This is a question that I often hear from patients in the Center: "Could there be a reason for what I am feeling?" They mention brain fog, extreme fatigue, insomnia, dizziness, and other discomfort. The suspicion that something is truly wrong comes after the unexplained symptoms linger without a diagnosis.
Since the time I began practicing functional medicine, I have heard the following complaint over and over again: conventional medicine treats symptoms but rarely the cause. This truth has become an all-too-common reality in my nearly 40 years of practice.
COMMON ELEMENTS FOR WELLNESS
As you know, I preach, teach, and practice every day the four “Pillars of Health” concept which is Eat Right, Think Right, Move Right, and Sleep Right. Your body is subject to many varied and diverse assaults, from different viral, bacterial, and parasitic infections to elevated stress levels. However, my clinical experience has taught me that if you are practicing these four pillars routinely, the assaults will be much less devastating to your overall health and wellness than if you were not. If nothing else, you eliminate the manifestations that come from of a lack of good quality sleep, exercise, etc.
NEW PROBLEMS
Meanwhile, in the last five years, a new problem has been added to the list of concerns that I have been helping many patients navigate. It is the varied and devastating effects of COVID-19 infections. It is also the effects of COVID-19 injections.
Many have experienced a COVID-19 infection only to find that the life-altering effects persisted for months or even years. These symptoms include fatigue, loss of the sense of taste or smell, brain fog, as well as cardiovascular and neurologic symptoms. For months they continue to experience a severe lack of energy, mental fog, ongoing joint and muscle pains, and an inability to carry on their daily routine and tasks. These individuals have found it difficult or impossible to continue to work in their regular jobs due to overwhelming fatigue and a lack of mental clarity.
These signs and symptoms were categorized in those who actually experienced the infection naturally as “long COVID” or “long haulers COVID.” Many who have been treated through conventional medical care found the outcomes frustrating and marginally effective if at all. All too often, people are forced to contend with long-standing symptoms that remain consistently devastating to their normal lifestyle.
PROVEN ALTERNATIVES
Exhausted, patients eventually seek treatment through non-conventional, holistic practitioners and find that the results were far better than what they had experienced in the conventional medical world. As I have stated, we have helped many patients navigate these devastating and life-altering afteraffects by supporting cellular function and by attacking the cause of these symptoms. These protocols often required cellular nutritional support as well as dietary and lifestyle changes.
For some, however, their COVID-19 troubles are related to the m-RNA injections used purportedly to help avoid COVID-19 infections.
Some who received the COVID shot (or the “COVID-19 mRNA vaccine”) also developed myocarditis and many other varied and diverse symptoms soon after injection. Fortunately, I have been able to help these patients, too.
In considering the similarities between having the COVID infection and receiving the shot, one commonality continually came to my mind: the spike protein that was engineered in both the virus (which we are now seeing evidence validating suspicions that it most likely was developed through gain-of-function research) and the mRNA inoculation (the first of its type ever released on the market).
FRESH HOPE FOR IMPROVED CARE
Recently, a study was published that sheds light on the distinction between the ongoing signs and symptoms of those who have had a COVID-19 infection and those who never had a natural infection but did have the COVID-19 mRNA injection.
However, prior to this study and unlike long COVID, the condition of similar symptoms after vaccination had not been recognized by health authorities, a fact that has significantly limited patient care and support. Some of the common chronic symptoms include exercise intolerance, extreme fatigue, brain fog, insomnia, and dizziness, which often develop one to two days after receiving the shot.
But now researchers at Yale University have cracked open the door to a potential distinction between the life-changing effects for patients presenting with symptoms from the injection as opposed to the infection. It was a small-scale study that is yet to be peer-reviewed and was the first of its type. Still, it is very significant. It gives us reason to acknowledge and further study the potential cause for what they are calling post-vaccination syndrome (PVS).
The researchers acknowledge in their study the efficacy of the COVID vaccine. However, they go on to state that “...some individuals have reported post-vaccination symptoms resembling long COVID beginning shortly after vaccination.” They note that this constellation of symptoms, which develop in some soon after receiving the shot, has remained unrecognized by medical authorities and little is known about its biological underpinnings.
The co-senior author of this study, Akiko Iwasaki, Sterling Professor of Immunobiology at Yale School of Medicine, notes that this small and early study “… is giving us some hope that there may be something that we can use for diagnosis and treatment of PVS down the road.”
The other co-author of this study is Dr. Harold H. Hines, Jr., Professor of Medicine (Cardiology) at Yale School of Medicine. Dr. Hines stated that: “It’s clear that some individuals are experiencing significant challenges after vaccination. Our responsibility as scientists and clinicians is to listen to their experiences, rigorously investigate the underlying causes, and seek ways to help.”
While this study was small (42 participants reported symptoms of PVS, and 22 who did not) it highlighted the fact that more research certainly needs to be done.
More broadly, as the study summary states, “As the global community continues to navigate the challenges of COVID-19 and long COVID, a deeper understanding of vaccine-related immune responses will be essential in refining vaccination practices and ensuring their long-term success.”
OTHER THOUGHTS
I would like to leave you with one other personal thought regarding why I suspect some people experience symptoms after this shot (and from other vaccines). It may be due, in my opinion, to variations in our genetic makeup. We know for a fact that certain missing pieces (or SNPs) in a person’s genome make it difficult or impossible to metabolize certain things that are either ingested or injected into the body. A case in point is when an individual is unable to methylate. Some people simply cannot absorb or metabolize different substances.
I would hope that in the future we see more research into this aspect of this constellation of symptoms that compose the post COVID-19 vaccine syndrome. This may also apply to many of the other “post-vaccine” syndromes that develop in specific individuals from a variety of vaccines.
For those who have experienced similar symptoms following a COVID-19 vaccine, there is hope. The symptoms and, more importantly, the causes of the symptoms can be addressed. Many who have practiced their Eat, Move, Think, and Sleep Right along with appropriate and effective supplementation have managed their symptoms or recovered.
I hope that this information will assist those who have fallen through the cracks in the conventional medical system. If nothing else, I want to expose the fact that the symptoms, which have significantly affected the lives of some, do have a cause and those symptoms may be due to COVID-19 PVS. I want them to know that help is available.
For those who want to review the article, you can find it here:
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.02.18.25322379v2
Dr. Pfeiffer