Post-Viral Fatigue, “Long-haulers”, and Acupuncture

Respiratory viruses don’t cause chronic fatigue. Or at least that was the prevailing conventional wisdom before this pandemic and subsequent research that identifies somewhere between 10 and 60% of people with lingering symptoms 6 or more months following COVID-19 infection. We call this “Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2” (PASC). For the millions of people diagnosed with “Chronic Fatigue Syndrome”, “Fibromyalgia”, or even “Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome” (POTS) – all of unknown cause – the mainstream recognition of post-viral causes of fatigue might be accompanied by a sense of relief and hope: “Is this the cause of my symptoms too?”

Underlying Cause of Post-Viral Fatigue Symptoms

What causes post-viral fatigue or long-haul symptoms? There are many theories and possible mechanisms, including depletion or infection of immune cells caused by the virus, viral “ghosts” (fragments of “dead” virus that perpetually trigger the immune system), reactivation of dormant viruses like herpes, autoimmune disease, epigenetic immune cell changes, brain inflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction…  and many more. So, if you experience debilitating fatigue symptoms, how do you know which mechanism to address? Where do you start?

Systemic Approaches to Address Chronic Fatigue Symptoms

Post-viral fatigue is related to dysfunction somewhere in the immune system. This dysfunction in-turn can be rooted in problems in the digestive tract, the endocrine system (hormones), nervous system, or any other place in any given person’s body. All of this, in turn, responds to signals from your environment, emotions, and stress levels. Accordingly, there is no accepted algorithm to treat such a complex multi-organ, multi-system, illness.

Though specialized testing can help us narrow our treatment focus, this approach is sometimes only as good as the technology we use, or the practitioner’s awareness of which internal or external influences affect your fatigue the most. With symptoms like chronic fatigue, it’s important to broaden our focus and apply more holistic approaches that capture multiple underlying factors at the same time.

Acupuncture for Post-Viral Fatigue

One of my favourite interventions for helping people recover from symptoms of chronic fatigue, is Traditional Chinese Medicine acupuncture. This art goes back more than 3000 years and is inherently based on principles of balance. Practitioners have a way of “reading” the body by how the pulse feels, tongue looks, and how the teeny little needles feel when they enter the acupuncture point. The practitioner chooses the needle locations based on this “reading” (a Chinese Medicine diagnosis). The goal is to help the body shift back into a healing state so that recovery is more possible. One could also describe this approach as one that attempts to balance multiple systems in the body simultaneously. Ultimately, I find that it often makes the body more receptive to other interventions like diet, lifestyle, and supplementation.

Acupuncture in Ontario is a government-regulated profession. It includes practitioners who use a  Traditional Chinese Medicine approach and those who use a more Western approach, such as physiotherapists or chiropractors. With systemic and complex concerns like fatigue, I believe that a Traditional Chinese Medicine approach is most effective.

Additional Resources:

The Institute for Functional Medicine: Browse for a wealth of information regarding functional and more holistic approaches to complex illness, including fatigue.

Explore our blog for more articles and resources related to fatigue.

*Photo by Kinga Cichewicz on Unsplash