It’s very difficult for people who suddenly face a chronic condition which is not very well understood by science. Usually, quite some time passes for people to get a diagnosis.
CFS typically gets mistreated as a form of depression or some other psychological disease. Often nothing is found in regular bloodwork, so medical professionals can’t do very much.
There are certain tests that have a higher chance of detecting something “off” in the blood.
Testing for autoantibodies, looking for reactivated viruses, testing the mitochondria functionality, or just having higher inflammation levels in general seem to have better functionality when it comes to detecting an imbalance in the body.
Because it’s hard to see exactly what’s wrong with the body on a physical level, the diagnosis for CFS or Long-Covid is often given through the patient’s symptom description.
Some of the most famous symptoms are:
- extreme fatigue
- Post-exertional Malaise (PEM)
- Brain Fog
- Persistent Flu-like Symptoms
- Stimuli Sensitivity
- Heart Palpitations and Blood-Pressure irregularities …
“Luckily” for Long-Covid patients, the diagnosis can be made quite fast. Covid, in general, directed a lot of attention to chronic illness and ME/CFS in particular.
It’s known that for a lot of people, the symptoms get triggered after one of the following events:
- viral infections
- physical trauma or injury
- chronic stress
- vaccination
With Covid, we had millions of people getting infected by a virus, millions of people getting treated with vaccines, and millions of people being in a stressed state because of fear and sometimes social pressure.
Looking back, more than enough triggers for chronic fatigue/long Covid to appear.
But what exactly is this chronic condition? Why do some people get symptoms and others don’t? Why do people get it from different triggers? Why do people try so many different therapies, often without success?
The short answer is: Nobody really knows.
Some people can answer some of the “whys” above, but nobody can really answer all the “why’s” yet.
…Doesn’t sound so promising, right?
The good answer is people do heal from their symptoms. “Thanks” to covid, people now heal at much higher rates than ever before when it comes to Post-Viral fatigue. With so many people suffering, there is also way more information available. Especially information about what works and what doesn’t.
We are now having a look at the most common theories regarding the cause of the condition.
In the end, I will share my personal views on the symptoms and what I do during my own recovery.
Spike Protein: When the first long-covid patients were detected and more and more people started to feel sick even after the infection, the spike protein theory began to appear. The idea was that the spike proteins were responsible for the ongoing symptoms after the infection. The possible effects could be:
- hyperactive immune system causing it to attack the own body
- vascular issues. The spike protein is thought to interact with endothelial cells, causing microvascular damage.
- viral persistence. Small amounts of spike protein fragments remain in the body even after infection, resulting in chronic inflammation.
Reactivation of viruses: This theory is about the reactivation of viruses and sometimes bacteria that are already inside our body.
A healthy body normally keeps these viruses at “sleep”, not allowing them to really flare up. Since the immune system used all its energy to fight off covid, these viruses got the chance to grow stronger and increase in numbers. Usually, the family of herpes viruses is known to do that. The most famous, especially in alternative medicine, is the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). But there are many more, like Cytomegalovirus (CMV), Varicella-Zoster virus (VZV), HSV1, HSV2…
But there can also be bacteria that cause chronic symptoms, such as Streptococcus. Also, Lyme disease seems to be detected after infections.
Mitochondrial dysfunction: When mitochondria are damaged or dysfunctional, the production of ATP can be impaired, leading to a shortage of energy for cells. This can contribute to a variety of symptoms, such as fatigue, muscle weakness, brain fog, and other signs of cellular stress.
Hyper-reactive nervous system: The dysregulated nervous system is trapped in a chronic state of fight or flight. The body can’t go back into rest and digest. The limbic system (including the amygdala, which processes fear and stress) can become overactive, leading to a persistent activation of the body’s stress response. This leads to all different kinds of symptoms.
Spiritual awakening: Closely connected to the idea of the hyperactive nervous system is the thesis that the body is in a big purging process. The body is cleansing itself from old emotions and beliefs, leading the individual into higher levels of consciousness. People start resisting this internal process, which causes all kinds of symptoms and imbalances.
There are even more theories out there. I found these to be the most plausible and also the most discussed in the media and online.
Now, what are my own views on these theories? In which theory do I believe the most, and how does it affect my approach to the symptoms?
It took some time for me, but I believe not only one theory is correct here. I believe multiple theories have a point and a place.
This is not only important for trying to find the root cause but also to stop further division in healing communities.
I started viewing my symptoms through the lens of reactivated viruses. Trying to help my body detox, lower inflammation, and support it with lots of antiviral foods. A bit later, I opened up to the possibility that parts of the subconscious might also play a role in chronic illness. In the past, it was obvious for me that there is a clear cut between the physical body and our subconscious. But the longer I thought about the difference, the less clear it appeared. “Where does the psyche end, and the body start, and the other way around?”
So how does all of that possibly connect?
To me, it seems like viruses are activated in the body and cause inflammation. It also could make sense that on the physical level, mitochondrial functionality is not really smooth. I can also feel that my nervous system is not regulated correctly, and that I seem to have a hidden drive to dive deeper into philosophy, psychology, and spiritual concepts to view the world.
We have a “mental body,” an “emotional body,” and a physical body. They all affect each other.
I personally see the chain starting in our emotional body, affecting our mental body, and lastly our physical body.
So maybe in the end, all these inflammations, viruses, and the feeling of being stressed are just playing their part in a bigger picture? Maybe there is no need to interpret them as bad and dangerous as we used to.
What do you think?
unbroken_recovery 