) to its logical conclusions, let me add this post to finish off Post COVID Syndrome.
COVID 19 has dominated the news headlines, family conversations, and social media warfare for months now. While I am frustrated with medical expert flip-flopping, some of their challenge is the novelty of this disease and our attempts to learn more about it as it plays out in our current reality. Every week touts new discoveries, links, and hopes for therapies.
One of those discoveries is highlighted in the linked article. Dr. Fauci and other experts describe the constellation of symptoms some patient experience after COVID 19 viral infection. They describe brain fog, fatigue, concentration difficulties, and other symptoms. They even connect this syndrome with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome – CFS (now called myalgic encephalomyelitis-ME) and admit that this disease occurs after other viral infections.
Now, back up for a moment and realize that functional medicine doctors like myself have been treating this constellation of symptoms for years. For us, this is not shocking. The post exertional fatigue, the sleep disturbances, and the mood disturbances are daily reports in patients coming to us when conventional medicine has not answered their question… “why?”
Fast forward to today and read as the experts explain how increased cytokines may be infiltrating into the brain through leaky blood brain barriers. Read how they hypothesize on inflammatory cytokines as they affect the body and brain. Read how they consider the theory that mitochondrial dysfunction or the brain’s lymphatic system may be involved. I would almost think they have recently attended a functional medicine conference.
But, alas, they have to end on a depressing note. Twice they express the absence of FDA approved therapies for post-viral syndromes like COVID. At best they say it gets better with time. I agree that there are no FDA approved therapies, BUT… we treat these types of patients daily at Sanctuary for Lyme, mold toxicity, chronic EBV, and more. We lower inflammation with therapies backed by scientific studies. We upregulate detoxification and immune defense processes necessary to overcome these “post” syndromes.
Thank you Medscape and Dr. Fauci for admitting the obvious, but please try to keep an open mind to functional medicine therapies that are working even if Big Pharma does not care for them.
Medscape Article
Fauci Warns About ‘Post-Viral’ Syndrome After COVID-19
UPDATE 2021:
No one doubts Post COVID syndrome, also known as Long Hauler COVID at this point. So let’s give Fauci credit for being right once in 2020, but don’t ask me to give him any credit beyond that. Now, back to caring for those Long Haulers using functional medicine.
Sanctuary Functional Medicine, under the direction of Dr Eric Potter, IFMCP MD, provides functional medicine services to Nashville, Middle Tennessee and beyond. We frequently treat patients from Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, and more... offering the hope of healthier more abundant lives to those with chronic illness.
