Ryan Christensen DO

@StanfordMed researchers have shown Glymphatic System Dysregulation as a Key Contributor to Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. The glymphatic system is the brain's drainage system of toxins. Lymphatics carry these and when blocked cause disease. (paper link below)

Stillness and acceptance are the answers. Our own unique individuality is the blueprint for health!

@hubermanlab Agreed Health is your originality. Embrace your unique needs and health will emerge. Relaxation is paramount! Thanks 🙏

Bloodletting for fever. Confident. Standard practice. Mercury tablets for syphilis. Confident. Widely prescribed. Radium water for low energy. Confident. Sold in pharmacies. Lobotomies for anxiety. Confident. Won a Nobel Prize. Thalidomide for morning sickness. Confident. Distributed to millions. Cigarettes for throat irritation. Confident. Doctor-endorsed advertising. Heroin for coughs. Confident. Marketed by Bayer. DDT sprayed in children's schools. Confident. Government-approved. Margarine instead of butter. Confident. Heart-healthy alternative. Dietary fat causes heart disease. Confident. Fifty years of guidelines. Statins for everyone over fifty. Confident. Best-selling drug in history. Seed oils are safe. Confident. Endorsed by every major health body. Meat is carcinogenic. Confident. WHO classification still stands. Every generation of doctors was confident. Every generation was wrong about something they were certain of. The question isn't whether to trust doctors. The question is which part of the current list turns out to be the thalidomide.

Amen! drryanmusic.com

Dysautonomia in Long COVID is Prevalent and Could Explain the Frequency of Symptoms 🚨82% of long COVID patients have measurable dysautonomia. ➡️Interesting but also frustrating USA cross-sectional study of 100 long COVID patients (mean age 56, 32% women, 53% minorities) assessed autonomic dysfunction using the COMPASS-31 questionnaire, heart rate variability (HRV), NASA Lean Test, and cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET in a subset). ➡️Key findings on prevalence and impact: - Abnormal COMPASS-31 (indicating dysautonomia) was present in 82% (95% CI 72-89%), - Abnormal resting HRV occurred in 60%, -Orthostatic hypotension was seen in 12%, POTS in 10%, and exercise-induced dysautonomia in 57% of those tested, - Orthostatic intolerance and gastrointestinal domains of COMPASS-31 showed the strongest links to overall symptom burden (measured by modified COVID-19 Yorkshire Rehabilitation Scale), -Adjusted linear regression confirmed COMPASS-31 score as a significant predictor (beta 0.37) of symptom severity, with a clear dose-response relationship: higher dysautonomia scores correlated with greater long COVID burden. ➡️Let’s dig in further! 1. The authors conclude that dysautonomia likely explains the multi-system, fluctuating symptoms in long COVID and overlaps with mechanisms observed in ME/CFS (inflammation, autoantibodies, endothelial issues). They recommend routine use of COMPASS-31 alongside objective tests for improved diagnosis and to guide non-pharmacologic or pharmacologic therapies. 2. The study itself provides no original mechanistic data, biopsies, imaging, or autoantibody testing, it is purely observational on prevalence and association. 3. In the Discussion, the authors state that the aetiology of dysautonomia in long COVID is multifactorial and not completely understood. They list several theories: direct viral damage of the nerves, autoantibodies, inflammatory mechanisms, and microvasculature/endothelial dysfunction. 4. They specifically reference VAGUS NERVE, aka @DavidJoffe64 nerve, involvement by citing Woo et al., who found SARS-CoV-2 RNA and inflammatory cell infiltration in postmortem vagus nerves of COVID-19 patients. Autoantibodies (e.g, against GPCR or ganglionic acetylcholine receptors) and over-sympathetic drive leading to endothelial issues are also mentioned as contributing factors. 5. However, no single root cause is proven or deeply investigated in this paper. ‼️So, Dysautonomia dominates long COVID in most patients and directly fuels their suffering, yet its root causes, including possible vagus nerve damage, remain for them speculative and unproven in this study. This of course leaves most cases unexplained and patients without targeted relief. ‼️Dysautonomia is not a fringe feature in long COVID, it’s a dominant, measurable driver of suffering for most patients in this study, and while targeted symptom management exists and can help when properly applied for some, the widespread failure to screen for and address it continues to leave far too many without any meaningful relief. ‼️High time to stop ignoring the Long C0vid nervous system/VAGUS NERVE involvement! #AvoidSars2 #AvoidReinfections #LongCOVID #Dysautonomia #VagusNerve clinmedres.org/content/24/1/28

I would be fired from ANY customer-facing jobs I’ve ever had on DAY ONE if I treated customers how the AVERAGE doctor treats patients. If you disagree with this, you are privileged. You are sheltered from reality if you believe most doctors try to do their jobs in america.

2 years ago, I knew nothing about medical research. Today, I still don't know that much. But the more I've learned, the more I've come to realize how terrible Long COVID research is. It's so bad that I have a hard time believing it's just incompetency - I have to think that many of the studies are cynical cash-grabs. I have a friend who owns a company that sells services to people running clinical trials. I showed him the endpoints of the Scripps Long COVID Tirzepatide trial and he was flabbergasted. He literally said to me "I can't believe Eric Topol would put his name on this." Why - incompetency? Do they just want to make it look like they're doing something without actually doing anything? Maybe. Or consider: GLP1s are the most profitable drug class in history, but there's a limit to how many obese people you can sell them to. In contrast, almost everyone has had COVID, and there are no widely available tests to confirm or deny a Long COVID diagnosis. In fact, the diagnostic criteria are broad enough that basically anyone can get a Long COVID diagnosis if they want one. In other words, if GLP1s get approved for Long COVID, the addressable market expands to essentially everyone. Great for business. I'm not saying it was a conspiracy, but something more mundane. Doctors started prescribing GLP1s off-label because they were the hot fad everyone was talking about. Patients reported feeling better because the placebo effect is very real. Someone ran an informal survey, the survey became the rationale for a federal trial, and nobody along the way stopped to ask whether the evidence justified the investment because everyone involved had reasons NOT to ask. The pharmaceutical company gets a new group of customers. The researchers get funding. The advocacy organizations get to point to "progress." Sick people get hope. Everyone wins, right? In the short-run, sure, but as I've written many times, if GLP1s worked for Long COVID, we'd know about it. It would be obvious. Something like 10% of the population has used them or is actively using them right now. The law of large numbers would be enough to tell you - the signal would be undeniable. But we don't see that. Just like everything else, we see a few positive anecdotes on Reddit and Facebook (nevermind the many neutral or negative anecdotes we see as well). Maybe GLP1s for Long COVID will help some people, but really, we'd all be better off if that money was spent on mechanistic research. Not another symptom trial that tests a widely available drug and measures subjective endpoints. Follow the incentives. You don't need a conspiracy when the incentives all point the same direction.

@AlanLevinovitz Yup. Many of us as clinicians are so tired of the system refusing to fund reseach, find answers, or listen to patients.

I’ve encountered some astonishing and appalling stories, which have been almost entirely ignored in coverage of the condition. I have also come to see that the current climate has made it virtually impossible to talk about (or research) long Covid in a responsible way.

Have been reporting out a major feature on long Covid for over a year. In final editorial stages, will likely be coming out in May. Hoping to really shift the conversation.

@1goodtern Truth! Long COVID, biologic weapons, zoonotic illnesses, Chronic stress, environmental toxins have all contributed to this. Thanks for your post.

We know exactly what has caused the sudden and dangerous rise in EDS, MCAS, POTS, and Lyme, so, yes, of course this is *exactly* what I would expect this douchebag to write. 🤬

This was key in my osteopathic medical training. Remember the PEOPLE not the DISEASE. There is a person suffering first. No one goes to the doctor for fun- let's be honest it kinda sucks.

The human body is the most incredible technology the world has ever known.

The body is driven by metabolism. The mitochondria and the health of the metabolism drive the success of the organism!

The @PerrinTechnique is a good place to start! Work on your lymphatics, detox the spike protein with nattokinase, and get some sunshine. Avoiding future exposures helps too!

This doctor is NOT a psychopath. This is rational medicine and how most of my allopathic colleagues understand and treat my work. Complimentary, not alternative.

@ZacharyGrinDPT @loveisaverb7 @Nayberryk @RONALDRIBBONS @awgaffney what is the corret diagnosis and treatment then? I'm really curious.

@loveisaverb7 @DrRyanC @Nayberryk @RONALDRIBBONS @awgaffney Nope I have no problem with that. My problem is widespread diagnosis of MCAS w/ most people not meeting validated criteria or improving with proper meds. At the population level, it is a recipe for delaying correct diagnosis & treatment. Also perfect opportunity for grifters

@1goodtern This is an epic thread. Thank you. As one of the doctors who works hard not to be like him I so appreciate this thoughtful explanation and history. Medicine can and must do better. Patients and all of us deserve that. #LongCOVID

I've been thinking about this all day, and I'd just like to say that it's impressive how many things this donger gets wrong in one single tweet, and how much he reveals. That's why it's made so many people so angry. A quick thread...

@ZacharyGrinDPT @loveisaverb7 @Nayberryk @RONALDRIBBONS @awgaffney Read this: x.com/1goodtern/stat…

There's a Chronic issue of ahole doctors that think they know more than anyone else and refuse to even look at research or even run tests. Which is why the research actually suggests these are severely under-diagnosed, not over-diagnosed. People self-diagnose cuz they know something is wrong and try to match their symptoms with a possible explanation, when doctors refuse to take them seriously, and blame things like "anxiety" without properly looking into their symptoms. It often takes YEARS to get a diagnosis. Who TF you think is the reason they get a diagnosis in most of those cases? Patients that know something is wrong and push their doctors to do testing.

@1goodtern WOW! Well Said! Best Thread on TWITTER!!!!

Then the science catches up, leaving people like Gaffney looking like the callous toads they are:

Medicine has many evil histories of harm. It is embarassing!