Long COVID & MCAS: What’s Keeping You Sick? With Dr. Novack

Brain fog. Exhaustion. Dizziness. Food reactions. Symptoms that flare without an obvious reason. If you’re living with long COVID or mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), you may have collected diagnoses and tried multiple treatments without understanding why you still feel so sick.

In this episode of Brain Body Reset, Dr. Spencer Zimmerman sits down with long COVID researcher and immunology educator Dr. Novack PhD to explore what may be keeping that cycle going, and the research investigating ways to interrupt it.

Dr. Novack shares findings from his clinical trial examining a no-added-sugar diet and fasting in people with long COVID. We discuss autophagy, your cells’ internal cleanup and recycling process, and why researchers are interested in its potential role in persistent symptoms.

We also connect the dots between mast cells, inflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction, and the nervous system to help you better understand symptoms that are too often treated in isolation.

You’ll hear about:

• Why mast cells do much more than release histamine, and why that matters when antihistamines only help so much.
• How mast cell activity and autonomic dysfunction may influence each other in MCAS and POTS.
• The possible role of persistent virus in long COVID, and the limitations of current testing.
• How damaged mitochondria may contribute to fatigue and post-exertional malaise.
• Mast cell stabilizers, including cromolyn and ketotifen, and emerging treatment research.
• Why nutrition, sleep, and individual treatment responses deserve a place in the conversation.

If you’ve been told to manage each symptom separately, this conversation offers a more connected way to understand what may be happening and questions to bring to your healthcare team.

This episode discusses emerging research and proposed mechanisms, not established cures. Fasting is not appropriate for everyone, and changes to fasting or medication should be discussed with your treating clinician.