In certain circles, there remains a tenuous understanding of what functional medicine actually is. While functional medicine is quickly becoming part of the mainstream medical scene, many people are still quite unaware of its benefits, with some people still considering functional medicine to be a “new age” or “hippie-style” method that flies in the face of modern science.

Of course, this couldn’t be farther from the truth. Let’s address a few misconceptions.

Functional Medicine Is Only An Alternative: The term “alternative medicine” is generally burdened by ingrained preconceived notions of yogi poses and strange herbal concoctions, which, while they may fall under the genre of alternative medicine, do not comprise alternative medicine.

In fact, these days, many functional medicine providers are also credentialed, trained and experienced medical doctors. Functional medicine is designed to look at the body and illness as a whole, and not relying only on treating the symptoms. In this way, it is a positive complement to traditional Western medicine.

Science Does Not Back Functional Medicine: Our bodies have a remarkable ability to heal themselves, which has been proven time and time again in countless research papers and scholarly articles. This is something you can see with your own eyes.

Functional medicine works in harmony with your body’s natural disease-fighting abilities and is both rooted in scientific principles and utilizes some of the same advanced diagnostic tests that conventional doctors use. One of the general themes that have become popular in mainstream awareness includes diet and gut-health. Encouraging good gut-health is becoming an idea that all holistic and traditional approaches are identifying as an important element in overall health for any individual and chronic health issue.

The fact is, you can absolutely trust a credible practitioner of functional medicine to work with you and your current medical doctor rather than against you and your doctor.

By addressing your body’s needs from a holistic approach, assessing your bodies systems as interconnected and not independent, functional medicine acts as an effective complement to traditional Western approaches.

Let us begin by clarifying exactly what a “long hauler” refers to so you will be better equipped to know if you are on or not. A COVID long hauler is a term used to refer to people who have contracted the virus, and it is resolved with or without treatment and/or hospitalization; however, the patient is left with lingering and seemingly unexplained symptoms. A range of multiorgan complications following COVID-19 infection – including respiratory, cardiovascular, metabolic, and renal impairments – have been observed and are characterized by the graph to the left.

COVID-19 Long Haulers Typical Symptoms

While it would stand to reason that COVID long hauler’s symptoms would essentially correlate with that of a regular COVID patient, there are, however, a few discrepancies that supersede common symptoms and need to be underlined and understood in order to accurately differentiate between the two.

Below is a list of the most common COVID-19 long hauler symptoms to be aware of:

1. Coughing

2. Shortness of breath

3. Tightness in the chest

4. Ongoing fatigue

5. Body aches

6. Joint pain

7. Loss of the sense of taste and smell

8. Difficulty sleeping

9. Headaches

10. Brain fog

11. Chills and/or sweats

It is critical to remain cognizant to these symptoms if they persist after the typical window of COVID. In other words, if you are left untreated, and these symptoms linger – you are a long hauler and need to understand what to do next in order to take accurate precautions.

COVID-19 Long Haulers Syndrome Root Causes

At Proactive Wellness Centers – as functional doctors – we look for root causes. Our research shows that any or all of the following may be the reason for long hauler’s syndrome.

1. Viral latency: once contracted, the virus can remain dormant in your body – eluding detection by your immune system and triggering low-level inflammation.

2. Persistent immune dysregulation: because your immune system perceives a continuing threat, it stimulates the ongoing production of proinflammatory cytokines and mediators to block that action – furthering the immune dysregulation.

3. Mitochondrial dysfunction: as the virus hides out in your cells, it modifies the functions of your cells to better suit its own viral replication. This allows the virus to partially control cellular functions so that when combined with the regular work of the cells, the mitochondrial becomes dysfunctional.

4. Compromised autophagy: autophagy is an intracellular biological process that removes the body’s toxins and recycles damaged cell components. When autophagy is compromised, cells become sluggish and bogged down, and this results in a reduction of cellular function that ultimately leads to fatigue and compromised bodily functions across all systems.

The combination of the above root causes leads to immunological dysfunction and mitochondrial deficits and ultimately leads to the array of symptoms seen in long-haulers.

Proactive Wellness Treatment for COVID Long Haulers

Long haulers treatment consists of clearing any remaining low-level virus and then cleaning the terrain. The latter will make a difference in the long-term health of long hauler patients. Cleaning the terrain is necessary to correct immune dysregulation, the real culprit in primary COVID-19 and chronic long haulers disease. Our Proactive Wellness treatment approach is outlined below and addresses all root causes of Covid long haulers syndrome.

Gut Restoration

Our treatment approach begins with restoring gut health by addressing the following procedural flow:

1. Gut restoration using specialized supplements

2. Probiotic as needed

3. Identify and eliminate sensitive foods using food sensitivity testing

Overall gut health plays a critical role in the overall health and well-being of an individual. Treating chronic or prolonged symptoms are no different.

Immune and Autophagy Rejuvenation

1. Ivermectin (5-7 days) to eradicate viral load. Though the patient may test negative for COVID-19, research has shown that even low levels of the virus can continue to cause immune dysfunction.

2. Special peptide for Immune modulation

3. Specialized supplement to enhance autophagy

4. Vitamin D enhancement if not already optimal

5. Zinc (25 mg daily)

Adapting this protocol to the treatment of long haulers has proven to mitigate many prolonged risks otherwise associated with foregoing any other types of legacy treatments or hospitalizations.

Next step…

Mitochondrial Rejuvenation

After effectively treating a patient’s immune and autophagy symptoms, we move to the mitochondria. The steps are as follows:

1. CoQ10

2. Vitamin C

3. Specialized supplements to accomplish mitochondrial strengthening

And lastly, we treat the liver.
Liver Support

1. Liver detox (Tudca, Kidney Liver Detox or NAC)

2. Drink plenty of water and reduce alcohol intake

3. Anti-inflammatory diet

4. Identify and reduce toxic exposure using Great Plains Laboratory Non-metallic toxic test and specific detox if needed

Conclusion
This is a brief synopsis of the treatment we use here at Proactive Wellness Centers in order to comprehensively treat patients with lingering Covid symptoms who were not previously hospitalized. If you are ready to get started, please reach out to us HERE. We understand the confusion surmounted and readily available out there today in terms of COVID-19 and we are here to help you effectively wade through your options in order to properly treat the symptoms you are presenting.

Direct Contact Information
Click here to contact us on our quick contact form, and someone will get back to you shortly. If between the hours of 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, feel free to call us now at 703-822-5003, and our Clinical Intake Coordinator will answer any questions you have and get you started. If you know this is the program for you, then click here to begin the online enrollment process.