All of us at Atlanta Functional Medicine wanted to reach out to our patients and reiterate that we care about you and are here for you. Our goal is to help you navigate through this pandemic!
We want to encourage you to stay on track with all that we have been recommending for your health. Now is the time more than ever to strive to have an optimal resilient immune system.
Many of you have chronic illnesses – where your immune system is compromised – and therefore you know you are in the “high-risk” category for potentially having those life-threatening complications as described on the news. Because you are in the high-risk category, it is absolutely necessary that you have a good solid game plan of what you should be doing as preventative measures to avoid getting the COVID-19 virus as well as what to do if you are exposed and start to come down with any symptoms.
The life-threatening consequences of the COVID-19 infection are due to a viral-induced excessive inflammatory response in the lungs. This is why some people end up needing to be on a ventilator. Did you know that there are several genes that put you at risk for this? One of the genes is called NLRP3, which controls the triggering of something called the inflammasomes. Inflammasomes, if triggered, pump out highly inflammatory substances called cytokines that damage your organs, especially the lungs.
Some of our patients have done the IntellxxDNA genomics or other testing already that can check for these inflammasome genes. If you have already had this test done we encourage you to set up a short appointment with your practitioner so we can explain to you if you are at risk and prepare a game plan to keep you healthy. If you are interested in this gene testing or would like to prepare a personalized game plan in this era of COVID-19, we encourage you to make a short appointment with your practitioner. Of course, we are converting our appointments to telemedicine or GoToMeeting appointments. Our attentive staff can schedule this for you.
We care deeply for you. We are here to guide you. Act smart, be safe and stay positive!
For your health,
Dr. Linda Lee, Dr. Elizabeth Board, Ashley Walker, PA and all the team members of AFM