10 Indisputable facts that are now scientific consensus about SARS-CoV-2(12/17/2025): COVID is NOT primarily a respiratory disease.

It is a systemic vascular-immune disease causing endothelial injury, microvascular thrombosis, and immune dysregulation. This is concerning because the injury is cumulative with each infection(endothelium does not easily regenerate).

Pacing is not NOT a form of treatment. In Chinese medicine, conserving energy when sick and/or convalescing is paramount to recovery.
The Huang Di Nei Jing says, “Stress, exhaustion, and excess cause disease; peace, quiet, and emptiness bring health..."

https://twitter.com/internetuserf12/status/1693285558653423805

"...When the mind and body’s peace are protected, how can one stay/get sick?”

The Su Wen(first half of the HDNJ) is a scathing condemnation of class/labor/hustle/grind based societies in which Huang Di explains that people are getting sick and dying because they do too much.

Eugenics didn’t disappear. It became law. 31 U.S. states still allow forced sterilization of disabled people via guardianship courts.
Buck v. Bell, which called disabled people “unfit” to reproduce, has never been overturned. Since 2020, states like Alabama, Utah, and Tennessee issued crisis standards of care deprioritizing ventilators for people with disabilities and pre-existing conditions - openly ranking lives by "quality."

I want to talk about the combination of Shan Zha(Hawthorne Berry) and Dan Shen(Salvia Miltiorrhizae) for Lingering Pathogenic Illness(LPI). Both herbs address painful obstruction of the chest due to Blood Stasis but where they diverge is what makes them so useful together in LPI.

https://twitter.com/internetuserf12/status/1934714567755485537

Why haven't I mentioned Shan Zha before? Well, it's not technically a heart Qi tonic but by way of being slightly warming and astringent, it fortifies Heart Qi and Yang lost in Lingering Pathogenic Illness. Dan Shen does not - it simply cools and moves.

https://x.com/internetuserf12/status/1902396096166392055

I think that epicatechin may be a safer and more effective catechin in treating Long Covid than EGCG. What’s the difference between epicatechin (from cocoa) and EGCG (from green tea)? Both are polyphenols, but their therapeutic effects are quite different. Here's a breakdown... Bioavailability:
Epicatechin is more bioavailable than EGCG - better absorbed, circulates longer, and reaches muscle, brain, and endothelium more effectively. EGCG is potent but poorly absorbed unless taken with food/fats.

A wee thread on antigen-presenting cell dysfunction seen in Long Covid and ME/CFS... SARS-CoV-2 depletes dendritic cells (esp. pDCs and cDC2s) and lowers HLA-DR expression post-Covid.
T cells lose activation cues.
frontiersin.org/articles/10.33…

The majority of the population will likely have persistent immune dysregulation by 2027-2030 due to:
– Frequent reinfections (immune system doesn't "reset")
– No sterilizing immunity
– Cumulative immune exhaustion
– Latent virus reactivation
– Rising autoimmunity & inflammation This is based on the estimate that most people have had at least 2 SARS2 infections and will likely have more. We know that immune exhaustion worsens with each infection, myeloid cells become increasingly inflammatory and the immune system becomes less plastic.

Wang Qing Ren wrote about Xue Fu Zhu Yu Tang in the Yilin Gaicuo, published in 1830, a year before his death. Xue Fu Zhu Yu Tang is the cornerstone of a school of medicine based on the concept that all disease comes from the dysregulation of Blood(and Qi) or Blood Stasis. All the TCM herbal formulae thus far recommended for Long Covid and ME treat chest impediment syndrome or obstructed ZongQi which roughly correlates to coronary artery disease. They treat Phlegm and Blood Stasis in the chest and for very good reason.
mdpi.com/1424-8247/18/5…

I'd like to take a moment to recognize that the preeminent theory of Long Covid is, in fact, viral persistence based on this 2/10/25 author list, the ultimate who's who of Long Covid research:
thelancet.com/journals/lanin… "Our recommendations are informed by knowledge gained from trials targeting the HIV reservoir, hepatitis C, and other RNA viruses, as well as precision oncology, which share many of the same hurdles facing long-COVID trials."

Some herbs I don't talk about much that deserve more attention with regard to Long Covid and ME because they show up in many stacks as well as TCM formulae:
Huai [Hua] Mi(Sophora Flower Buds)
Zi Su Zi(Perilla Seed)
Ru Xiang(Frankincense)
Huang Qi(Astragalus) Immature Sophora Bud is considered more potent in flavonoids than the flower and is therefore preferred. It has a wide range of functions include mast cell stabilizing and relieving irritability. The root is much more potent in oxymatrine.

https://x.com/internetuserf12/status/1832059016299635188

We are almost certainly in a Swine Flu pandemic(a redux of the 2009 Swine Flu Pandemic to be exact) that will almost certainly be what causes a Bird Flu pandemic(H1 is going to reassort with H5) and there are people who don't even know that we are still in a SARS-Cov-2 pandemic. Things to note about A/H1/09: it infects deeper in the lungs than the average flu and can cause severe ARDS as well as narcolepsy in those with gene variation HLA-DQB1*06:02.

I'm 37 and I move like my 96 year old grandfather did before he died. I have balance issues, OI, non-healing foot injuries, extreme fatigue/dyspnea, and that's just my standing symptoms... Five years ago, I was doing an hour of HIIT and cycling to work every day. Long Covid sucks If I push myself too hard or am exposed to mold, I get PEM(4+ days in bed), seizures, and migraines.

It took a few years of R&D but my LC / ME formula is finally finished and it is nice. If you have any issues with cost, please email me, no questions asked (michael@acunola.com). Stock is limited because I'm limited but I'll try to keep up. acunola.com/longcovid There are multiple antivirals in the formula: Psoralea(polymerase inhibitor), Berberine(neuraminidase inhibitor) which has an IC50 half that of Paxlovid, and Ashwagandha(MPro inhibitor). Other ingredients such as Ginseng also have indirect antiviral properties.

I'm the acupuncturist/herbalist who told everyone to take Berberine, Taurine, Lumbrokinase, and Minerals for Long Covid. The protocol is strictly palliative, meant to improve QoL. The work I've done since then on Lingering Pathogenic illness and TCM is meant to be curative, a WIP

https://x.com/internetuserf12/status/1736471465636061210

If you're only going to do one thing to treat your Long Covid, make it taking fibrinolytic enzymes. I, personally, take a very small amount(a portion of a capsule) because of my ITP and history of gastritis. I do not, personally, notice much benefit unless I hirx - I notice small improvements after. I have patients who notice more immediate benefits, some none at all.

MCAS in Chinese medicine is considered Lingering Pathogenic Illness in that some sort of insult leads to an accumulation of "Phlegm"(biofilm) continually irritating(redness, itching, bleeding) the respiratory and G/I tracts triggering mast cell overactivation. It's not you! In Chinese medicine, that same "Phlegm" obstructs the function of the Heart system to cause symptoms like anxiety, insomnia, and memory issues. That same "Phlegm" obstructs breathing and makes digestion very irregular.

I'd like to point out that everything Paul Cheney observed in his original CFS/ME cohort(reduced EF, reduced sats, disappearing fingerprints, etc...) can be explained by obstructed ZongQi, the TCM theory for Long Covid pathogenesis. What about mold?...

paradigmchange.me/wp/cheney/ x.com/internetuserf1… When ZongQi(and/or ejection fraction) is impaired, the body is less able to clean up oxidative and microbial waste products, therefore allowing them to accrue in the form of ROS and biofilm, for instance. ZongQi is as much about oxygen as it is toxicity.

https://x.com/internetuserf12/status/1676859990571638785

Here is the Xie Xin Tang version of my Long Covid formula for other herbalists to reproduce(or for you to take to your herbalist). It's based on Sun Xuesong's Long Covid formula, my Long Covid formula, and Liu Bao-Yi's Lingering Pathogen formulas. <3 Mine is basically the same but with more non-traditional ingredients for immune, mitochondrial, and antimicrobial support.

🚨I’ve been waiting for this study to be published. Earlier in the pandemic, Erturk Labs found that after one infection, 60% of the population likely experiences viral spike persistence in the brain after conducting random autopsies. 🚨

cell.com/cell-host-micr…

https://x.com/erturklab/status/1643902019088908289?s=46&t=FxB3tk0ipYkVXv8-Jzsrjg

"Long COVID could... be described as a virally induced chronic and self-perpetuating metabolically imbalanced non-resolving state characterised by mitochondrial dysfunction, where ROS continually drive inflammation and a shift towards glycolysis."
mdpi.com/2227-9059/10/1… "This would suggest that a sufferer’s metabolism needs to be “tipped” back using a stimulus, such... calorie restriction, or chemical compounds that mimic these by enhancing mitochondrial function, perhaps in combination with inhibitors that quell the inflammatory response."

With a healthy immune system, one can usually reach ketosis in a matter of hours of fasting, an important part of cycling through energy that helps to regenerate immune cells. In Long Covid, this is not possible due to persistent gluconeogenesis, thus ongoing immune dysfunction. In certain disease states, the body switches from carbohydrates to amino acids(instead of fats) for energy as a form of survival in order to meet energy demands. In Long Covid, the body gets stuck in hepatic amino gluconeogenesis, a particularly demanding and stressful state.