By Kris Newby, Invisible International

A Dublin-based infectious disease doctor who’s treated both long COVID and chronic Lyme patients shares new research and treatment strategies for managing patients with these complex conditions, in a new continuing medical education course sponsored by Invisible International and the Montecalvo Foundation.

The course instructor is Jack Lambert, MD, PhD, a Professor of Medicine and Infectious Diseases at Mater and Rotunda hospitals, and University College of Dublin School of Medicine in Dublin, Ireland. He is also the founder of the Lyme Resource Centre in Scotland.

Dr. Lambert is the lead author on an early, COVID-19 patient study. It analyzed 155 COVID-19 patients over a year, to identify predictors and probabilities of developing post-COVID-19 syndrome. This was one of the first studies to identify severe brain-related issues, including brain fog, head pressure, sleep disturbance, memory problems, exhaustion, personality changes, and a whole host of symptoms related to inflamed nerves.

Clear similarities between the conditions said Dr. Lambert.

Among the more interesting findings of the study was the prevalence of the mental health conditions associated with long COVID:

• 18.3% had moderate-to-severe signs of depression one year after infection
• 13% had moderate-to-severe signs of anxiety at one year
• 21% had findings consistent with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• 72% had concerning alcohol use after a year

These issues are also common among chronic Lyme patients, and for both cohorts, his most passionate plea to front-line physicians is this: “When you conduct a series of tests and find nothing wrong, don’t start prescribing psychiatric medications, suggesting that patients are just anxious, or are having trouble coping, or are having family issues that are driving their symptoms. These patients are suffering from real, inflammation-driven conditions, and we need to start by addressing these first.”

Coordinating care for very ill patients

Dr. Lambert’s most important advice to medical clinics treating long COVID and Lyme is to establish a case management process to help these very ill patients coordinate specialist visits and treatment protocols.

“Both COVID and Lyme disease can affect multiple organ systems, so case management should simultaneously address persistent infection, a deranged and disrupted immune system, and neuro-inflammation,” he said.

He admits that setting up a case management process can be challenging, even in a country like Ireland, with its free, government-sponsored health plan: “Care is fragmented, and patients are sent by their general practitioners to specialist after specialist—gastroenterology, cardiology, rheumatology, and so on. We need to do a better job of connecting and coordinating these specialists.”

As for treatment protocols, he recommends that clinicians use standard therapeutics to suppress the cascade of inflammation triggered by long COVID and to aggressively test and treat for the reactivation viruses that commonly occurs during COVID infections. He also presents study results on the use of low dose naltrexone for symptom reduction.

This free Continuing Medical Education (CME) course is brought to you by the Invisible Education Initiative and the Montecalvo Foundation. Accreditation is in-process.

Click here to access the course.

Kris Newby is Communications Director of Invisible International, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit foundation dedicated to reducing suffering from invisible illnesses.