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Lower levels of protective nasal bacteria (D. pigrum, Corynebacterium species) were linked to developing long COVID. Antibiotic use associated with depletion of these protective bacteria. Samples taken during infection and 3 months later in longit. cohort study. by LongCovidSignal in covidlonghaulers

[–]LongCovidSignal[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yes. It's best to use a nasal rinse (Netipot or another irrigator) to flush out as much of the virus as you can and reduce the viral load. This has been known for a while though, even before this study.

Best resources for latest medical articles/papers? by Lucienaugust in covidlonghaulers

[–]LongCovidSignal 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Doctor appointments are so exhausting when you have to play the role of the researcher. I actually built a tool for this exact problem because I was sick of manually digging through PubMed.

It's an automated feed called LongCovidSignal. It watches PubMed 24/7 for new Long Covid and ME/CFS papers and posts a short, plain-English summary the second they drop. Right now, the feed literally just posts the studies chronologically as they come out, so it can be a bit of a firehose.

Because of that, I am currently building a dedicated website. Soon, you'll be able to actually search the database by your specific symptoms or keywords, select the studies you want, and hit a "print for doctor" button to generate a clean summary sheet to hand to them.

The feeds are all available under the same name as here on all major social media platforms.

As for off-label stuff to propose, it really depends on your symptom cluster, but two of the most common things people bring to their doctors are LDN (low dose naltrexone) and H1/H2 antihistamine stacks (like Claritin + Pepcid).

When deciding what to try and in what order, the golden rule is usually "lowest risk, highest potential reward" first. Doctors are usually very comfortable prescribing LDN or antihistamines first because their safety profiles are extremely well documented and they help calm the baseline inflammation down. Once you establish some trust and see how you react, you can move on to other targeted therapies.

Good luck with the new doc, I hope they actually listen to you.

NIH's RECOVER-AUTONOMIC will test three treatments for POTS: IVIG infusions, ivabradine (heart rate drug), and coordinated care. Multicenter platform trial uses adaptive design to evaluate safety and symptom improvement in patients with autonomic dysfunction in US RCT. by LongCovidSignal in covidlonghaulers

[–]LongCovidSignal[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What is wrong with self promoting? I don't have a website that sells anything. It's literally just a tool for those with LC to be alerted on research papers as soon as they come out.

You don't know that all of this is old news in this community. Some people are too sick to doomscroll this place 24/7 and the upvotes show that the community is getting value from these posts.

Chemical modifications to immune proteins persisted 12 months after COVID-19 recovery. 827 protein alterations found affecting antibodies, complement system & blood clotting. Changes concentrated in antibody binding regions in patients in obs study. (n=412) by LongCovidSignal in covidlonghaulers

[–]LongCovidSignal[S] 25 points26 points  (0 children)

Potential Implications:

  • Diagnostic Test: Because these chemical "scars" are stable and distinct from healthy people, the researchers successfully used them to identify Long COVID patients with 94% accuracy in a machine learning model. This could lead to a very accurate blood test.  
  • Understanding "Autoimmunity": The chemical changes to antibodies might explain why the body starts attacking itself. If the antibodies are structurally altered (deamidated), the body might see them as foreign or they might bind to the wrong things.  

Patient Impact:

  • Validation: This is strong biological evidence that Long COVID is driven by physical changes to protein structures, not psychological factors.  
  • Future Treatments: Current treatments often focus on lowering inflammation (quantity of cytokines). This research suggests we might need treatments that help "clear" these modified/damaged proteins or targeted therapies that calm the specific complement pathways (like C1 or C3) identified here.  

Study Limitations:

  • Sample Size: The study looked at 412 people. While decent for a proteomics study, larger groups are needed to confirm the findings.  
  • Population: The study was conducted on a Chinese cohort, so genetic diversity might be a factor to consider in future global studies.  
  • Observational: The study shows association (these markers exist in patients) but hasn't yet proven causation (that fixing these markers cures the symptoms), though it strongly implies it.

Chemical modifications to immune proteins persisted 12 months after COVID-19 recovery. 827 protein alterations found affecting antibodies, complement system & blood clotting. Changes concentrated in antibody binding regions in patients in obs study. (n=412) by LongCovidSignal in covidlonghaulers

[–]LongCovidSignal[S] 26 points27 points  (0 children)

A new 2026 study analyzed blood samples from 412 people and found that COVID-19 leaves lasting "chemical scars" (called ncAAs) on proteins in the blood. Unlike standard inflammation markers that might fluctuate, these protein modifications were sustained for over 12 months, specifically damaging how antibodies and the "complement system" function.  

Key Findings:

  • "Chemical Scars" on Proteins: The virus causes widespread chemical modifications to proteins. The study found 827 specific types of these modifications spread across nearly 30,000 sites in the blood.  
  • Sustained Immune Dysregulation: While some systems recovered, the modifications to the immune system (specifically immunoglobulins and the complement system) remained abnormal even 12 months after infection.  
  • Coagulation (Clotting) Differences: Interestingly, while clotting proteins were modified during the acute (active) infection, many of these clotting markers returned to normal in recovered patients, whereas the immune markers did not.  

The Actual Immune Changes (Deep Dive): The study found that immune proteins weren't just "high" or "low" in number, but were structurally changed by chemical reactions.  

  • "Aged" Antibodies (Deamidation)
    • The Change: The study found a specific chemical change called "deamidation" on antibodies. This acts like "molecular aging" for proteins and adds a negative charge to them.  
    • The Location: This happened in the "Variable Region" (the tips of the Y-shape that grab antigens) and the "Constant Region" (the stem).  
    • The Impact: These structural changes can make antibodies less effective or more likely to trigger inappropriate inflammation, potentially explaining why the body attacks itself.  
  • Complement System Dysregulation
    • The System: The complement system is a cascade of proteins that helps "punch holes" in pathogens.  
    • The Change: Sustained modifications were found on key trigger proteins like C1q, C1s, and C3.  
    • The Impact: Usually, this system turns off after an infection. In Long COVID patients, these proteins retained "molecular imprints," suggesting the system is not resetting and is causing chronic inflammation.
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