”Leaky Brain” the True Villain Behind “Brain Fog”

In the physiology and neurology classes of medical school, you learn a lot about the importance of something called the “blood brain barrier”. You’ve seen blood, of course. The bright red liquid carrying oxygen, nutrients, etc., etc. But your brain and spinal fluid should always be crystal clear, unless infected or inflamed. Separating blood from spinal fluid is a microscopic network of blood vessels (capillaries) that act as a filtering system to allow certain substances to reach the brain, like certain medicines, and keep others out.

Health Tip readers might now know that “leaks” are catching the eyes of researchers. Several weeks ago, I wrote that “Leaky Gut”, once written off as a fad diagnosis, as a cause of a variety of chronic illness was finally being taken seriously.

Since upward of ten million Americans suffer from long COVID, with “brain fog” among the top five symptoms, scientists have spent a lot of effort trying to find just where this comes from. Moreover, when brain MRIs are obtained on long COVID patients with severe brain fog, structural changes of inflammation are quite apparent. On the plus side, for most people (but unfortunately not all), these do disappear within a year.

The brain fog of COVID captured attention of researchers because of its similarity to other chronic inflammatory conditions like fibromyalgia (“fibro-fog”), mold biotoxin illness (“CIRS”), post concussion syndrome, and certain autoimmune illnesses and food sensitivities.

With COVID, and likely the others, the smoldering inflammation triggered by the SARS virus caused microscopically small blood clots to damage the blood-brain barrier and trigger the “leaky brain” phenomenon, damaging brain tissue (visible on MRIs and biopsies) and clinically apparent as “brain fog”. Specific lab tests are few: most patients with brain fog have also lost, to some degree, their sense of smell (the organ of ‘smell’ is an extension of the brain) and there are a few inflammatory markers that are out of whack, TGF-beta for example.

The microscopically small clots (“micro-clots”) cause symptoms throughout the body as well. Entering the lungs, they prevent optimal oxygenation of red blood cells (“I always feel slightly short of breath”). In all the muscles, the clots interfere with maximum muscle function (“I’m always tired. I can’t work out like I used to do.”). In nerves (“I feel jolts of electricity.”).

When patients go to various specialists, their tests are virtually always “normal”. When they wait six months for one of the Long COVID Clinics at Mega Medical Centers, it’s basically for a symptom inventory. Then they’re told, “nothing to be done, the symptoms should eventually go away”.

“Eventually” can get very tedious.

Here is a recent article from The Guardian on “leaky brain”.

There are no (repeat ‘no’) FDA approved treatments either for Long COVID or for ‘leaky brain’.

However, based on what some medical centers around the world are offering, on an experimental basis, with the logic of what you have been reading so far:

• Natto-Serrazime, twice a day (dissolving micro clots). In the U.K., doctors are actually prescribing blood thinners.

• CytoQuel (Researched Nutritionals), twice a day (lowering inflammatory cytokines).

• MitoCure (OrthoBiotics), twice a day (supporting mitochondria, the energy centers of each cell).

• Crucera SCS (Thorne), twice a day (new research showing this family of cruciferous veggie concentrate repairs leaky brain).

• Low Dose Naltrexone, 4.5 mg a day from compounding pharmacies (see my previous Health Tip)

A series of Ozone infusions to hyper oxygenate your body.

Be Well,

David Edelberg, MD