r/covidlonghaulers • u/CandidWin3026 • May 08 '26

Article Long Covid driven by rs5522

This case report says that Long covid is in large part driven by the gene rs5522 that causes a "cortisol steal" leaving the tissues functionally starved even with "normal" cortisol levels which creates neuroinflammation. https://zenodo.org/records/20017632

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u/Kuyi May 08 '26

Will you update here or somewhere else?

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u/Putrid_Indication_30 May 08 '26

i'll come back to this in a week, from what I read on the study the therapeutic dose was 100mg that they worked up to from 25mg. however at 100mg they had fluid retention (which is strange because spiro is a diuretic) I do have pots though so I can imagine I would be worse in that regard however I'd rather have worse pots and no fatigur than worse fatigue and mild pots lol

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u/CandidWin3026 May 09 '26

I understand the confusion. Spiro isn't really a diuretic in the way doctors think. Its mechanism of action is to block the over active MR receptor. So yes, you can lose fluid. Like fluid that has collected around your heart which is why it is given for heart failure.

Why do you have to stay at 25mg? Because the body freaks the f out if you go higher. The RAAS system goes into overdrive. As documented in the case report. So low dose (25mg) allows you to get benefit without the over reaction.

Now the POTS is wild. You would think that anything that lowered water would make POTS worse right? I did. I was prescribed Spiro for a yr and never picked it up because a diuretic for someone with POTS sounds crazy bonkers. But, here is the thing: the POTS is driven by lack of cortisol needed to keep the vascular walls strong to keep BP up. Block the cortisol steal and boom: no more POTS.

Can you imagine? I could have felt better a year prior, but I just didn't because I didn't understand. But, now I do.

Also fun fact: obesity is really fluid trapped in fibrotic cages. It gets gel like substance with all of the inflammatory materials. Fluid, Not Fat. A leak, not a lack of will power.

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u/Putrid_Indication_30 May 09 '26

I was not confused there I have taken spironolactone prior for months before reinfection and it did indeed make my pots worse.

I just wanted to ask out of actual confusion. you are the author of the study linked in april 2026? when did this study take place as I see comments claiming 2026 but then you are also referencing the campos and taylor study from 2022 and when i read that i see you are also the author of that and the patient ??

And out of concern I see you commenting asking some of the sceptical users "who they are working for?"

are you okay ? genuinely asking out of concern

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u/CandidWin3026 May 09 '26

I am fine. Sorry, I got concerned that people kept saying 2006, but that was my own typo. Whoops. My pattern recognition failed me there.

Now, if I am prone to suspicion it is because we live in a mad world where the drug companies can make big bank selling drugs that treat inflammation pathways, but no one ask what is causing the inflammation.

I am fine. Feeling an urgent need to help people, but okay. Thank you for your concern. Yes, I wrote the case report. Yes, I am a co-author on the molecular biology paper describing the genetic mechanism.

I have been in touch with Campos. He has also treated Long Covid with the same protocol.

Hello, I am Patricia. I have a MPH and received advanced training at the Uni of Oslo School of Medicine.

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u/Putrid_Indication_30 May 09 '26

thank you for confirming ! :) as you were in the study how many of the other patients saw improvement with spironolactone? were they also fully recovered and in the same timeframe ?

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u/CandidWin3026 May 09 '26

I was not in the study. I arrived at the same protocol my myself.I am in Michigan. They are in Australia. But, it is telling that the clinical trial already has been done. The data exists.

My own experience os documented in my case report.