Long-COVID: Could Supporting Gut Health Help? Supporting Long COVID through Harnessing the Gut with a Functional Medicine Approach In this episode of "The Hashimoto's Doctor Podcast", we're diving into the topic of Long COVID and how a special type of medicine called functional medicine might help. We'll focus on the connection between the tiny living things in our digestive tracts (gut microbiota) and Long COVID, and explain how a healthy gut might be really important for our overall health, especially after getting over a SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) infection. First off, we'll try to define Long COVID and share some shocking facts about how many people it affects. Then, we'll chat about some theories on what might cause Long COVID, like issues with the immune system, changes in the gut microbiota, autoimmune responses, problems with blood clotting, and messed up signals in the nervous system. We'll also dive deeper into why the gut microbiota is so important, and its different roles. We'll discuss gut dysbiosis, which is when the balance of the living things in our gut gets thrown off, and how it can make us more likely to get sick with respiratory diseases and mess with our immune response. We'll talk about how gut dysbiosis might play a part in Long COVID, especially its effects on the nervous system, and how inflammation can mess with the metabolism of an important substance called tryptophan. Next, we'll discuss how functional medicine may help fix the balance of the gut microbiota, using things like prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics, and why what we eat matters, including foods rich in polyphenols. We'll talk about how certain types of Bifidobacterium longum (a good bacteria in our gut) might help improve our health markers, and discuss exciting new treatments like microbiota transplantation. Come along on this journey as we look into how functional medicine might help manage Long COVID by focusing on our gut health. If you're curious about functional medicine, gut health, and how to manage Long COVID, this episode is a must-listen!   Check out the show notes for a list of literature references including summaries of each paper: https://drbradshook.com/long-covid-could-supporting-gut-health-help/  Facebook: The Office of Dr. Brad Shook, DC Support Group: Greater Hickory Thyroid Support Group | Facebook Instagram: Brad Shook, DC | Functional Medicine Practitioner (@drbradshook) | Instagram Youtube: Dr. Brad Shook | The Hashimoto's Doctor - YouTube Twitter: Brad Shook, DC (@shookdc) / Twitter More: About Dr. Shook | Best Resources Telemedicine: Application for Care - The Office of Dr. Brad Shook, DC (drbradshook.com)