The Gut Symptoms Doctors Keep Missing in Long COVID

What if the gut symptoms many Long COVID patients experience are not just IBS, anxiety, or “functional” problems?

In this episode, Dr. Vaughn interviews gastroenterologist Zach Spiritos about the overlooked connection between Long COVID, mast cell activation, gut barrier dysfunction, food reactions, dysautonomia, and chronic GI symptoms.

They discuss why traditional scopes and imaging often fail to explain what patients are feeling, how COVID may disrupt the gut and immune system, and why symptoms that are often dismissed as stress or anxiety may have a deeper biological explanation.

This conversation also explores IBS, MCAS, motility issues, microscopic colitis, inflammatory bowel disease, GLP-1 medications, probiotics, prebiotics, and why asking “why did this happen?” may be one of the most important questions in medicine.

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