Long COVID and Post-Treatment Lyme Syndrome
Original Publish Date: 2/18/23
I’ve been talking about Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome more often lately. In the next few months, there will be more interviews released about the illness. We need to be more educated on this illness as it affects 40M people. At least 1 in 4 people suffer from CIRS, over 25% of the population.
If you missed it, you can learn about CIRS, here.
Long COVID and CIRS
In the podcast episode with Mikhaila Peterson, I mentioned how Long-Covid could actually be CIRS. I credit Dr. Peg’s husband, Glenn DiTulio, for the content below.
Fauci said, “One Study Proposes Long Haulers Still Have ‘Fragments’ of the Virus Generating an ‘Aberrant Response.'”
“One of the things that is really interesting,” said Fauci, “that we’re seeing right now is that when you look at individuals who have these symptoms that go on—as you know, and have experienced yourself—for a considerable period of time, a recent study that is in the pre-print stage—so it hasn’t been peer-reviewed—has some very interesting information that needs to be validated and verified.
We should always be aware that when people get a symptomatic infection, anywhere from 10 to up to 30 plus percent of people will go on to have persistence of symptoms,” he added.
“10 to up to 30 plus percent” seems to fit neatly into Dr. Shoemaker’s theory that about 24% of the U.S. population has genetic HLA variants.
CIRS is a disease state in which those suffering from certain HLA variants are immunoreactive to the DNA fragments of various dead pathogens.
Dr. Shoemaker spoke early on about Ciguatera, Pfiesteria, and the venom from a Brown Recluse Spider bite triggering a CIRS reaction besides mold particulates. Dr. Shoemaker also spoke of this happening with the COVID-19 virus a year ago.
You can read more about CIRS and Long-Covid, here.
Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome
Another study, Neuropathogenicity of non-viable Borrelia burgdorferi, discussed the genesis of Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome (PTLDA aka Chronic Lyme).
“About 10–35% of patients treated for erythema migrans or early Lyme disease have persistent or intermittent musculoskeletal, cognitive, or fatigue complaints of mild to moderate intensity at 6 to 12 months of follow-up. Other notable symptoms include joint pain, headache, lower back pain, irritability, paresthesia, sleep issues, and depression.
These symptoms are collectively termed Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome or PTLDS.”
“In conclusion, we show in this study that non-viable remnants of B. burgdorferi are pathogenic to both the CNS and PNS tissues. Presence of chemokines and cytokines in glial cells and endothelial cells in the CNS in response to non-viable fragments has implications for blood–brain barrier breach.
The persistence of symptoms in some patients post-treatment indicates that in a subset of these patients, B. burgdorferi fragments in the nervous system could be a cause. Such antibiotic refractive conditions need novel anti-inflammatory approaches for therapeutics.”
The 10-35% falls within the range of Dr, Shoemaker’s description of the U.S. population being susceptible to CIRS at 24%. And the “non-viable remnants” are what the immune system is reacting to since the CIRS patients cannot excrete the “dead” DNA.
TLDR: If you suffer from Lyme, Post-Treatment Lyme, or Long-Covid, consider CIRS. All illnesses suffer from fragments breaching the blood-brain barrier. While it doesn’t really matter what set off the inflammatory response, CIRS bloodwork can demonstrate that the immune system can no longer shut off. When this happens, interventions are required (and no, meat alone won’t fix this).
If you’re not at a Grade A of health, dig deeper.
CIRS Support
For individuals seeking comprehensive practitioner-led and community support on their mold illness journey, we welcome you to join our exclusive NwJ CIRS Group Support. Join today for access to extensive resources, a like-minded community, and unparalleled care as we journey to root-cause healing together.
In health,
Judy
