Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
What’s actually happening inside the body during long COVID. In this second episode of a three-part series, Dr. Aaron Hartman and Dr. Christian Jenski walk through the leading proposed mechanisms behind long COVID, from mast cell activation and chronic inflammatory response syndrome to mitochondrial dysfunction, senescent “zombie” cells, and the reactivation of latent viruses.
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📖 UnCURABLE: From Hopeless Diagnosis to Defying All Odds
For everyone medicine has let down → UnCurableBook.com
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The doctors explain how these mechanisms overlap and feed one another, why a single trigger like a COVID infection can tip a vulnerable person into a cascade of inflammation, autoimmunity, and nervous system dysregulation, and how functional medicine approaches the problem as one interwoven system rather than a set of isolated organ complaints. They describe the kinds of testing and interventions involved, including membrane and lipid therapies, mast cell stabilizers, mitochondrial support, and nervous system retraining, while stressing that this work needs to be done with knowledgeable oversight. This episode is for anyone trying to understand why their symptoms persist when standard workups keep coming back “normal.”
This is Part 2 of 3. Part 1 covers the history and current landscape of long COVID care; Part 3 covers specific therapeutic options the doctors have used with patients.
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ABOUT AARON HARTMAN, MD
Aaron Hartman, MD is a triple-board-certified physician, bestselling author of UnCURABLE: From Hopeless Diagnosis to Defying All Odds, and founder of Richmond Integrative & Functional Medicine. Dr. Hartman is known as the champion of the medically abandoned—helping people once labeled “uncurable” find REAL health and hope through the body’s natural abilities to heal and repair.
AaronHartmanMD.com
What’s actually happening inside the body during long COVID. In this second episode of a three-part series, Dr. Aaron Hartman and Dr. Christian Jenski walk through the leading proposed mechanisms behind long COVID, from mast cell activation and chronic inflammatory response syndrome to mitochondrial dysfunction, senescent “zombie” cells, and the reactivation of latent viruses.
---
📖 UnCURABLE: From Hopeless Diagnosis to Defying All Odds
For everyone medicine has let down → UnCurableBook.com
---
The doctors explain how these mechanisms overlap and feed one another, why a single trigger like a COVID infection can tip a vulnerable person into a cascade of inflammation, autoimmunity, and nervous system dysregulation, and how functional medicine approaches the problem as one interwoven system rather than a set of isolated organ complaints. They describe the kinds of testing and interventions involved, including membrane and lipid therapies, mast cell stabilizers, mitochondrial support, and nervous system retraining, while stressing that this work needs to be done with knowledgeable oversight. This episode is for anyone trying to understand why their symptoms persist when standard workups keep coming back “normal.”
This is Part 2 of 3. Part 1 covers the history and current landscape of long COVID care; Part 3 covers specific therapeutic options the doctors have used with patients.
---
ABOUT AARON HARTMAN, MD
Aaron Hartman, MD is a triple-board-certified physician, bestselling author of UnCURABLE: From Hopeless Diagnosis to Defying All Odds, and founder of Richmond Integrative & Functional Medicine. Dr. Hartman is known as the champion of the medically abandoned—helping people once labeled “uncurable” find REAL health and hope through the body’s natural abilities to heal and repair.
AaronHartmanMD.com










