Why has Covid affected my Gut?
I had been lucky to avoid covid for the last 2 years and then 2 weeks ago my luck ran out.
I won't bore you with the details although I was sicker than I thought, I was still ok.
I have been focused on reducing the post covid symptoms by ensuring that I dealt with the brain fog, fatigue and loss of taste symptoms. But the one area I hadn't paid much attention to was the gut. While I had mild gut issues with the virus, I didn't really pay much attention to them as I was more focused on other prevalent symptoms.
I am now 16 days post virus and I have been surprised at how upset my gut has been. I was surprised because I am always doing work on my gut being that is my specialty area of practice. So I was thinking "Why is my gut so upset?". This lead me down the research path as I knew there had to be more to it.
What did I find?
The research indicates there has been evidence of post Covid gut symptoms. This is because the angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE-2) receptor is located throughout the GI tract and it serves as the SARS-CoV-2 receptor, that means is attaches to it. The research has shown that these receptors have caused significant alterations in the gut microbiome from subjects post Covid, versus those without Covid. This also means that the Covid virus is changing the gut microbiome.
The studies show IBS like symptoms for some people up to 6 months after their infection. Of course we need to break this down, as no two people are going to be the same. But if there were antibiotics involved you might expect to see microbiome issues, or even anti virals both will change the microbiome.
But what about when none of these were an issue?
I had 4 clients in one day report a change of gut issues post Covid infection. Some worse than others, but it did get me wondering why are some people more susceptible to gut issues even after we have done significant gut work.
Susceptibility is the key word though! Why some people have more post Covid gut issues than others can be assessed with some of the following issues:
Were they under more stress than normal? This means they would be producing more cortisol (which is inflammatory) and there would be a reduction in digestive function. This would impact on the function of the gut and hence the microbiome.
Did they have a gut issue prior to Covid (making their gut a weak point)?
Did they have methylation issues? DNA methylation is involved with viral replication. Methylation is also involved in the gut as it impacts the microbiome. So if you are carrying the MTHFR gene then this may increase susceptibility to post Covid symptoms.
Were they already showing signs of inflammation? This could be as simple as carrying a few extra kilos as this increases your inflammatory markers. Or do they already have an autoimmune condition.
Were they experiencing insulin sensitivity? Again this increases the inflammatory markers.
I have to say in all of my client cases at least 1-2 of the above issues were involved. So therefore this is liekly contributing to the gut issues.
But once we have gut issues we also need to consider the gut/brain axis. Cognitive impairment post Covid or brain fog is also due to the inflammatory markers released to deal with the virus. This is causing inflammation of the brain and hence why you have brain fog. But when the gut is not happy then the brain can be unhappy also. This is due to the communication highway that exists between the two.
There have been some postulations that the Angiotensin I Converting Enzyme 2 (ACE2, the main receptor for SARS-CoV-2) and Dopa Decarboxylase (DDC, encoding the enzyme that catalyzes dopamine, serotonin and histamine) work together synergistically and therefore the dysfunction experience by the ACE2 receptor is also reflected in a reduction of the DDC enzyme. This leads to a drop in production of those neurotransmitters and can influence your state of mind or your mental health.
It would make sense as the biggest shift I hear practitioners talk about, post Covid, is the increased prevalence of mental health conditions.
Some of the research is suggesting that the Omicrom variant is showing more symptoms around brain fog and fatigue, versus the Delta variant which had more respiratory symptoms.
So consider if you are experiencing unexplained gut issues and maybe some changes in your mental health post Covid, then you may need to consider that the gut microbiome might need some work. You can always check in via a free Discovery Call should you need to chat.
Reference
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8966836/