Long COVID is an illness that affects at least ten percent of individuals who have experienced severe COVID. This illness can affect multiple parts of your body with over 200 different symptoms being identified. This article will answer the question, can long COVID affect the gut, and what you can do if you are experiencing gut symptoms due to long COVID.
Your Gut In A Nutshell
When thinking of your gut, you may just think of your intestines and stomach. However, the gut is much more than that. Your gut is comprised of your:
Mouth- Throat
- Esophagus (the tube connecting your mouth and stomach)
- Stomach
- Small intestine
- Large intestine
- Rectum
- Anus
Your gut plays an important role in digesting and absorbing nutrients from your food and is lined with beneficial bacteria known as your gut microbiome. These bacteria play many important roles in your body including:
- Maintaining the integrity of your gut
- Modulating your immune system
- Protecting against pathogens
- Processing non-digestible carbohydrates such as fiber
Who Is at Risk for Developing Long COVID?
While individuals who have experienced severe COVID are at risk, there are several other groups of individuals who are also at risk for developing long COVID. These groups are:
- Individuals over the age of 65
- Individuals with an underlying medical condition such as diabetes
- Women
- Hispanic and Latino individuals
- Individuals who did not have a COVID vaccine
Can Long COVID Affect the Gut?
When asking the question, can long COVID affect the gut, the answer is yes. Some symptoms that individuals with long COVID may experience if the gut is affected are:
- Nausea
- Abdominal pain
- Loss of appetite
- Heartburn
- Constipation
- Food intolerances (2)
Indirectly, if long COVID affects the gut, it can also cause other symptoms such as depression and anxiety.
How Can Long COVID Affect the Gut?
While acknowledging the question, can long COVID affect the gut is important, understanding how can long COVID affect the gut is also important for finding a way to manage symptoms.
Long COVID can affect your gut in many different ways. In some cases, not only will COVID invade your lungs, but also your gut. This invasion of the virus into the gut disrupts the gut barriers, causing inflammation. It can also change the motility of the gut. Inflammation within the gut may also exacerbate symptoms.
In long COVID, the inflammation can become chronic. Additionally, there can be gut dysbiosis, which refers to an imbalance of bacteria in the gut. In dysbiosis, there are more harmful bacteria than beneficial bacteria. This imbalance can start to affect the integrity of the gut and the wall of the intestines can become more permeable, resulting in a leaky gut. This can allow pathogens to move from your gut into your bloodstream and can cause widespread inflammation in your body.
It’s also been found that the antigens for COVID can persist in the gut, resulting in your immune system being constantly activated. The changes in your gut bacteria and the integrity of the gut wall can also cause activation of your immune system, increasing inflammation in the body.
Not only can long COVID affect the gut, but this can also affect the brain. This is because of the gut-brain axis. 90% of the brain hormone serotonin is produced in your gut. During long COVID, the decline of your gut health can cause less serotonin to be produced. This can then start to affect your brain health and cause feelings of anxiety and depression (1).
Can Long COVID Affect The Gut Permanently?
The question of can long COVID affect the gut permanently depends on the individual. Some individuals may find that over time, with nutritional, lifestyle, and supplemental support, the gut symptoms of long COVID may reduce. However, this depends on the individual. When long COVID affects the gut, it alters the integrity of your gut wall, affects motility, and increases inflammation, which can further damage the integrity of the gut wall. These changes can cause permanent damage to the gut. However, with certain strategies, the integrity of the gut wall, motility issues, and inflammation can improve.
Adrenal Fatigue and Gut Symptoms
While long COVID is one cause of gut symptoms, there can be other causes. Adrenal fatigue is one condition that can cause similar gut symptoms to long COVID. Adrenal fatigue is a condition where the body is unable to keep up with long-term stress, resulting in various symptoms. This happens by way of the NeuroEndoMetabolic (NEM) Stress Response System, a six-circuit system that helps your body manage stress.
In times of short-term stress, your adrenal glands, two glands that sit atop each kidney, produce stress hormones such as cortisol. These hormones help your body respond to the stress. Once the stress has passed, the production of these hormones should stop. In long-term stress, however, your adrenal glands can become depleted of cortisol as they are called on to produce it constantly. This can start to cause imbalances within your NEM system. Symptoms of adrenal fatigue will depend on where the imbalance in your NEM system is happening.
One of the circuits that can become imbalanced is the Inflammation circuit. When this happens it can cause symptoms such as:
- Migrating aches and pains
- Frequent illnesses
- Leaky gut
- Irritable bowel syndrome
- Food sensitivities
These symptoms are similar to the symptoms of long COVID, which affect the gut. It can be tricky to determine whether your symptoms are adrenal fatigue. In this case, seeing a healthcare provider who has an interest in adrenal fatigue can be beneficial.
Additionally, in the case of long COVID, your body is exposed to ongoing stress in the form of illness and inflammation. This can potentially increase your risk of developing adrenal fatigue in addition to long COVID.
How to Tell If Your Gut Symptoms Are Long COVID
If you are experiencing gut symptoms, it can be challenging to determine the cause, as gut symptoms can be caused by multiple different factors. In long COVID, gut symptoms can last longer than six months. Additionally, you may have other symptoms of long COVID such as:
Fatigue- Shortness of breath
- Dizziness
- Heart palpitations
- Joint pain
- Muscle aches
If you are experiencing gut symptoms, visit your healthcare provider. Your provider will be able to identify whether or not your symptoms are a result of long COVID or adrenal fatigue, both, or another medical condition.
Long COVID and The Gut: Finding Relief
Experiencing gut symptoms as a result of COVID can be frustrating and can affect the quality of your life. Fortunately, there are multiple different ways in which you may be able to improve your symptoms.
Nutrition
While the thought of eating may not seem appealing if you are experiencing gut symptoms, nutrition is one way in which to manage your symptoms. Multiple different aspects of nutrition can help, including the:
- Quality of food
- Portion sizes
- Timing of meals
Focusing on foods rich in vitamins and minerals helps to ensure that you receive the nutrients your body needs. Additionally, certain foods such as foods high in fats and sugar may trigger your gut symptoms and increase inflammation. Eliminating or reducing your intake of these foods may help.
Tips to increase the quality of your meals include having fruits and vegetables daily, focusing on lean protein, unrefined carbohydrates, and healthy fats such as nuts, seeds, and avocado. If you are experiencing nausea, vomiting, and/or diarrhea, focusing on foods that are dry and bland such as crackers, rice cakes, and oatmeal can help to manage symptoms.
Portion sizes are also important as too little and too much food can exacerbate symptoms. One handy way to ensure that your portion sizes are adequate is to use the plate model. This model recommends half of your plate contains fruits and vegetables including salad, a quarter is protein, and a quarter should contain carbohydrates.
The timing of your meals is also important. Skipping meals can exacerbate symptoms such as nausea. Eating small regular meals such as three main meals with two snacks, one between each meal, can help. If you can’t finish your meal or snack because of the symptoms, don’t force yourself to eat as this may make your symptoms worse.
If you are experiencing a loss of appetite, small frequent meals can help to stimulate your appetite. Additionally, focusing on foods that are energy-dense and foods that are softer can help. These foods include smoothies and yogurt.
Lifestyle Changes
Certain changes in your lifestyle may also help to manage some symptoms, especially reflux. These include:
Sitting up during and after eating, or if you do lie down, elevate your chest with a pillow.- Reduce smoking and alcohol intake.
- Make sure that you are a healthy weight.
- Make sure your clothes such as belts and waistbands of your pants aren’t too tight.
- Eat slowly, the recommended amount of chews per bite of food is 32, but if this is too much, start with at least ten chews per bite.
Supplementation
Many different supplements may help to provide relief in the case of long COVID. These supplements work in different ways to improve symptoms. Some supplements that may help in long COVID are:
- NAD+ by Dr. Lam: Consisting of vitamin C, niacin, and a blend of bioenergy ribose and nicotinamide, NAD+ helps to support NAD levels in the body. NAD may help boost your energy levels, reduce inflammation, and may help reduce the viral load in long COVID (3).
- Adrenal NK by Dr. Lam: This supplement contains nattokinase, an enzyme that may help to inhibit the spike protein in COVID by degrading it (4). This supplement is intended for adults only and should not be used by individuals on blood thinners.
- Active SP by Dr. Lam: This supplement also contains an enzyme, serrapeptase, which can help reduce inflammation, modulate your immune system, may reduce the viral load of COVID, and also acts as a mucolytic (5). This supplement is also not safe for individuals taking blood thinners.
If you are looking for a supplement that can help specifically with your gut health in long COVID, GI Mend may help. This supplement can help to improve your gut health by restoring the integrity of your gut walls and consists of:
- Licorice
- Marshmallow
- Slippery elm
- Aloe vera
This supplement can help your gut to be less permeable by restoring the integrity of the gut wall and reducing the chance of pathogens entering your bloodstream. This may reduce the chances of further inflammation. Additionally, these herbs are antioxidants and help to neutralize the unstable free radicals created during COVID. By neutralizing the free radicals, antioxidants can help to reduce and prevent further inflammation.
Closing Thoughts
Long COVID can affect multiple aspects of your health including your gut health. While these symptoms can be unpleasant, many different strategies can help. These include:
- Nutritional modifications
- Lifestyle changes
- Supplementation
If you have any questions or you are unsure whether you are experiencing long COVID or adrenal fatigue or both, you can give us a call at +1 (626) 571-1234.
