Written by Amber Walker, Owner of Origin Wellness
Amber Walker is a Doctor of Physical Therapy-turned author with a passion to empower others to heal from chronic illness. As the owner of Origin Wellness, Amber utilizes an approach based on a blend of functional/natural medicine, nervous system tools, nutrition, movement, and emotional healing to help patients move from surviving to thriving.
When I first started working with patients who had chronic symptoms following COVID-19, I began to notice trends in terms of what the most important upstream issues were. The biggest factors were consistently two things: a high toxic burden, and a nervous system that was dysregulated and stuck in fear programming.
In many cases, patients live in a house with hidden water damage or mold, which appears to be a big factor in the development of long COVID. However, a whole plethora of toxins can create the perfect storm of predisposition to chronic inflammation. Toxins that test high in these patients include mycotoxins, heavy metals, radioactive elements from contaminating drinking water, agricultural chemicals like glyphosate, and other industrial and environmental chemicals.
Setting up a foundation to help the autonomic nervous system self-soothe and restore a baseline of safety is key. Treatment to help the body open its detoxification and drainage pathways is immensely helpful in restoring health and well-being in these patients when it is done gently. Once we address the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual terrain that makes people susceptible to chronic inflammation, the system is resilient and better equipped to handle immune stressors.
It can be overwhelming to navigate healing when feeling foggy and exhausted. This article will outline four steps to help individuals thrive again after chronic inflammation associated with long COVID.
What is long COVID?
The CDC considers the diagnosis of Long COVID in someone who previously had SARS-CoV-2 infection after 3 months as a continuous, relapsing and remitting, or progressive disease state that affects one or more organ systems.
The most common symptoms experienced by people who have Long COVID include:
Dysautonomia, POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome), heart rate variability
Post-exertional malaise, exercise intolerance
Fatigue
Brain fog and cognitive decline, dementia
Numbness, neuropathy, muscle pain, spasms, weakness
Movement disorders
Dizziness
Headaches
“Functional neurological disorder”
New onset or worsening autoimmune disease
Research shows that there are over 200 symptoms associated with long COVID. Most long COVID cases in the literature were ages 36-60 and had mild COVID to start. A 2023 systematic review suggested that the incidence of long COVID is between 7.5-50% among non-hospitalized adults.
Fatigue, exercise intolerance, brain fog/cognitive decline, numbness, and neuropathy are the most commonly reported symptoms. Interestingly, these symptoms are hallmarks of what occurs when an internal bucket load of toxins spills over.
An abundance of literature links the spike protein to inflammation that occurs from toxins, and this may be one of the mechanisms for why long COVID and vaccine injuries present so similarly and respond well to the same treatment. On a cellular level, numerous mechanisms occur in these cases, such as micro-clotting, oxidative stress, gut dysbiosis, endothelial damage, mast cell activation, microglial activation, and molecular mimicry.
Co-existing conditions
There are many conditions associated with long COVID that are reported in the literature:
Mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS)
Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS)
Ehlers-Danlos syndrome or hypermobility spectrum disorders (EDS or HSD)
Lyme disease and co-infections
History of Epstein-Barr virus, HHV-6, cytomegalovirus (etc.)
Autoimmune conditions, thyroid problems, neuroinflammatory diseases
Myalgic encephalitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS)
Migraines/headaches
Irritable Bowel Syndrome; Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Chronic sinusitis
Osteopenia, osteoporosis, parathyroid issues
Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS)
Psoriasis, eczema, lupus
Multiple chemical sensitivity
SIBO, candida, gastroparesis
Anxiety, depression, ADHD, sensory sensitivities, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Craniocervical instability, Chiari malformation, CSF leaks, intracranial pressure issues
Heart and lung conditions
What do all of these things have in common? High toxic burden.
How to heal from long COVID
Both nervous system work and detoxification are complex topics that are best guided with the help of professionals and a comprehensive care team.
Step 1: Reframe
It’s helpful to start off with conversations around re-framing what is occurring in the body. It’s important to ensure patients first feel seen, heard, and validated in what they’ve experienced. The symptoms are very real, they have a definite root cause, and they are fully reversible.
Many patients state that they were relatively healthy prior to developing long COVID, but if you start to dig back into their history, there are signs of inflammation that preceded it. It’s helpful to return to the bucket analogy of toxic burden to understand what sets the system up for inflammation. Everyday exposures from our air, drinking water, food, health and beauty, and household products slowly fill the bucket. Bigger exposures (such as mercury dental fillings, living in a moldy home, or being exposed to a large dose of occupational or agricultural chemicals) may be the tipping point that overflows the bucket, taxes our organs like the liver, kidneys, and gallbladder, and creates lymphatic system sluggishness and systemic inflammation. At the same time, the autonomic nervous system can get stuck in a cell danger response from physiological stressors and/or trauma.
Once you lower your toxic burden, you will no longer feel so susceptible to getting sick. Symptoms are signals that our body is clearing something. Worrying about contagion creates autonomic nervous system and limbic system dysregulation. If you can reframe the idea away from contagion and toward the bigger picture of toxic burden, you will heal faster!
It's important to shift how we talk about our labels and diagnoses. Our body hears our thoughts and words down to a cellular level. Avoid saying “My ______” or using labels like “long COVID.” Instead, reframe it as “temporary inflammation in my system.” Change how you are discussing it with family and friends “My body has been dealing with a lot of inflammation, but I’m on the path to recovery.”
I like to remind patients:
You are not your symptoms. You are not your diagnosis. There is no reason to fear. This is a toxin issue. This is reversible.
Step 2: Support the autonomic nervous system
Covid-19 lockdowns had the same effect on memory as serving jail time, according to one study. We may never fully understand the emotional and social impacts of living through a global pandemic. A common denominator in this equation is fear, and the reframe step discussed above can certainly help with it. However, the top-down method of mentally willing ourselves to resolve fear may not be enough to automatically rewire our brains on a subconscious level.
The nervous system is complex, and we are constantly scanning our environment for cues of safety, whether we realize it or not. When the subconscious perceives a threat, our autonomic nervous system can move into fight or flight or freeze as a survival mechanism. This can have a profound impact on our physiological symptoms and rate of healing.
Many self-paced programs aim to help re-train the autonomic nervous system to spend more time in a grounded place of safety and peace. Primal Trust is one of the best programs I’ve found thus far. Sound bowl healing and tuning forks tend to be helpful for many people, too.
Other programs utilize music as part of the method for rebalancing the nervous system. For example, the Safe & Sound Protocol developed by Dr. Stephen Porges utilizes music with special frequencies and tones that help train the middle ear muscles to reduce hypervigilance to sound, and it positively impacts the other cranial nerves of social engagement, resulting in a calmer nervous system baseline.
In my clinical experience, programs that couple auditory therapy with customized exercises and nervous system work are the most fruitful approaches. In some cases, patients state that they feel healed from Long COVID in as little as five days from nervous system work alone. Don’t underestimate the power of this step!
Step 3: Work with a foundational medicine practitioner to heal upstream issues
Functional medicine practitioners often order lots of laboratory testing, which often reveals things like hormonal and thyroid abnormalities, cortisol imbalances, and gut dysbiosis. I find it helpful to zoom out from this method and instead follow a foundational medicine approach to determine what upstream factors are responsible.
For long COVID, the most important variables to consider are toxins and parasites that feed on and harbor toxins in the body. By addressing these two areas, the other abnormalities on functional medicine tests tend to heal themselves.
To gather baseline data, it can be helpful to order toxic burden testing. Specialty laboratories such as Vibrant Lab offer comprehensive urine analysis for panels of hundreds of toxins. While parasites are present in all humans, labs are poor at detecting them. Symptom questionnaires and a visual test called the VCS test (Visual Contrast Sensitivity test) that looks at biotoxins may also help collect some baseline data before treatment.
Clean foundations are key. Cleaning up the diet and switching to distilled water can be helpful, in addition to evaluating whether the home and workspace have good air quality. (Mold and radon testing may be warranted. See this article for more information on how to find a good company to test for mold.) Changing household products, skin products (etc.) can also lower the inflammatory toxin bucket.
Work with a practitioner to gently open drainage and detoxification pathways, start clearing toxins, and eventually heal the gut. Address constipation (if applicable) to prevent toxins from recirculating. As part of the process, consider utilizing a humic/fulvic acid binder to help the body remove toxins. (See this article for why a toxin binder is the multivitamin of the future!)
Patients who have experienced symptoms of long COVID may also benefit from working with a holistic dentist. Symptoms in the head, neck, and lower back may be tied to systemic inflammation. A physical therapist and/or craniosacral therapist may also benefit this patient population.
Step 4: Restore vital energy
Find your “surfing” and bring it back into your life. (For me, surfing is my happy place. What is that thing that makes you feel most alive, most present in the moment, most grounded, most at peace?) If you are not ready to dive back into the activity, play with ways to sprinkle it back into daily life in a modified form. For example, visualize yourself playing golf or set up a putting green at home, if you don’t have the energy to work on your swing yet.
Get out into nature and natural light. Disconnect from technology.
Work on energetic boundaries, limiting beliefs, and emotional healing.
Connect with a meaningful community.
Reflect on your passions, purpose, and spirituality. I like to have patients work through this journal for additional prompts and reflections on emotional healing for chronic conditions.
Be patient with yourself. Remember that healing is not linear.
You are not your symptoms. You are not your diagnosis. There is no reason to fear. This is a TOXIN issue. This is reversible.
If you are looking for more guidance with healing from long COVID or other inflammatory issues, consider joining a group like this one.
Resources:
Read more from Amber Walker
Amber Walker, Owner of Origin Wellness
Amber Walker is a Doctor of Physical Therapy, author and the owner of Origin Wellness. She is passionate about a root issues approach to healing from chronic illness and has advanced training in functional medicine, nutrition, nervous system healing, Mind Body Spirit Release™ (MBSR™) and CranioBiotic Technique. With over 16 years of experience working with clients all over the world, Amber specializes in conditions such as mast cell activation syndrome, mold biotoxin illness, long Covid, POTS, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, Lyme disease, autoimmune conditions, and chronic mysterious ailments. When not on a surfboard, she enjoys hosting telehealth groups, 1-on-1 care, and retreats in Mexico. Her mission: Help you go from surviving to thriving.
References:
The prevalence and long-term health effects of long Covid among hospitalized and non-hospitalized populations: a systematic review and meta-analysis. O’Mahoney et al. eClinical Medicine (Lancet). Jan 2023. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/article/PIIS2589-5370(22)00491-6/fulltext
Persistence of Post-Covid symptoms in the general population 2 years after SARS-CoV2 infection: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Fernandez de las Penas et al. J of Infection. Nov 2023. DOI: 10.1016/j.jinf.2023.12.004
Lost time: perception of events timeline affected by the Covid pandemic. Pawlak et al. PLOS One. May 2023. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0278250
