TLC Sessions - Living with Long Covid

Dr Benjamin Krishna and the Virology & Immunology team at Cambridge University have identified a protein, elevated in the blood of Long Covid patients, that could act as a potential biomarker for the condition.  This week, we spoke to Dr Krishna about their study, published in Science, which sampled the blood of Long Covid patients across several years. They found Interferon Gamma (IFNɣ) at, an average of, six times the normal level.  IFNɣ is a key protein in the body's immune response, a moderator of inflammation and a mediator for fighting infection.  These raised levels of IFNɣ are indicative of the immune system remaining active throughout Long Covid.  The team found that levels returned to normal in patients once they recovered from the disease. These findings could help develop treatment strategies and offer a clear diagnosis for some Long Covid patients.Living with Long Covid? How was your week?Website - https://www.tlcsessions.net/Twitter - @SessionsTlc https://twitter.com/sessionstlcInsta - @tlcsessions https://www.instagram.com/tlcsessions

Dr Theoharis Theoharides, aka “The Mast Cell Master”, has been exploring the world of Mast Cells, their influence on our bodily functions, neurology and genetic make up, for over half a century.  The Director of the Center of Excellence for Neuroinflammation Research and Professor at the Institute for Neuro-Immune Medicine at Nova Southeastern University joins us this week to discuss the role that Mast Cells play in neurological conditions such as Long Covid, and the way in which we influence and change our mast cells' behaviour with our infections, stress levels, trauma and activity.Living with Long Covid? How was your week?Website - https://www.tlcsessions.net/Twitter - @SessionsTlc https://twitter.com/sessionstlcInsta - @tlcsessions https://www.instagram.com/tlcsessions

Conor Browne, an independent Biorisk Consultant, analyses biosecurity risks for governmental bodies, commercial enterprises and NGOs, aiding with business continuity, forecasting and policy.  He understood that Covid-19 was airborne in February 2020 but, he says, “it's the first message that sticks”. In this week's episode he discusses how our governments' initial messaging of handwashing and surface-to-surface transmission had a huge impact on the course of the pandemic.  We talk about the need for clean air in mitigating the perpetual spread of Covid-19, and he highlights the ultimate risks, of Long Covid, Covid-related illness and the viral mutations that could leave us with an even heavier burden than anticipated.Living with Long Covid? How was your week?Website - https://www.tlcsessions.net/Twitter - @SessionsTlc https://twitter.com/sessionstlcInsta - @tlcsessions https://www.instagram.com/tlcsessions

David Cutler, Professor of Applied Economics at Harvard University, has spent his career assessing the economics of healthcare.  Over the past four years he has applied his skills to assessing the cost of Covid, and subsequently Long Covid, on the U.S. economy.  His original analysis, published in JAMA in 2022, suggested that Long Covid would cost the U.S. economy $2.6 trillion, but with the chronic condition proving more prevalent and prolonged than originally estimated, those figures were revised to a massive $3.7 trillion.In this week's episode Cutler explains these costs and their implications.  We discuss what has been included in projecting these staggering costs, and what needs to be done, on governmental and clinical levels, to manage these costs and the condition.  Whilst the findings may seem bleak, it is Cutler's hope that in highlighting the enormity of the problem, policymakers may see the urgent need to address it. Living with Long Covid? How was your week?Website - https://www.tlcsessions.net/Twitter - @SessionsTlc https://twitter.com/sessionstlcInsta - @tlcsessions https://www.instagram.com/tlcsessions

Dr Nancy Klimas, Director of the Institute for Neuro-Immune Medicine, Nova Southeastern University, is an immunologist internationally renowned for her work in multi-symptom illnesses.  In this week's episode she explains her work, from HIV through ME/CFS and Gulf War Syndrome, that has led to her having insight and an amazing team to channel efforts into Long Covid research and treatment.  In an insightful overview she describes her work in understanding the mechanisms (viral persistence, viral reactivation), impacts of (MCAS, cell dysfunction, T-cell dysregulation) and potential alleviation of the disease.  She has been involved in studies looking at clinical therapeutics such as LDN and has seen remarkable results with the use of MABs which she is hoping to replicate in a larger clinical trial in the coming weeks.Living with Long Covid? How was your week?Website - https://www.tlcsessions.net/Twitter - @SessionsTlc https://twitter.com/sessionstlcInsta - @tlcsessions https://www.instagram.com/tlcsessions

Dr Rob Wüst, Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Movement and Behaviour Sciences, is an expert cardiac and skeletal muscle metabolism and mitochondrial function.  He and the team at Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, published the “PEM study” in Nature Communications, which investigated the muscular changes in Long Covid patients who experience post-exertional malaise (PEM), or “the worsening of fatigue- and pain-related symptoms after acute mental or physical exercise”. In this week's episode Wüst talks us through the key findings of their study, including the muscular changes, mitochondrial dysfunction and microclots that were present in the Long Covid patients compared to their control group.  He discusses the effects of bedrest on the human body and how exercise is usually beneficial for overall health, but highlights what was revealed through blood tests and muscle biopsies in their study – that Long Covid patients have limited exercise capacity with lower mitochondrial function and our rehabilitation needs to be handled with this unique understanding.Living with Long Covid? How was your week?Website - https://www.tlcsessions.net/Twitter - @SessionsTlc https://twitter.com/sessionstlcInsta - @tlcsessions https://www.instagram.com/tlcsessions

Dr Thomas Chelimsky, Professor of Neurology and Director of VCU's autonomic laboratory, is a specialist in autonomic dysfunction and a vocal advocate for considering the mind and body as one cohesive system.  He, along with his team at the VCU clinic, take a unique brain-body approach to treating Long Covid patients, with success.In this week's episode he discusses the autonomic issues faced by Long Covid patients including migraine, which he believes is prevalent in c. 50% of patients, and POTS which he discusses ‘almost never shows up alone', linking  it with the migraine, fibromyalgia and IBS (irritable bowel syndrome).  He explains the roles of the periaqueductal gray region of the brain and the vagus nerve, alongside the implications of trauma (both physical and mental) on the autonomic system, and the role that it plays in Long Covid. Living with Long Covid? How was your week?Website - https://www.tlcsessions.net/Twitter - @SessionsTlc https://twitter.com/sessionstlcInsta - @tlcsessions https://www.instagram.com/tlcsessions

Dr Andrew Klein, an anaesthetist at the Royal Papworth Hospital Cambridge, runs the Cambridge Iron Clinic where he treats people with Iron and B12 deficiencies.  Since the start of Covid he has seen an increase in people with these deficiencies, many of whom have been diagnosed with Long Covid.In this episode Dr Klein talks us through the overlapping symptom sets that render people debilitated with all three conditions.  He describes the various ways in which are body is not able to uptake and store sufficient B12 and iron, the consequences of this, and the way in which they can be simply treated.  And we discuss the data ranges used by the NHS to determine conditions and allocate treatment and once again draw the conclusion that correct care should only be determined by listening to the patient.Living with Long Covid? How was your week?Website - https://www.tlcsessions.net/Twitter - @SessionsTlc https://twitter.com/sessionstlcInsta - @tlcsessions https://www.instagram.com/tlcsessions

Physiatrist Benjamin Abramoff, M.D. is the Director and Co-founder of the Post Covid Assessment and Recovery Clinic at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. An Assistant Professor in Physical Medicine and Rehabilition, Abramoff used his expertise to co-author the study, published in Cell, that found that serotonin depletion is prevalent in Long Covid patients.  In this week's episode, Abramoff talks us through the findings of their study, the hypothesis of what drives the depletion, the impacts that this has on the body, and preliminary ideas of what might help, both symptomatically and to address the root cause of the disease that seems to be viral persistance.Living with Long Covid? How was your week?Website - https://www.tlcsessions.net/Twitter - @SessionsTlc https://twitter.com/sessionstlcInsta - @tlcsessions https://www.instagram.com/tlcsessions

Tim Henrich is a Professor of Medicine and expert in infectious diseases, focused on chronic viral infections at the University of California, San Francisco. He is another member of the titan Long Covid research team who have tracked patients since the beginning of the pandemic (LIINC study) and are making roads into understanding the mechanism of the disease and potentials for treating it.In this week's episode he talks us through some of the exciting work that he is doing, alongside our previous guests Steven Deeks & Michael Peluso.  Using a combination of longitudinal studies, biopsies and high resolution PET / CT imaging, the team have established changes to t cells throughout the bodies of Long Covid patients, and found evidence of viral persistence.  They are currently conducting multiple clinical trials including monoclonal antibodies to act on viral reservoirs, and the anti-viral Ensitrelvir which has undergone several trials in active SARS-COV2 previously, and believe that they are getting to grips with the pathophysiology of the disease.Living with Long Covid? How was your week?Website - https://www.tlcsessions.net/Twitter - @SessionsTlc https://twitter.com/sessionstlcInsta - @tlcsessions https://www.instagram.com/tlcsessions

A supplement to Episode 68 - Consultant Neurologist Steven Allder of Re:Cognition Health explains what tinnitus is and why we are experiencing it in Long Covid.Living with Long Covid? How was your week?Website - https://www.tlcsessions.net/Twitter - @SessionsTlc https://twitter.com/sessionstlcInsta - @tlcsessions https://www.instagram.com/tlcsessions

A supplement to Episode 68 - Consultant Neurologist Steven Allder of Re:Cognition Health discusses the way that injury to the brain causes anxiety and depression in Traumatic Brain Injury and could explain some of the mental health impact of Long Covid.Living with Long Covid? How was your week?Website - https://www.tlcsessions.net/Twitter - @SessionsTlc https://twitter.com/sessionstlcInsta - @tlcsessions https://www.instagram.com/tlcsessions

Consultant Neurologist Steven Allder of Re:Cognition Health has applied his wealth of experience investigating Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) to understanding the impact of Long Covid on the brain. In this week's conversation we discuss inflammation of the brain of Long Covid patients which is visible using PET imaging;  Allder believes this inflammation could be driving the neurological symptoms, and beyond, in a similar way to the impact of a blow to the head observing numerous similarities to TBI; we discuss polyvagal nerve theory; and Allder explains the way in which it takes more than just cold, hard evidence to persuade the scientific community.And following up on our previous episode, Dr Allder is working with Prof. Andrew Shaw at Attomarker, believing that Long Covid may be driven by viral persistence and that establishing a patient's antibody gap, using the Attomarker testing, could enable us to remove viral residue with tailored antibody treatment.Living with Long Covid? How was your week?Website - https://www.tlcsessions.net/Twitter - @SessionsTlc https://twitter.com/sessionstlcInsta - @tlcsessions https://www.instagram.com/tlcsessions

Professor Andrew Shaw, University of Exeter, believes that he has devised a diagnostic test for Long Covid.  His company, Attomarker, have developed a test which can reveal a gap in a patient's antibody spectrum – their response to acute SARS-COV2 from a finger prick of blood. This gap, he says, has lead to a viral residue that causes the chronic symptoms of Long Covid.  Their hypothesis is that the gap can then be filled, either with monoclonal antibodies, or with an appropriate vaccine, to rid the patient of the disease.In this week's episode we explore the theories of antibody response to the strains of Covid, the effects of the vaccine, the results that the Attomarker test and treatment which is being offered by Re:Cognition Health have so far yielded. Living with Long Covid? How was your week?Website - https://www.tlcsessions.net/Twitter - @SessionsTlc https://twitter.com/sessionstlcInsta - @tlcsessions https://www.instagram.com/tlcsessions

Imperial College Professor of Immunology, Danny Altmann  recently published “The immunology of long COVID”, a fantastically comprehensive overview in Nature Reviews Immunology.  In this week's episode Altmann, to whom we first spoke in the summer of 2021, talks us through some of the highlights of the work he's reviewed - serotonin depletion, gut biopsy findings, anti-virals, monoclonal antibodies and T cell depletion, along with his impression of a wide range of issues facing Long Covid sufferers, doctors and researchers – the state of patient care, vaccines, and the lack of funding for large scale studies and trials.Living with Long Covid? How was your week?Website - https://www.tlcsessions.net/Twitter - @SessionsTlc https://twitter.com/sessionstlcInsta - @tlcsessions https://www.instagram.com/tlcsessions

Dr. Amy Proal is the President and Research Director of PolyBio Research Foundation, a non-profit organisation that brings together some of the brightest scientific minds to research how infection-associated chronic conditions are studied, diagnosed and treated.  Their work into Long Covid is bringing together some of the leaders in the field to accelerate studies and clinical trials to further develop understanding and treatment strategies for the condition.  In this week's episode we talk to Dr. Proal about the current most prominent mechanistic theory of viral persistence in tissues, PolyBio's research into anti-viral therapeutics, and SARS-COV2 strategies that could help us to prevent Long Covid, rather than having to constantly clear up the increasing residue for years to come.Living with Long Covid? How was your week?Website - https://www.tlcsessions.net/Twitter - @SessionsTlc https://twitter.com/sessionstlcInsta - @tlcsessions https://www.instagram.com/tlcsessions

Michael Peluso M.D., an HIV and infectious disease specialist at UCSF, has been studying Long Covid patients since April 2020 (LIINC Study).  This, along with his history of working with HIV and other viruses, has given him the knowledge and methods to make some break-throughs into Long Covid pathogenesis, effects and, potentially, treatments.  He, along with his team, has established that Long Covid causes T-cell and immune dysregulation and he has used multimodal molecular imaging to reveal that viral RNA reservoirs are persistent in Long Covid patients.  With the aim of clearing this viral debris, Peluso is now leading a clinical trial using a monoclonal antibody infusion.Living with Long Covid? How was your week?Website - https://www.tlcsessions.net/Twitter - @SessionsTlc https://twitter.com/sessionstlcInsta - @tlcsessions https://www.instagram.com/tlcsessions

Eric Topol must be one of the leading voices in Long Covid advocacy.  Cardiologist, scientist, author, editor-in-chief of Medscape, and founder of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, Topol has written about Long Covid in publications from The Lancet and Nature, to The Washington Post.  As a clinician a large proportion of his patients are now Long Covid sufferers and he spends a huge amount of his time pushing for advancements in Long Covid treatment and prevention.  In this week's episode Dr. Topol guides us through his frustrations surrounding the lack of urgency with which the world is treating this condition, the use of Metformin as a preventative therapy, his understandings of the mechanisms of Long Covid, and how we could make significant advancements by embracing digital data collection and technology. The Long Covid review which he authored with PLRC and Julia More Vogel, published in March this year, is now the third most downloaded medical paper of 2023.Living with Long Covid? How was your week?Website - https://www.tlcsessions.net/Twitter - @SessionsTlc https://twitter.com/sessionstlcInsta - @tlcsessions https://www.instagram.com/tlcsessions

Harlan Krumholtz, cardiologist and Professor of Medicine at Yale University, is attempting to move the needle when it comes to patient-centric care in Long Covid and beyond.  Working closely with immunologist Akiko Iwasaki, Krumholz not only looks at the heart when it comes to his research into Long Covid. Together this Long Covid power couple are trying to design studies and trials considering the patient first and foremost. In this week's episode we discuss his latest studies: the LISTEN study, a 15-day trial into Paxlovid for treating Long Covid, and his paper, currently in preprint, looking into internal tremors and vibrations in Long Covid. With a broad understanding of the disease and its effects on patients, his knowledge of the illness goes far beyond the heart, whilst, once again, displaying this humility and humanity we are seeing amongst some of the most prominent medical professionals who are carrying the torch for Long Covid patients. Living with Long Covid? How was your week?Website - https://www.tlcsessions.net/Twitter - @SessionsTlc https://twitter.com/sessionstlcInsta - @tlcsessions https://www.instagram.com/tlcsessions

Credited as being the founder of functional medicine, Dr Leo Galland has spent the past 40 years trying to create a patient-centred version of healthcare. Using pharmaceuticals, supplements, lifestyle and complimentary therapies he has drawn on his vast knowledge of patients and holistic healing, to create a comprehensive protocol for Long Covid patients.  Designed to remove any active virus, rebuild our natural stores and repair the misfiring of our cells, Dr Galland's method has been effective in helping people to recover from disease. In this episode we discuss his wide ranging knowledge, including diving into ACE2 which he believes drives the disease, discussing the complexities of Mast Cell Activation Syndrome, and getting his impartial opinion on some of the supplements or treatment strategies we've previously featured.Living with Long Covid? How was your week?Website - https://www.tlcsessions.net/Twitter - @SessionsTlc https://twitter.com/sessionstlcInsta - @tlcsessions https://www.instagram.com/tlcsessions

Researcher Vicky van der Togt and virologist Dr Jeremy Rossman have spent the past 2.5 years trying to help Long Covid patients and research via their organisation Research-Aid Networks.   Their latest paper, published in Frontiers, hypothesises that it is an acid-base disruption that drives the symptomatology of Long Covid.  In this week's episode we discuss the impacts of dysregulated pH, how you can rebalance it and the results that they have observed.  Further research in this field has the potential to help with both Long Covid and a wide range of other diseases.Living with Long Covid? How was your week?Website - https://www.tlcsessions.net/Twitter - @SessionsTlc https://twitter.com/sessionstlcInsta - @tlcsessions https://www.instagram.com/tlcsessions

Dr Wes Ely, a pulmonary and critical care doctor, has built a remarkable resource for Long Covid sufferers within the Critical Illness, Brain Dysfunction and Survivorship Center at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, of which he is co-director.  A professor, using his knowledge of his clinical knowledge and his extensive research into debilitating brain disease, he has developed care strategies and support for large numbers of Long Covid patients and helped many more with his writing on social and in the mainstream media, trying to raise awareness, understanding and compassion for sufferers.Living with Long Covid? How was your week?Website - https://www.tlcsessions.net/Twitter - @SessionsTlc https://twitter.com/sessionstlcInsta - @tlcsessions https://www.instagram.com/tlcsessions

Molecular Virologist, Bhupesh Prusty, promised to reveal more when we last spoke, four weeks ago.  Here he presents what he believes to be a biomarker for Long Covid, explaining the mechanism, its similarity to ME/CFS, what his research and findings have proven, and how we might take this research forward to develop further understanding and treatment strategies.Living with Long Covid? How was your week?Website - https://www.tlcsessions.net/Twitter - @SessionsTlc https://twitter.com/sessionstlcInsta - @tlcsessions https://www.instagram.com/tlcsessions

Lavanya Visvabharathy, a T cell immunologist at Northwestern University, Chicago, has led extensive studies into Long Covid, but we learned that some of those studies, despite their merit and rigour, were proving hard to publish in top tier medical journals.  In this week's episode we lift the lid on the process of scientific publishing, talking through the challenges that Visvabharathy has faced trying to publish Long Covid research, the peer review process and the political landscape of the scientific research world.  Her latest paper, despite almost a two year delay, is published this week in Frontiers in Immunology.Living with Long Covid? How was your week?Website - https://www.tlcsessions.net/Twitter - @SessionsTlc https://twitter.com/sessionstlcInsta - @tlcsessions https://www.instagram.com/tlcsessions

Dr Jim Jackson, research professor of Medicine and Psychiatry at Vanderbilt University Medical Centre, does not believe that Long Covid is all in your mind, but he has found that treating the brain, as if it has a brain injury, can help Long Covid recovery.  In this week's episode Dr Jackson explains his clinical experience of the neurological impact of Long Covid from brain fog to anxiety, PTSD to OCD.  He discusses the power of cognitive rehabilitation (which should be viewed as physiotherapy for the brain) and tells us about his book “Clearing the Fog: A practical guide to surviving and thriving with Long Covid”.  And he talks us through the power of talking to others within the community: his support groups have been a hugely impactful for sufferers enabling them to learn from each other, learn how to advocate for themselves, and give them hope. Living with Long Covid? How was your week?Website - https://www.tlcsessions.net/Twitter - @SessionsTlc https://twitter.com/sessionstlcInsta - @tlcsessions https://www.instagram.com/tlcsessions

Dr Raouf (Ron) Gharbo has spent many years treating those with brain injury and autonomic disorders using Heart Rate Variability (HRV) metrics.  Physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist, and Director of Autonomic Rehabilitation at VMU Health, Dr Gharbo this week explains the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems, the metrics he uses to diagnose conditions - with Long Covid now being one of his primary focuses - and the power of sleep and breathing in regaining function and control of our health.Living with Long Covid? How was your week?Website - https://www.tlcsessions.net/Twitter - @SessionsTlc https://twitter.com/sessionstlcInsta - @tlcsessions https://www.instagram.com/tlcsessions

Dr Bhupesh Prusty believes that he has found 'the switch'.  A molecular virologist from the University of Würzburg, Germany, he has turned his work looking at ME/CFS to look at Long Covid, and believes that viral reactivation in both diseases could hold the key.  It's this viral reactivation that, rather than causing a detectable elevation of something in our blood, is causing a depletion in our bodies.  This could be the biomarker we've been seeking and he believes that redressing the balance of this depletion could rid us of Long Covid.Living with Long Covid? How was your week?Website - https://www.tlcsessions.net/Twitter - @SessionsTlc https://twitter.com/sessionstlcInsta - @tlcsessions https://www.instagram.com/tlcsessions

In this week's episode we receive no-nonsense, practical advice from Prof. Jack Lambert, a consultant in infectious diseases at the Mater Hospital in Dublin. He has been monitoring long term recovery following COVID-19 since he saw the first patients in Ireland in March 2020.  He has used his knowledge of chronic conditions caused by other infectious diseases - Lyme disease, Ebola, HIV, Hepatitis C - to develop a protocol to treat Long Covid patients.  Using LDN (Low Dose Naltrexone) in combination with NAC and anti-inflammatory supplements, alongside breathing exercises, he believes in a carefully tailored approach that has been successful with many patients, giving us hope that perhaps the damage is reversible.Living with Long Covid? How was your week?Website - https://www.tlcsessions.net/Twitter - @SessionsTlc https://twitter.com/sessionstlcInsta - @tlcsessions https://www.instagram.com/tlcsessions

If you're looking for an overview of all of the research into Long Covid, this Nature review, undertaken by Patient Led Research Collaborative (PLRC) under the guidance of the cardiologist Dr Eric Topol, is a great place to start.  A collation of the findings from almost 300 biomedical research papers on Long Covid, it sets out the major findings, mechanisms and recommendations that have been researched to date.In this week's episode we had the pleasure of speaking to Lisa McCorkell and Hannah Davis, two of the co-founders of PLRC and co-authors of this extensive review, to discuss their work, the latest research into Long Covid, and their view of the future for the chronic condition. Living with Long Covid? How was your week?Website - https://www.tlcsessions.net/Twitter - @SessionsTlc https://twitter.com/sessionstlcInsta - @tlcsessions https://www.instagram.com/tlcsessions

Akiko Iwasaki, a Professor of Immunobiology and Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at Yale University, with a particular interest in mucosal infection, is making gains in Long Covid research. Her work with Dr David Putrino (interviewed in Episode 47) revealed several findings that move us closer to identifying a bio-marker; her work with Michele Monje of Stanford University looked at the chief mechanisms that may be driving the neurological features of Long Covid; now, in collaboration with Harlan Krumholz, they are leading a study into the efficacy and safety of Paxlovid in Long Covid.And her Yale LISTEN study to understand Long Covid, post-vaccine adverse events and the corresponding immune responses is recruiting now.Distilling some of her remarkable knowledge into a very digestible form, you do not want to miss this episode.Living with Long Covid? How was your week?Website - https://www.tlcsessions.net/Twitter - @SessionsTlc https://twitter.com/sessionstlcInsta - @tlcsessions https://www.instagram.com/tlcsessions

Dr Ziyad Al-Aly is chief of research and development at the Veteran Affairs St. Louis healthcare system and a clinical epidemiologist at Washington University in St. Louis.  Direct access to both Long Covid patients and the Veteran Affairs health care records enables Al-Aly to have led some of the most impactful research and studies into Long Covid. From the long term neurological outcomes and the risk of diabetes, to the impact on the heart, Al-Aly's studies paint a serious picture of the long term damage caused by Covid-19.  And his findings on the risks associated with reinfection would make anyone take measures to avoid contracting the disease.Living with Long Covid? How was your week?Website - https://www.tlcsessions.net/Twitter - @SessionsTlc https://twitter.com/sessionstlcInsta - @tlcsessions https://www.instagram.com/tlcsessions

Dr Benjamin Natelson, professor of neurology and director of the Pain and Fatigue Study Centre at Mount Sinai, has been studying the mechanisms, effects and management of chronic fatigue for almost half a century.  In this week's conversation he explains how he has used his knowledge to study and treat those with Long Covid.  The recipient of multiple grants, his interest in the immunological and infectious causes of chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia enables him to approach Long Covid with a wealth of knowledge, looking at the vagus nerve, blood volume, exercise and sleep, as well as studying Long Covid alongside CFS without a prior Covid-19 infection, to establish the similarities and differences between the conditions.Dr. Natelson is currently running multiple studies into chronic fatigue, alongside several into Long Covid and is looking for patients (within 50 miles of New York).  To take part, please contact his lab or 001-212-844-6665.Living with Long Covid? How was your week?Website - https://www.tlcsessions.net/Twitter - @SessionsTlc https://twitter.com/sessionstlcInsta - @tlcsessions https://www.instagram.com/tlcsessions

What if there were an activity tracking app designed to monitor and aid recovery from chronic illness, instead of pushing fitness goals?  That is exactly what Long Covid sufferer Harry Leeming conceived with his team at Visible.  Together they have created an activity tracking platform specifically for Long Covid and ME / CFS sufferers to enable them to track and analyse their illness in real time.In this week's episode Noreen and Emily talk to CEO and co-founder Harry, with whom they have become friends through their illness.  Currently in the beta phase, Visible's app is now available to download here, offering sufferers the ability to enter their symptoms, medication, activity levels and check their HRV daily.  This will be partnered early in 2023 with a wearable integration.Living with Long Covid? How was your week?Website - https://www.tlcsessions.net/Twitter - @SessionsTlc https://twitter.com/sessionstlcInsta - @tlcsessions https://www.instagram.com/tlcsessions

This week, we spoke to Mount Sinai neuroscientist and physical therapist Dr. David Putrino about his latest study on 215 patients.  A collaboration between Mount Sinai and Yale University in the U.S., Putrino worked with immunologist Akiko Iwasaki to see if they could find any ‘Distinguishing features of Long COVID identified through immune profiling'.  The study brought to light some potentially useful biomarkers and certainly highlighted areas for further research such as T-cells,  interleukins and hormone levels.  Putrino explains how this hypothesis-generating study is a jumping off point for his and other labs, puts into perspective the cortisol-level findings that media were quick to jump on, and urges two things - further research and listening to patients.Living with Long Covid? How was your week?Website - https://www.tlcsessions.net/Twitter - @SessionsTlc https://twitter.com/sessionstlcInsta - @tlcsessions https://www.instagram.com/tlcsessions

Dr David Strain is a titan in the Long Covid research and clinical field.  With the ability to boil down complex medical theory and research into very comprehensible explanations, Dr Strain explains HRV and how we can use it to monitor and potentially manage our symptoms.  He talks us through vagal tone, the impact of vaccines and COVID-19 strains on Long Covid and we ask whether the increased incidence of strokes, diabetes, dementia and heart attacks could all be classified as a version of Long Covid.  We also discuss Dr Strain's current research (Sano GOLD study) into genetics and the role they might play in the development of Long Covid and our ability to treat the condition. Living with Long Covid? How was your week?Website - https://www.tlcsessions.net/Twitter - @SessionsTlc https://twitter.com/sessionstlcInsta - @tlcsessions https://www.instagram.com/tlcsessions

Amiad Abrahams, Deputy Lead Clinical Health Psychologist for North West London's Long Covid service, understands the effect that the mind and Mindfulness can have on patients with acute and chronic conditions.  Since mid 2020 he has been leading “COMFORT” – a group Mindfulness course offered by St Mary's Hospital.  In this week's episode he talks us through the power that the mind can have on the body, and the impact that chronic illness can have on the mind, aiming to "de-psychologise Long Covid, whilst psychologising life itself".

Professor Doug Kell is a systems biologist who has been studying anomalous clotting for many years, and since the pandemic began has turned his knowledge, working alongside Prof. Resia Pretorius, to explore the theory of microclots in Long Covid patients.  In this week's episode Prof. Kell explains to us the way in which these clots form, his theories behind what is occurring, and what are the current, albeit anecdotal, treatment strategies.

Dr Tae Chung runs the POTS clinic at John Hopkins University.  Approaching this with his two specialties- neuromuscular and physical medicine and rehabilitation - he treats POTS patients, and those with Long Covid POTS, with a combination of functional exercises, alongside blood volume expansion and medication.  In this week's episode he talks to us about his experience,  working with his MDT, treating thousands of POTS and Long Covid POTS patients.  He explains the paradox of 'exercise' when it comes to treating our illness, discusses how our nervous system is affected,  and we hear the effective strategies he is using.  His work has led him to the belief that Long Covid, certainly in instances of POTS, may be autoimmune driven and he is now involved in a phase two clinical trial using drugs that target autoantibodies.

With the established medical system offering few options to treat Long Covid holistically - most sufferers are at best only being offered symptom management - many are turning to alternative therapies.  This week we spoke to Joachim Gerlach, chairman of Vedicinals, who have developed the nutraceutical Vedicinals9 for the treatment of acute and Long Covid.  This nutraceutical, consisting of nine bio-active molecules targeting specific pathways, draws on traditional ayurvedic medicine alongside modern science to offer a supplement which, from pre-clinical and clinical trials, seems to be having a positive effect.

Dr Eric Feigl-Ding was one of the first public health scientists to raise the alarm as COVID-19 took hold.  Often several steps ahead of the policy-makers, Feigl-Ding shares with us his view that Long Covid looks to be an immuno-compromised state, not dissimilar to that caused by HIV.  Could this explain other current outbreaks - summer flu, monkeypox, Hepatitis?   He believes so.  In this wide-ranging interview we take a look at the world's response to the pandemic and how we are going to need to wake up to the slow-burn that is Long Covid.

Dr Bettina Hohberger, an ophthalmologist at Erlangen University with expertise in glaucoma, believes that looking at the eye – an area of the body where the blood vessels are visible – is representative of the rest of the human body.  She has seen that there is a change in blood vessel density in the eye of her patients with Long Covid and believes that this blood vessel density could be part of the key to unlocking and treating Long Covid. Her belief is that Long Covid falls into three subgroups - Autoimmune, Viral Persistence & organ damage from severe acute COVID-19.  She is currently studying the development of diagnostics to identify these subgroups, and has used a targeted autoantibody neutraliser - BC007 - to successfully treat four Long Covid patients to date.  Further trials are taking place soon.

Lavanya Visvabharathy, a T cell immunologist, has methodically applied her expertise to look at samples from patients at the Long Covid clinic at North Western University in Chicago, to try and establish the mechanism driving the disease.  Her personal experience of Long Covid's effects and the role of autoimmunity - she has both Long Covid and rheumatoid arthritis - combined with the wealth of data she has gathered, have led her to believe that Long Covid could be due to viral persistence.  In this fast-paced episode Visvabharathy talks us through her hypothesise, giving us a glimpse into her world of T cell dysfunction and autoimmunity, via the complexities of Long Covid NIH funding, and once again we discuss HIV and what we can learn from the way that virus is treated.

The Long Covid space has been abuzz with talk of Tollovid - the dietary supplement that is claimed to act, in much the same way as Paxlovid, on inhibiting 3CL protease.  We wanted to get some clear answers on how this supplement works, the potential benefits, and its safety profile.  We spoke to CEO of Todos Medical, Gerald Commissiong, who has brought this product to market, and Dr Dorit Arad, a biochemist and drug developer who has engineered Tollovid from her 28 years working in the field of protease inhibition in viruses. They were both keen to impress that this is a supplement and not a drug - they do not claim to prevent, treat, or cure Long Covid with Tollovid - but they suggest that there is anecdotal evidence that it helps.

Dr Stephen Griffin, virologist and member of Independent SAGE, talks us through the workings of antivirals - both in acute COVID-19 and in Long Covid.  He explains what antivirals do - suppressing the virus rather than removing it from our systems - and suggests that the use of one course of individual antivirals might not be the holy grail that Long Covid sufferers are hoping.  We talk viral persistence versus autoimmunity, the action of vaccines, and whether monoclonal antibodies could be useful.  

Dr Alec Schmaier, a cardiology and vascular specialist, has studied the impact that COVID-19 has on the endothelium.  This week we called on his knowledge of the vascular system and coagulation issues to talk us through the potential role of the endothelium in Long Covid.  We wanted to take a step back and look at why clotting might be playing a role in our Long Covid symptoms, and discuss what drives it.  Schmaier offers us that and more in a discussion that includes anticoagulant drugs, the stiffening of arteries and comparisons with endothelial damage in conditions such as sepsis.

In Long Covid it can be hard to keep up with what we should be eating, not eating, supplementing and changing when it comes to providing our bodies with the correct nutrition to optimise recovery.  This week Professor of Dietetics, Mary Hickson, provides us with some down-to-earth advice about how diet affects and is affected by Long Covid, dispels some myths, suggests some strategies to try and points us to the resource she has developed - The Nutrition and COVID-19 recovery knowledge hub -  a ‘one stop shop' of information to support recovery from COVID-19 through nutritional care.

Not only do many Long Covid patients suffer from P.O.T.S or P.O.T.S-like symptoms, but there are a number of similarities between the two conditions and their management.  The cross-over of symptoms - from breathlessness, palpitations, and chest discomfort, to fatigue, pain, brain fog, sleep disturbance and orthostatic intolerance - is remarkable.  So, do we all have POTS?  To shine some light on POTS and its diagnosis, we spoke to Dr Satish Raj,  a cardiologist specialising in autonomic dysfunction and Professor at the University of Calgary.  Raj is currently leading a study of Cardiovascular Hemodynamics and Autonomic Dysfunction with Long Covid looking to establish the role of autonomic disorder in Long Haulers.

Perry Nickelston believes that focusing on the much overlooked lymphatic system could be what we each need to enable our bodies to heal.  In this week's episode Nickelston, chiropractor and holistic health coach, talks us through the role of the lymphatic system and explains how it could be what is holding us back from recovering from chronic diseases like Long Covid.  By getting the lymph moving and clearing the cellular waste, we can start to reduce inflammation and give our body a clean slate, enabling it to absorb all the oxygen, nutrients, medicines and therapies that we are using. He guides us through his ‘Big Six' lymphatic reset and explains the role of the vagus nerve in regulating the balance our body requires.

There may be a treatment from which a third of women with Long Covid could benefit.  It is not a new drug, it is safe, and it has been proven to work anecdotally.  And yet there are no clinical trials looking at HRT as a potential treatment for the largest cohort of Long Covid sufferers.  In our patriarchal medical system many women are not even being asked about their menstrual cycle or hormones in relation to Long Covid, and yet there is clear evidence that our hormones have been impacted.  This week, Dr Sarah Glynne, G.P. and menopause specialist, talks us through her research into Long Covid and the peri-menopause, and the prescribing of HRT as a treatment for Long Covid, which she believes shows tangible results.

A Professor of Medicine in residence at the University of California, San Francisco, Steven Deeks M.D., is an expert on HIV-associated immune dysfunction. Using his 30 years of experience researching viral illness, Deeks has turned his hand to the study of the long term impacts of COVID-19 on our immune systems.  The parallels that he draws between HIV and Long Covid are startling.  Studying a community cohort for the past two years, Deeks believes that we are beginning to unravel the mechanisms of Long Covid, and there is hope that some of these are treatable.  

Dr Michael Gonevski has been administering Long Covid sufferers with Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) since the condition emerged.   The treatment, generally used for diving related oxygen issues and difficult to heal wounds, is a daily course in which patients breathe 100% oxygen at pressure.  The theory is that the oxygen is diffused into the blood plasma, providing more than ten times the normal supply of oxygen, which is then able to reach cells that have been shut off, repairing damaged tissues, supporting the body's ability to heal and alleviating symptoms.  Gonevski extols that the treatment can save a limb from amputation.  With a clinical controlled trial in the pipeline, we look forward to seeing whether it could save Long Covid sufferers from being cut off from their former lives.