7 Comments
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David Kaufman's avatar

Possible. But increased estrogen can often be associated with mast cell activation which is why MCAS sx are often worse around mensturation.

Seian's avatar

Could this explain why estrogen patches worsened my ME/CFS?

Angela M. Vázquez's avatar

What caught my eye was the gene up regulation. Mostly because after my first COVID infection in 2020 (where I lost my sense of smell for nearly a year and triggered my Long COVID/ME), I have since realized that I cannot eat cilantro anymore. I have always enjoyed it (I'm Mexican!). But, once my sense of smell started to come back online it tasted like soap. I know this is a gene-related phenomenon. What's wild is the clear switch post-infection. I think we are hugely underestimating gene expression effects of infections.

David Kaufman's avatar

That is very interesting about the Cilantro. And yes, there is no question that infections and inflammation affect gene expression, turning them on and off and then increasing or decreasing the proteins they make.

Would be interesting to see if there are any other reports about the Cilantro gene expression being altered with Covid. Will do a search.

Debra's avatar

Thank you for all that you do for our community.

ADV's avatar

Cannot appreciate you enough!