“In April 2020, shortly after the beginning of the pandemic, anecdotal reports from patients started to emerge that previously healthy individuals were experiencing lingering symptoms and were not fully recovering from an infection with SARS-CoV-2… Long COVID is not one condition. It represents many potentially overlapping entities, likely with different biological causes and different sets of risk factors and outcomes.” – COVID.GOV, What is Long COVID?

Quote Summary:

Long COVID is a condition affecting a small number of COVID patients
Long COVID patients were considered “previously healthy“
Long COVID appears to be a consequence of severe or many overlapping entities although COVID.GOV refers to them as an infection with SARS-CoV-2
different Long COVID conditions have different sets of risk factors and outcomes

TLDR: (too long, didn’t read)

Long COVID appears to occur when healthy people with asymptomatic, mild, moderate or severe COVID wear a mask while COVID is present
quitting the mask will not cure COVID nor Long COVID
getting rid of masking might cure the epidemic of Long COVID – but cured is not medically defined for epidemics

Long COVID (according to WHO)

The World Health Organization’s ICD11 (International Classification of Diseases – 11th Edition, the “global standard for diagnostic health information has a single disease code RA02 Post COVID-19 condition which says, “Post COVID-19 condition occurs in individuals with a history of probable or confirmed SARS CoV-2 infection, usually 3 months from the onset of COVID-19 with symptoms, and that last for at least 2 months and cannot be explained by an alternative diagnosis. Common symptoms include fatigue, shortness of breath, cognitive dysfunction but also others, and generally have an impact on everyday functioning. Symptoms may be new onset following initial recovery from an acute COVID-19 episode or persist from the initial illness. Symptoms may also fluctuate or relapse over time.” (italics mine) As one of my old bosses used to say “Clear as mud?”

NORMAL COVID

We appear to have a fairly clear, understanding of COVID, defined by the World Health Organization as “Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus..” NOTE: the SARS-CoV-2 infection is not the disease, it is the cause of the disease, a cause which, in many cases is not serious enough to cause any disease. The ICD-11, has dozens of codes referencing COVID, including codes for SARS-CoV-2 variants, QC42.0 Personal History of COVID-19, RA03 Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome associated with COVID-19, RA01.0 COVID with pneumonia. However, many – perhaps most are not the disease COVID-19 and instead are codes like RA01.1 Virus Not Identified (might be the flu, or something else), the XM-series – containing more than 20 codes for COVID vaccines, QA08.5 screening for COVID, and with PL00 Drugs, medicaments, or biological substances associated with injury or harm in therapeutic use. Note, MB41.0 anosmia – loss of smell often associated with COVID-19, is an independent disease code, not linked to COVID, as are COVID-pneumonia (COVID was initially referred to as COVID pneumonia by some researchers) and COVID treatment iatrogenics like post intubation PTSD, and organ damage or failures, none of which have ICD codes linked to COVID. ARDS (Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome) the most common cause of COVID patient hospitalization and intubation – also has a disease code that is not linked to COVID – CB00.

There WHO ICD is a tool for collecting disease and treatment statistics and has no clear definition of a disease, much less of a disease like COVID or Long COVID and is of little use in diagnosis or treatment.

Causes of COVID

Every illness has two types of causes – past causes and present causes. COVID is no exception.

Past Causes are in the past and cannot be accessed or changed to cure a present illness. We might blame a case of COVID on visiting a sick friend, or being in a restaurant or church with someone who has COVID. We might judge it to be caused by failure to wear a mask, or failure to sanitize, or social distance. But these causes are in the past. When COVID is present, addressing them does not cure.

Present Causes are in the present, with the illness. Addressing them cures or moves towards a cure. If a COVID patient has a SARS-CoV-2 infection, then addressing the cause cures the infection illness. If they are deficient in nutrients necessary to fight viral infections, then addressing those causes will aid the cure process.

A normal COVID infection follows a simple path. When healthy people are exposed to an invisible quantity of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, it begins to multiply. SARS-CoV-2 is a single virus. A case of COVID, might begin as a single SARS-CoV-2 infection in one nostril, one nasal passage, or one lung. If the amount of virus encountered was larger, there might be multiple infection sites, however, this possibility is rarely documented or studied for most diseases.

Moderate and serious cases of COVID have secondary causes, like anosmia, ARDS, and pneumonia, which require additional cures. From the perspective of the COVID, these are consequences of which the cause – the SARS-CoV-2 infection – might be in the present or the past. From the perspective of a cure, they are causes of distress, needing to be cured.

The virus attacks, or feeds on a specific type of cell, one expressing ACE2 the receptors necessary to enter the cell and reproduce. These cells are more common in adults than children, and more common in people who are overweight, or have diseases like hypertension and diabetes. They can be present in many bodily tissues. In children and in many healthy individuals, the virus has a limited amount of “food” and can only multiply very slowly. As it multiplies, it kills cells and runs out of food. Our immune system consist of many systems that respond quickly to identify eliminate infected cells and the virus. These systems also learn and remembers how to defeat the infection for future infections. Because RSV infections evolve rapidly, our immune system forget them quickly as well, avoiding the baggage of out of date information.

Because our immune systems quickly notice, isolate and defeat similar infections, SARS-CoV-2 infections are often cured within a few hours, days or weeks. In many cases, especially in small children, an infection is defeated before any diagnosis is possible, and the person has developed natural immunity. This is referred to as an asymptomatic infection.

Most normal adults have some ACE2 cells, we might refer to those people as “normal COVID unhealthy.” They have an unhealthiness that facilitates SARS-CoV-2 infections, but otherwise is considered normal.

In most cases – our immune system steps up and deal with the infection. COVID is medically defined as having a single cause, the SARS-CoV-2 virus. This cause is a “cure cause.” When the cause is addressed, the illness, SARS-CoV-2 infection, has been cured. Note: Our current medical systems use the word RECOVERED and avoid the word CURED. There are complications in this view of cured. The SARS-CoV-2 virus uses a toxic spike protein to enter the cells, and a viral infection leaves these toxic proteins in the victim. Sometimes, these and other infection consequences require further cures. This diagram illustrates some possible progressions of COVID-19.

A case of SARS-CoV-2 infection might progress to stage 1, 2, 3, 4, and be cured, or to death:

Stage 1: an asymptomatic infection is present, where the patient does not feel any symptoms of disease. This is the most common stage in children and we are not sure how common it is in adults. The infection leaves a small amount of damage and spike protein poisons. If it ends at this stage, it can hardly be described as cured, because no observable illness was present. Many, perhaps most cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection, especially those in children, end here.
Stage 2: a minor infection has grown to cause symptoms of illness to be noticed by the patient. In many cases, this illness passes quickly or lasts a week or two, cured. This infection can leave a larger amount of damage and spike protein poisons which take some time to clear. Many cases end at this stage. We don’t know how many, because these patients might not even know they have COVID, don’t consult a doctor. There is no record.
Stage 3: a moderate infection has progressed to a point where the patient misses work or other activities. This too is typically cured within a few weeks. Even at this stage, many cases of COVID-19 are not recorded. I myself have taken 13 COVID-19 tests, of which one was positive. The positive test was a home test. I followed the government instructions and isolated for two weeks. But there was no reporting requirement. My COVID case is cured, and but undocumented.
Stage 4: a severe infection is present when the infection’s negative consequences are so severe that the patient cannot breath freely and needs to be hospitalized. This typically occurs only in some patients with other diseases like diabetes, hypertension, and obesity. Stage 4 requires medical treatment to be cured and has more serious consequences, requiring further cures. Many of these consequences are iatrogenic, related to the treatments used, not directly related to the SARS-CoV-2 viral infection. Dangerous or potentially iatrogenic treatments are sometimes needed when the patient’s condition is urgent.
Stage 5: Death. Death does not typically occur due to the direct actions of the virus, but to the body’s reaction and other factors like physical damage, an overabundance of toxins, or damaging treatments. However, at present, cause of death is typically ascribed to COVID. Of course once death occurs, a cure is no longer possible.

COVID-19 is like many other RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus) infections. According to the CDC, “Most RSV infections go away on their own in a week or two.” Few cases develop in to more severe conditions or long term consequences, fewer lead to death, typically only in patients with other underlying diseases.

Viral Transmission

As the virus finds fuel (ACE2 cells), it multiplies and begins to leave the body through the breath, attempting to infect other people – even before symptoms appear. According to the World Economic Forum, in May 2020, an average case of COVID infects 2 and 6 people. Measles, on the other hand, infects 12 on average. Normal influenza about 1.3. The transmission rate of COVID is still under study and under debate, and varies depending on many factors, but that’s a different topic than cure.

COVID patients are infectious before signs and symptoms of disease appear and normally remain infectious for up to 10 days. Medical News Today reports “infectiousness itself, both in the sense of how much someone will transmit the virus to others and how long they can do so, is highly variable.” Infectiousness depends on the number of viral particles being generated and their ability to escape the body.

The Long COVID Demon

There’s no Long COVID in those diagrams. Long COVID is “previously healthy individuals… experiencing lingering symptoms and… not fully recovering from an (SARS-CoV-2) infection” – COVID.GOV? This is not a normal case of COVID. “The signs, symptoms, and conditions are present four weeks or more after the initial phase of infection; may be multisystemic; and may present with a relapsing– remitting pattern and progression or worsening over time, with the possibility of severe and life-threatening events even months or years after infection. Long COVID is not one condition. It represents many potentially overlapping entities, likely with different biological causes and different sets of risk factors and outcomes.“

Is Long COVID an independent disease, with different causes? Or many diseases, with many causes? Unfortunately, modern medicine’s concepts of both disease and of cause is weak, and as a result, defining Long COVID is a challenge, understanding it – is more of a challenge, curing it – is simply impossible at present. Of course, that’s not news. CURED is not defined for COVID either. Long COVID is a mysterious disease, poorly defined, poorly understood. Even the name is fuzzy. The CDC definition page refers to Long COVID, long-haul COVID, post-acute COVID-19, post-acute sequelae of SARS CoV-2 infection (PASC), long-term effects of COVID, and chronic COVID. Why is Long COVID so mysterious?

Understanding the Causes of Long COVID

With many illnesses, we might occasionally get two of the same illness – at the same time.

Someone might break both arms, and requiring two separate slings or plaster casts. We might get an infection in just one, or in both ears. Sometimes we might get a cold and the flu at the same time – caused by two different viruses. It is possible to get two different influenza virus infections in different locations, even on the same lung – at the same time.

It is also possible to have two or more infections of the same bacteria or virus, like SARS-CoV-2, at the same time. The virus might infect us through our nose, our mouth, or even our eyes. An infection might take hold in our nasal passages, one or both of our lungs, even in independent areas of a single lung. As the virus multiplies, in addition to spreading to others, it can spread to other tissues and organs in the same person, creating secondary and tertiary infections.

We might get two infections at the same time, because the concentration of virus in the air is high, or if, after we are infected, we encounter the virus again, it can cause a second infection in another location. A care worker or nurse, constantly working with infected patients, might encounter the virus again and again before they develop natural immunity, leading to a number of infection sites in the eyes, nose, nasal passages, and lungs which can advance to other organs. These infections might overwhelm a patient’s immune system defenses and result in the situation described by COVID.GOV as “multisystemic” infections. This is a compound illness consisting of two or more illness elements with two or more causes and thus needing two or more cures.

The growth of a SARS-CoV-2 infection also creates of toxic spike proteins. The presence of many SARS-CoV-2 infections in different areas of the patient creates spike proteins in many areas of the patient’s body. These toxic proteins can enter the lymphatic system and the bloodstream, traveling to and accumulating in other areas, requiring additional curative processes.

When a virus spreads throughout the body, it might find places to hide, to incubate. We do not understand how long the virus can persist in our bodies. It’s hard to study in live patients.

A normally healthy nurse might suffer multiple SARS-CoV-2 infections in a short time period, resulting in a moderate or severe case of COVID, which might lead to Long COVID consequences. However, if the infection is so severe that they die – they don’t get Long COVID.

But many Long COVID patients are not nurses. Many are healthy athletes – or other healthy people who were not working with COVID patients. How might these “normally healthy people” suffer multiple overlapping infections?

Breathing

Normally healthy people breath a lot. When they exercise, they breath more heavily. The virus naturally multiplies and leaves on the out-breath. But, what if the out-breath is blocked? What if a normally healthy person, with a normal, Stage 1, Stage 2, or Stage 3 SARS-CoV-2 infection is wearing a COVID mask?

Some of the virus particles in the breath are blocked by the mask. Some squirts out at the sides and top. Some stick to the mask. Some pauses and whirls around inside the mask for a few seconds. Then, on the next in-breath, it is sucked back into the nasal passages, back into the lungs, most likely to a new location, potentially creating a new infection. When the immune systems are not yet primed, this infection can grow. This might happen again and again, perhaps only a small amount at a time, but on every breath.

This is not news.

A letter published in theBMJ in May 2020, stated “If masks determine a humid habitat where SARS-CoV-2 can remain active because of the water vapour continuously provided by breathing and captured by the mask fabric, they determine an increase in viral load (by re-inhaling exhaled viruses) and therefore they can cause a defeat of the innate immunity and an increase in infections.” Note: it is more accurate to replace the first word “if” with the word “when.“

When a normally healthy person, who has an asymptomatic (Stage 1), minor (Stage 2), moderate (Stage 3), or severe (Stage 4) SARS-CoV-2 infection, exercises while wearing a face mask, they can significantly increase the number of infection sites and the severity of the infections.

Which masks are most likely to cause Long COVID? Do the N95 style masks, with the larger breathing space, create a better SARS-CoV-2 incubator? Or are standard pleated medical masks, or customized personal masks more dangerous? And what about face shields, are they better, or worse? What about double masks? Face shields? Does a tighter mask make the problem better? or Worse? Are these questions relevant? The more effective a mask is at holding back the virus, the more likely it is to create multiple infections.

As far as I am aware, these questions have never been studied scientifically. People who are wearing COVID masks to protect others, might be risking damage to their own health – not just with COVID, but with any RSV infection, any cold, or flu.

What is the Cure for Long COVID?

In current medical paradigm, we cannot cure COVID. Hundreds of millions of COVID patients have RECOVERED. The word CURED is studiously avoided. We don’t study COVID cures. We cannot expect to cure Long COVID until we change our medical paradigm, until we begin to study a theory of cure.

Curing Long COVID is more difficult than curing COVID-19 because Long COVID is more complex than any stage of COVID, even when it is less dangerous.

A compound case of COVID consists of many concurrent infections, as illustrated in the above diagram, and is more likely to lead to signs and symptoms of Long COVID. For a complete cure, each individual infection and its consequences must be cured, which often takes a considerable amount of time – and might never be completed.

Cures are Better than Preventatives

To prevent COVID, we wear masks. Vaccinate. Sanitize. Social Distance. But it’s difficult to analyze preventatives – when a specific case of disease is prevented, we have no proof. Prevention is a statistical calculation. Cured, in comparison, is a specific case.

Once someone has COVID, the time for a preventative is past. We need a cure. Unfortunately, COVID cures are not studied.

Curing COVID appears to be impossible – and even when COVID is cured, the cured word is avoided. The same situation occurs with too many diseases.

What is the best preventative for Long COVID? – a COVID cure. As quickly and efficiently as possible. Long COVID is caused by COVID uncured, by our failures to cure COVID, a disease that is easily cured in most cases.

If the COVID patient is frequently wearing a COVID mask, the best preventative for Long COVID is to take off the mask. We have plenty of debate whether COVID masks do much to prevent COVID. But it is clear they can cause more severe COVID, leading to Long COVID.

What about Long RSV?

COVID is an RSV. If Long COVID is a disease, surely there is more general condition – Long RSV. RSVs have been with us forever – but we have no evidence of a disease called Long RSV. Why not? Perhaps it’s because we haven’t worn RSV face masks for normal colds and flu.

Maybe this has been studied in Japan, where masks have been used with RSVs for decades to limit infection. Maybe Japan, with it’s concept of kamikaze sacrificing one person’s life to protect many, this has been studied and considered a natural consequence of protecting the greater community? Or maybe not. Most cases of RSVs, and most cases of COVID, are minor.

If a mask prevents infections, but increases the severity of infections, it might simultaneously prevent infections in minor cases, while increasing infections in severe cases. A comprehensive study might find the serious illnesses created in infected people by mask wearing is more damaging to the overall community than the minor cases of illness it prevents.

The best cure for Long RSV is the same – cure the RSV before it becomes more severe. Wearing a mask when you have an RSV can increase the severity of the infection.

A Cure is the Best Preventative

Preventatives are statistical.

They have statistical benefits and statistical risks. The BMJ letter about COVID masks Covid-19: Important potential side effects of wearing face masks that we should bear in mind: (Note: these are risks, not “side effects” as described in the letter.)

Wearing a mask may give a false sense of security
People must avoid touching their masks and adopt other management measures, otherwise masks are counterproductive
The quality and volume of speech between people wearing masks is considerably compromised and they may unconsciously come closer (possibly infecting each other)
Wearing a mask makes the exhaled air go into the eyes. This generates an impulse to touch the eyes. If your hands are contaminated, you are infecting yourself
Face masks make breathing more difficult… This may also worsen the clinical condition of infected people if the enhanced breathing pushes the viral load down into their lungs
therefore they (people wearing masks) can cause a defeat of the innate immunity and an increase in infections

The letter concludes “It is necessary to quantify the complex interactions that may well be operating between positive and negative effects of wearing surgical masks at population level. It is not time to act without evidence.“

Of course, Long COVID might also be caused by other factors. People who are bedridden, for example, might not be breathing freely, and might re-infect themselves as a result. However, these cases are harder to notice, they are not healthy people, so we have less expectation of a full recovery, of a full cure. Their infections are more likely to reaches Stage 5, where they can’t get Long COVID because they are dead.

Two Types of Preventatives

Preventative actions can be holistic or reductionist. Holistic actions, like healthy nutrition, waste excretion, exercise, and rest prevent and cure illnesses by helping the body, mind, and spirit to fight infections and heal. Reductionist actions, like wearing a mask, sanitizing, and social distancing reduce healthiness in the hopes of avoiding disease.

Wearing a mask is a reductive preventative, reducing our healthiness in hopes of preventing disease. Statistically, it can also cause or worsen a case of disease if we are already sick. Sunshine is a holistic preventative, improving our healthiness. Statistically, it can cause another disease if we already have too much sun – sunburn.

Holistic preventatives sum in their improvements to healthiness. Healthy nutrition, exercise and rest make a person healthier, more able to avoid and fight disease. When holistic preventatives are combined, they sum and synergize their improvements in healthiness.

Many holistic preventatives are also cures. Drinking water and eating healthy foods prevents dehydration and malnutrition – and cures when simple dehydration or malnutrition are present.

Reductionist preventatives sum and synergize in their reduction of healthiness. Wearing a mask combined with social distancing doubly reduces social healthiness. Great care must be taken when combining reductionist preventative actions.

Two Types of Treatments (and cures)

Modern medicine generally refers to treatments rather than cures. All COVID treatments are statistical, containing both benefits and risks. Sometimes they cure. Sometimes they cause other problems. A single treatment might have benefits, even produce a cure, while also having negative consequences.

As with preventative actions, there are two types of disease treatments, thus two types of COVID treatments, holistic and reductionist. We need to study both. Our current medical concept of holistic treatment is often fuzzy. In healthicine, and in studies of cures, holistic is clearly defined.

Holistic Treatments are those that add to the health of the patient, making it more whole. Supplementing Vitamin D, Vitamin C, or zinc, is needed when the patient is deficient, or deficient from the perspective of the SARS-CoV-2 infection. A holistic treatment often cures multiple diseases. Supplementing Vitamins can CURE scurvy, beriberi, night blindness, and more. However, because we don’t study cures – this knowledge is easily ignored or forgotten.

Reductionist Treatments are those that fight the present cause, the infection, but also reduce healthiness. Most medicines that fight infections are poisons, reducing the health of the patient in the hope of a cure.

Some treatments can be holistic in some ways, reductive in other ways. We might debate the holistic or reductive nature of specific treatments. That would be a step forward. Sometimes the holistic and reductive nature of a treatment or cure depends on the specific situation or case. Taking Vitamin A can cure Vitamin A deficiency, but worsens Vitamin A toxicity. All preventatives, treatments, and cures have individual variables to that can change in a specific cases. Each case is anecdotal. Each of us need to look after ourselves first, then others.

CURED is anecdotal.

Every cure is an anecdote, an individual story. Every case of cured is a real case, not a statistical probability. The cure might be claimed by some, and dismissed or denied by others – but it is still a single case, not a statistic.

When a person has COVID or another RSV, a timely, effective cure is the best preventative of Long COVID and Long RSVs.

A cure is the best preventative.

The Long COVID Demon

Diseases are not demons, not evil spirits. Every element of illness has a present element of cause. A cure is an action that successfully addresses the present cause. Causes are not demons, although we might perceive them as demons or evil spirits when they are invisible.

Cures are not impossible. Most illnesses, most cuts, bruises, common colds, and flu are easily cured. Most cuts and bruises are trivial, easily cured. Some can be dangerous or difficult to cure. Even minor cancers are so easily cured that we ignore the cures. Long COVID and Long RSVs are similar. Some cases might be minor, naturally cured over time. Some might require some intentional action or medical attention – and some cases might be difficult, taking a long time to cure.

Long COVID is not a demon. We might view it as meta-COVID, or as caused by metasticised multiple SARS-CoV-2 infections, in multiple bodily systems, requiring multiple cures. Long COVID can be more difficult to cure that simple COVID. It has more illness elements, so it requires more cure elements. But, like any illness, some cases might be easy to cure, some might be almost impossible.

A case of Long COVID can have many past causes. But cures need to address present causes. Unfortunately, our current medical systems generally avoid the concept of cure, even more so with COVID. Modern medicine has no theory of cure.

We prevent Long COVID by curing COVID-19. Most cases of COVID are easily cured. There are many ways to prevent Long COVID. Every preventative is a statistical analysis. If it works, we cannot prove any disease was prevented, because there was no disease. But we do not need to fear Long COVID, we need to study it and work harder to prevent it, and work harder to cure COVID before it becomes Long COVID.

We cure Long COVID by addressing the present consequences of a past COVID infection. These might include the toxic remains of SARS-CoV-2 infections, the cellular damage caused by the infection and by our body fighting the infection, and even the possible presence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus hiding in our body and emerging to cause further infections. The cure might occur in stages. It might take time. When we study cure, we can cure.

to your health, tracy
I am not a doctor. This material was written based on the contents of the book A New Theory of Cure. Modern medicine has no old theory of cure.

Tracy D Kolenchuk
Founder: Healthicine
Author: A New Theory of Cure
Author: COVID-19: From Causes to Cures (banned by Amazon)