It’s hard for many to believe a tick bite or case of COVID can lead to severe mental illness, but we’ll be hearing from someone on this episode of Raise the Line who lived through just that experience. Dr. Raven Baxter also happens to be the host of this special series on post-acute infection syndromes produced in collaboration with the Cohen Center for Recovery from Complex Chronic Illnesses at Mt. Sinai. While struggling with long COVID, Raven developed panic attacks and other mental health problems, and even though she explained to providers that she previously had no history of mental illness, there was reluctance to attribute the symptoms to her body’s reaction to SARS‑CoV‑2. Unfortunately, this is not surprising to Dr. Shannon Delaney, a psychiatrist whose patients share similar stories. “People who are going through this can be suffering a lot, not only because of their symptoms, but because of invalidation from the medical community,” says Delaney, who believes brain inflammation caused by immune system dysregulation can explain why mental health issues emerge in this context. While Raven’s other guest, Dr. Mike VanElzakker, concurs, his research at Massachusetts General Hospital and the PolyBio Research Foundation focuses on the vagus nerve as a contributing factor to symptoms of various types. “I would argue at least part of what people with these complex chronic illnesses are experiencing is an ongoing sickness response and that may be because there is a signal that's constantly bombarding the vagus nerve, which may be sensitized by inflammation.” This is an eye-opening look at mind-body connections that are challenging conventional wisdom.  

Mentioned in this episode:

Mount Sinai Health System 

Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation