Research suggests elevated cytokine IL-10 levels in Long Covid indicates brain inflammation is present.

[andyguitar]

17 patients all of whom had Covid. 7 made a full recovery 10 got Long Covid. Those with LC had elevated IL-10 and lower levels of Nerve Growth factor.

 

[SWAlexander]

LC had elevated IL-10

Thanks for the info.

 

[cfs since 1998]

Low nerve growth factor is interesting. They say it's related to brain plasticity but I wonder if it's why some (maybe all) of us have small fiber peripheral neuropathy.

 

[andyguitar]

Low nerve growth factor is interesting.

Has been found to be low in me/cfs as well.

They say it's related to brain plasticity but I wonder if it's why some (maybe all) of us have small fiber peripheral neuropathy.

Yeah I've been wondering about that. Possible I'd say.

 

[Mary]

Astragalus can help with elevated levels of IL-10 - from AI:

Astragalus, an herb used in Traditional Chinese Medicine, is linked to increased levels of IL-10, an anti-inflammatory cytokine. Studies suggest that Astragalus polysaccharides can enhance IL-10 production and reduce other inflammatory markers like TNF-α and IL-1β. This suggests that Astragalus may have anti-inflammatory properties and could be beneficial in managing conditions where inflammation is a key factor.

It's been helping me with what I guessed to be elevated IL-6. I get sick a lot and especially after I crash. And I'll recover from being sick, usually a sinus issue - but almost a year ago a severe fatigue post-infection remained after the other symptoms resolved. I stumbled across this thread, which gave me an idea about elevated IL-6 and fatigue, and astragalus, and once I started the astragalus, that awful specific fatigue went away! It felt too good to be true. So I was back to my normal ME/CFS self, not great at all, and crashing regularly but once in awhile having a good-ish day.