As we look back on the discoveries of 2021, we find a collection of enlightening, if somewhat troubling, information.
Not surprisingly, there was a wealth of research to better understand, and fight, COVID-19 in 2021. For instance, the coronavirus’ impact on the brain and theories for how it gets into the brain, have created shocking revelations. Neuropsychiatric discoveries about COVID give us information for more effectively fighting this invasive coronavirus.
The current pandemic has presented challenges the likes of which defy memory. The terrible Spanish flu pandemic from the early 20th century lasted for approximately two years.
Since we’re looking down the barrel of a possible third year from COVID-19… or longer….we continue to research this illness to understand how it does some of the things it does.
We were introduced to COVID as a respiratory illness that eventually led to respiratory failure in some patients. That was especially true in those older or with compromised immune systems…or underlying illnesses. And it still is. But at this point, we’re especially concerned about the effect it has on the brain. Neuropsychiatric discoveries about COVID are vital in this pandemic.
Illnesses involving the nervous system and psychiatric symptoms are causing researchers to focus on brain damage caused by this virus. Things that have been prevalent are cognitive and attentional symptoms that manifest as brain fog. In addition, psychosis, depression, anxiety, seizures, and suicidal thinking and intent have all become prevalent.
Inflammation of the central nervous system is a likely contributor, and we’ll be talking about that soon.
In an article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers discussed things like anosmia, which is the inability to smell. (That’s associated with the brain’s olfactory system…) and they’ve also found COVID-19 proteins in the lining of the brain’s blood vessels. They’ve hypothesized about ways the proteins may invade the brain bypassing the blood/brain barrier.
The blood brain barrier is a safety barrier to protect the brain from viruses, bacteria, and toxins. But somehow COVID-19 is getting through this and infecting the brain.
For instance, researchers at University of California, San Diego, published new evidence suggesting how this coronavirus creeps in to access the brain. They discovered that cells called pericytes surround the blood vessels of the brain. These may be acting as Trojan horses, providing a path the pericytes may use to enter the brain. They then multiply and infect the surrounding tissue in the brain.
This research team found that pericytes contain ACE2 receptors, which is a passageway COVID uses to invade cells in the lungs, heart, kidneys, intestines, and arteries. Not until this research were they found in pericytes.
Not surprisingly, getting to the bottom of these methods whereby the virus invades the brain is an urgent and intense focus of current research. The more we research, the more neurological and psychiatric discoveries about COVID emerge.
This team built a living model using nerve tissue from stem cells by which they could study the infection of the brain by COVID more closely, as well as methods by which the virus invades.
From autopsies conducted on people who had died from this disease, they learned that the COVID virus had spread through the brain through blood vessels and cells in the immune system. Just one way neuropsychiatric discoveries about COVID are so valuable.
It’s important to note that inflammation can give way to leakage through the blood vessels in the brain.
Patients with long COVID (also called long-haulers) often experience neuropsychiatric symptoms, when they never have before. Seizures. Anxiety. Depression. Suicidal behavior. Even strokes. Finding out how the virus works and how to reverse these effects is an emergent need for medical science.
IV ketamine treatment is an extraordinary treatment for social anxiety, depression, suicidal thinking, substance and alcohol use disorders.
We can’t treat you if you have an active COVID infection. But, we can treat you once your infection has become inactive. For the sake of our other patients, please wait till you have recovered from COVID symptoms and have a negative COVID test.
At Innovative Psychiatry, we go the extra mile to protect you from the COVID virus. When you come in for treatment, you’re protected from infection and can relax.
We’ll meet you at the door and take you directly to your treatment room. Settle into a comfy recliner. Feel free to bring your own soothing music to listen to during your infusion.
We’ve equipped our offices with a plasma cell technology that destroys the DNA of viruses, bacteria, and mold in the air. It’s contained in that little white box you’ll see on the table in each room, and it’s world class. Developed by NASA and the Department of Defense, it’s a no-nonsense method of keeping the environment clean and pure for you during this pandemic.
If you suffer from anxiety, depression, or suicidal thinking, please call us.
But if you also suffer from social anxiety, PTSD, substance or alcohol use disorder, then do call.
IV ketamine treatment is the most effective rapid outpatient treatment available for depression, and is extraordinary in its benefits with these disorders.
Start the New Year feeling good, with burgeoning hope.
Reach out for life-transforming IV ketamine treatment.
To the restoration of your best self,
