Low Cortisol May Fuel Long COVID: Animal Study

Authored by Mary West via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

An animal study published in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity found that a COVID-19 infection may leave behind certain proteins, which can trigger the process that causes cortisol levels to drop. This results in increased inflammation and immune overreaction to stress.

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The effect on cortisol may underlie many changes associated with long COVID, which has many neurological and neuropsychological symptoms, such as brain fog, anxiety, sleep disturbances, fatigue, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

“Our study suggests that low cortisol could be playing a key role in driving many of these physiological changes that people are experiencing with long COVID,” lead author Matthew Frank, a senior research associate with the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Colorado at Boulder, said in a press release.

The discovery brings science one step closer to understanding long COVID, which affects 10 to 35 percent of people after contracting an infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, according to the researchers.

Lingering Proteins Link to Low Cortisol

Researchers in the study noted several earlier experiments that led to their recent investigation. Prior findings included:

SARS-CoV-2 sheds antigens classified as spike proteins, referred to as S and S1.
These proteins are immune-stimulating agents that may linger in the plasma and various organs of long COVID patients for an extended time following an infection.
High plasma levels of S and S1 correlate with neuropsychiatric symptoms.

Based on the above, the researchers theorized that spike proteins may produce physiological effects that prolong the duration or increase the magnitude of the neuroinflammatory response to future stressors. To determine the effect of the proteins on the brain and nervous system, the researchers injected S1 into the spinal fluid of rats.

After seven days, compared to a control group, the rats given S1 showed a 31 percent decrease in corticosterone, a hormone similar to cortisol. The reduction was found in the hippocampus, a brain structure involved in learning, decision-making, and memory. After nine days the corticosterone levels dropped further to 37 percent.

Frank noted that nine days is a long time in the lifespan of rats since they usually live for only two to three years. He added that this drop has important health ramifications because of the multiple actions of cortisol:

Inflammation reduction
Blood pressure regulation
Fuel-to-energy conversion
Prevention of immune system overreaction
Sleep-wake cycle control

“Cortisol has so many beneficial properties that, if it is reduced, it can have a host of negative consequences,” he said.

Low Cortisol Links to Long COVID Symptoms

Another part of the study involved assessing the effects of low cortisol on health. Different groups of rats were exposed to a stressor in the form of weakened bacteria. The rat group that previously was injected with the S1 protein experienced a much stronger response to the stressor, manifesting in more neuroinflammation. This group also showed more changes in behavior, heart rate, core body temperature, eating, and drinking.

“We show for the first time that exposure to antigens left behind by this virus can actually change the immune response in the brain so that it overreacts to subsequent stressors or infection,” added Frank.

While more research is necessary to fully understand and verify the study findings, Frank suggested the following happens in long COVID:

First, proteins from COVID trigger processes that cause cortisol to drop, which removes the brakes over inflammatory responses to stress.
Next, when a person encounters a stressor, which may take a myriad of forms—such as contracting a mild infection or being caught in traffic—they have an exaggerated inflammatory response.
This results in neurological and neuropsychological effects, such as insomnia, depression, brain fog, fatigue, and memory problems.

Cortisol and Post-Viral State

Long COVID, manifesting in fatigue, brain fog, and pain patterns, is simply another name for post-viral chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia, Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum, author of “You Can Heal From Long COVID,” told The Epoch Times.

The study is not the first to find that a post-viral state is associated with low cortisol. “We have known of this link for over 33 years,” he said. “In fact, it was an area that I looked at with detailed cortisol testing in an earlier study published in the Journal of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.”

The spike proteins that sometimes persist in the body after a COVID-19 infection, which can be a potent trigger for the physiological process that lowers cortisol, is one of countless triggers, according to Teitelbaum. “However, recognizing the existence of low cortisol and the role it plays provides one more important tool for mitigation.”

How to Address Low Cortisol

Low cortisol is one of numerous pieces of the long COVID puzzle—a very helpful one that can be fairly easily addressed through treating adrenal issues, said Teitelbaum. In his practice, he uses the following to improve function of the adrenal glands—the structures that make cortisol:

HRG 80 Red Ginseng Chewable Tablets

HRG 80 red ginseng is an adrenal adaptogen, an agent that increases resistance to a wide variety of biological or physical factors. Teitelbaum published a study in the journal Pharmaceuticals examining post-viral chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia in 188 people. The results showed that red ginseng helped in 61 percent of cases with an average 67 percent increase in energy.

Increased Salt and Water and Decreased Sugar

These measures help take the strain off the adrenal glands, which regulate salt and water balance.

Supplements

Some supplements can provide additional adrenal support. These include:

Glandulars, which are extracts of glands
Licorice, a medicinal plant with several therapeutic properties that can treat low-cortisol conditions.
Pantothenic acid, a B vitamin that can induce higher corticosterone levels
Low dose dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), an adrenal hormone that can treat adrenal insufficiency
Vitamin C, which the adrenal gland uses to synthesize hormones

Ivermectin

In long COVID, including vaccine-induced long COVID, Teitelbaum, and other researchers are finding that a significant percentage of people improve within five days of taking ivermectin. This regimen usually needs to be repeated multiple times to maintain the improvement.

That ivermectin helps with the vaccine-induced variety of long COVID suggests that it is not killing an infection, Teitelbaum said,  but rather that it is mopping up (chelating) pieces of the spike protein from the vaccine RNA. The reason it is working is still theoretical, but Teitelbaum has seen it work so many times in this population that he feels the clinical effect is clear.