Long COVID
Functional medicine support tailored to uncover the root cause of complex symptoms.
Consult with our care team to understand next steps and build a personalized plan.
Serving Denver Metro, Fort Collins, and Colorado Springs.
About This Condition
Long COVID (also referred to as post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection) is a chronic, multisystem syndrome in which new, recurring, or persistent symptoms continue or emerge after the acute phase of COVID-19, typically beyond 4–12 weeks from the initial infection. Symptoms can follow mild, moderate, or severe acute illness and may occur even in individuals who were not hospitalized.
Clinical presentation is heterogeneous. Commonly reported symptoms include debilitating fatigue, exertional intolerance or post-exertional symptom exacerbation, dyspnea, chest discomfort, palpitations, cognitive difficulties (“brain fog”), sleep disturbance, dysautonomia-type complaints (such as orthostatic intolerance or tachycardia), headache, myalgias, and alterations in taste or smell. Some patients experience prominent mood, anxiety, or trauma-related symptoms, and many report substantial impairment in daily functioning and quality of life.
Diagnosis is clinical and based on a history of probable or confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection followed by persistent or new symptoms not better explained by alternative diagnoses. Evaluation focuses on symptom characterization, screening for organ damage or new-onset conditions (such as myocarditis, thromboembolism, or new diabetes), and identification of overlapping syndromes such as dysautonomia, chronic fatigue, sleep disorders, or mood disorders. Management is individualized, supportive, and often multidisciplinary, emphasizing pacing, rehabilitation tailored to tolerance, optimization of comorbidities, and ongoing reassessment over time.
Common Symptoms
- •Persistent fatigue and reduced stamina not proportional to activity and not fully relieved by rest
- •Post-exertional symptom exacerbation, with worsening of fatigue, pain, or cognitive symptoms after physical or mental activity
- •Shortness of breath, chest tightness, or exercise intolerance in the absence of acute infection
- •Palpitations, lightheadedness, or orthostatic intolerance, sometimes with positional heart rate increases suggestive of dysautonomia
- •Cognitive difficulties such as impaired concentration, slowed thinking, memory lapses, or “brain fog”
- •Sleep disturbance, including difficulty falling or staying asleep or non-restorative sleep
- •Headache, myalgias, or diffuse pain that persists beyond acute illness
- •Altered taste or smell, sensory changes, or neuropathic symptoms in some individuals
Conventional Treatment Options
Pacing and recovery protocol
Sleep and autonomic support
Inflammation modulation
Our Functional Medicine Approach
Long COVID is real — and it has a workup
Most long-COVID patients arrive after months of feeling dismissed. The condition is a real multi-system post-viral syndrome with identifiable mechanisms: viral persistence, microclotting and endothelial dysfunction, autonomic dysregulation (POTS-like), reactivated EBV or other latent viruses, mast cell activation, mitochondrial damage, and gut-immune disturbance. Each pattern calls for a different treatment lane.
How Spire works the root cause
Our Unexplained Symptoms Program is the structured entry point for long COVID. We run a staged workup — autonomic testing, viral reactivation panels, coagulation and microclot markers where indicated, mast cell evaluation, mitochondrial and nutrient panels — then phase interventions carefully so we don't push patients past their post-exertional ceiling. Recovery work is paced; we measure progress in concrete units (HRV, step count, work tolerance), not just "how do you feel."
Who this is for
Adults whose function hasn't returned to baseline months or years after a SARS-CoV-2 infection (or vaccination-associated symptoms), patients with post-exertional malaise, brain fog, dysautonomia, or new-onset histamine intolerance, and anyone who has been told "nothing's wrong" despite a profoundly different life.