> Elahi adds that in a previous study, his team discovered that some long COVID patients had a deficiency in two amino acids, sarcosine and serine, that have anti-inflammatory functions and neuroprotective effects. Both are available as food supplements that can be purchased at health-food stores or online.
> “Some patients who have taken them have claimed signs of improvement.”
It's almost impossible to self-detect signs of improvement when the nature of long COVID is so different from one person to the other, and fatigue comes and goes over the course of days or weeks. It's not even placebo, it's just that it comes and goes, so if you are trying out some new thing, you're gonna start when you're feeling the worst, and get better after a few days because you can't get any worse, then after some time it gets bad again, but patients would think it's normal because their body is being accustomed to the new thing, and request to try more of the thing, even if it does nothing.
We need measurable results, and actual clinical studies over long periods of time.
Trying out this kind of supplements based on "Some patients who have taken them have claimed signs of improvement" is like trusting professor Raoult in 2020 and use chloroquine to treat COVID because he's the only one selling hope.
Hard not to be cynical about this paper when the author suggests there are medications for "gut leakiness". Seems like they tested a bunch of non specific proteins and p hacked to get a few results for publishing. "Chronic inflammation" is not the kind of concrete condition doctors can really sink their teeth into.
> Elahi adds that in a previous study, his team discovered that some long COVID patients had a deficiency in two amino acids, sarcosine and serine, that have anti-inflammatory functions and neuroprotective effects. Both are available as food supplements that can be purchased at health-food stores or online.
> “Some patients who have taken them have claimed signs of improvement.”
It's almost impossible to self-detect signs of improvement when the nature of long COVID is so different from one person to the other, and fatigue comes and goes over the course of days or weeks. It's not even placebo, it's just that it comes and goes, so if you are trying out some new thing, you're gonna start when you're feeling the worst, and get better after a few days because you can't get any worse, then after some time it gets bad again, but patients would think it's normal because their body is being accustomed to the new thing, and request to try more of the thing, even if it does nothing.
We need measurable results, and actual clinical studies over long periods of time.
Trying out this kind of supplements based on "Some patients who have taken them have claimed signs of improvement" is like trusting professor Raoult in 2020 and use chloroquine to treat COVID because he's the only one selling hope.
Thread for this paper on Science For ME [0].
[0] https://www.s4me.info/threads/exploring-the-role-of-galectin...
If anyone is interested, here are my notes:
#. Measurable markers
- higher levels of immune cells: neutrophils and monocytes (test: CBC) - fewer lymphocytes (test: CBC)
- exhausted T cells
- higher levels of … galectin-9 and artemin
- abundance of immature red blood cells (reticulocyte) (test: Reticulocyte count)
- deficiency in two amino acids, sarcosine and serine (test: Amino Acid Profile)
#. How to mitigate
- sarcosine and serine … are available as food supplements that can be purchased
Hard not to be cynical about this paper when the author suggests there are medications for "gut leakiness". Seems like they tested a bunch of non specific proteins and p hacked to get a few results for publishing. "Chronic inflammation" is not the kind of concrete condition doctors can really sink their teeth into.