Children with Post COVID After Round Two
In caring for anyone with COVID, we have to keep our eyes open and our minds alert for both acute issues and chronic post-COVID issues. This study heightens our concern for repeated bouts of COVID in children because of the increasing the risk of post-COVID symptoms. While we don’t agree with the authors that vaccines are the answer to this health challenge, we know that this study confirms what we have seen in both children and adults that come to our clinic with post 2020 onset of various weird symptoms. For some of these new sufferers, round 2 or 3 of COVID was the trigger for their ongoing symptoms.
While the authors prefer the diagnosis Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection or PASC for long COVID in children, ultimately it still comes down to the list of symptoms we all consider as linked with a prior COVID infection. Their list is quoted below:
“… myocarditis, changes in taste and smell, thrombophlebitis and thromboembolism, heart disease, acute kidney injury, fluid and electrolyte disturbance, generalised pain, arrhythmias, abnormal liver enzymes, chest pain, fatigue and malaise, headache, musculoskeletal pain, abdominal pain, mental ill health, POTS or dysautonomia, cognitive impairment, skin conditions, fever and chills, respiratory signs and symptoms, and cardiovascular signs and symptoms.”
Just looking at this list, one might think “what does it not cause?” So many different symptoms in different body parts and systems leaves one both a little anxious and also a little bewildered by how to distinguish this condition from other diseases. Like other multi-symptom, multi-system conditions (mold toxicity, Lyme disease, Bartonella) that we treat at Sanctuary, it would be easy to get caught in either the weeds or the big picture, too few or too many details. In the individual weeds, both the sufferer and their provider might chase after trying to identify multiple diseases. In the big picture, a provider could fall back on blaming the patient for imagining it all.
In the study, researchers found that the risk of children being diagnosed with PASC or Post COVID almost doubled between the first and subsequent episodes of COVID 19. One might think that everyone who was genetically prone to get Post COVID would do so with the first infection, but clearly that is not true. Thankfully the rates are still low with an about 1 in 1000 risk for the first COVID 19 infection and a 1 in about 500 rate for subsequent infections, but if you or your child are that 1 exception, it is a real issue. Clearly, either the first infection was not able to set the chronic mechanism in full motion or a different strain did what the prior strain could not do. Regardless, we as providers need to be on the lookout for Post COVID issues beyond just the first acute diagnosis.
Having cared for other patients with multiple symptoms like this for years, we try to avoid either extreme, taking into account enough details without dismissing the whole, and listen to patients’ stories for clues about potential triggers. Since 2020, this process includes listening for either clear cases of COVID 19 that were followed by symptoms like those listed above or initially unsuspected COVID 19 infections that could have been triggers for long COVID symptoms. Sometimes these have sounded like the first ever episode of COVID 19 for the patient, but many times we find that it was either the second infection or even a follow up vaccine that triggered ongoing and unrelenting symptoms. It comes down to a good history and open mind to hidden clues in their story.
Therefore, combining studies like this that demonstrate the onset of post COVID syndrome after repeated episodes of COVID with our clinical experience, we encourage those with symptoms like these above to consider getting treated for Post COVID rather than bouncing through the conventional system searching for “mainstream” answers. Functional medicine answers more often lead to recovery but require a process of working through the different mechanisms of Post COVID (i.e. not all Post COVID patients have the exact same mechanisms causing their specific symptoms). Sometimes the mechanism involves mast cell activation stimulated by spike protein. Sometimes the mechanism involves chronic inflammation set in motion by the spike protein. Sometimes it involves micro-clotting that won’t shut off. Sometimes it sparks already present toxins or hidden infections that must be addressed for recovery.
Regardless, restoring healthier, more abundant lives requires more than a label placed on a patient, more than a risky vaccine to deal with the issue, and more than the wait-it-out approach of mainstream medicine. It requires time and collaboration between the sufferer and a provider who understands that individual patients require individually adapted treatment.
Original Article:
Long COVID associated with SARS-CoV-2 reinfection among children and adolescents in the omicron era (RECOVER-EHR): a retrospective cohort study. Zhang, Bingyu et al. The Lancet Infectious Diseases, Volume 0, Issue 0
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.
Dr. Eric Potter graduated from Vanderbilt Medical School and then went on to specialize in internal medicine (adult) and pediatric care, spending significant time and effort in growing his medical understanding while caring for patients from all walks of life.
