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In this video, Dr. Diana Girnita explores how COVID-19 Triggers Autoimmune Diseases? As a leading rheumatologist in the US, Dr. Girnita shares her insights on how the pandemic has led to an increase in rheumatoid arthritis, Sjögren’s disease cases, and other autoimmune disorders. By examining the latest research and studies, Dr. Girnita sheds light on the underlying mechanisms that contribute to the development of these conditions, providing valuable information for those affected and their families.
Chapters
00:00 – 01:14 Intro
01:15 – 01:59 COVID-19 infection consequences (long covid, respiratory damage and autoimmune diseases)
02:00 – 04:22 How does COVID-19 cause autoimmune diseases?
04:22 – 07:16 Warning signs that you may develop an autoimmune disease after COVID-19
07:17 – 09:24 True patient story that developed Rheumatoid arthritis after COVID-19 infection
09:25 – 10:59 Dysautonomia after COVID-19 infection
11:00 – 13:53 Neuropathy after COVID-19 infection
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What if I told you that COVID 19 could trigger
an autoimmune disease in someone who never had symptoms before? Or even worse, what if your
lingering fatigue or joint pain after COVID isn’t just stress, but actually a signal that
your immune system is attacking you? This is not a conspiracy theory. It is happening.
And science is now catching up with what many patients have been feeling all along. In the
last few years, I have evaluated quite a number of patients who develop autoimmune diseases
after recovering from COVID 19. But why is this happening and what are those warning signs?
In this video, I will discuss all of these early signs and will teach you what you need to do if
you develop those because if you catch this early, you may avoid years of suffering. I am Dr. Diana
Gernita, a boardcertified rheumatologist with over 20 years of clinical and research experience,
which diagnoses and treats patients with autoimmune diseases every day. Since the pandemic
began, you most likely heard of long COVID, respiratory damage, debilitating fatigue,
blood clots, but there is a darker, less known consequence, and those are the autoimmune
diseases. More and more people are now diagnosed with autoimmune diseases like lupus, rheumatoid
arthritis, shogran syndrome, multiple sclerosis, type 1 diabetes or guambare syndrome. If you
have a family history of an autoimmune disease, then your risk is higher. But even in people
without a family history of an autoimmune disease, I have diagnosed them with these conditions
after COVID 19. And the first question that comes to mind is how COVID 19 can cause or
trigger autoimmune diseases. Let’s think about this. COVID 19 and autoimmune diseases
have something critical in common. They can cause a ton of inflammation. Actually, they both
can cause wild inflammation. In both situations, your immune system launches a fullblown attack.
But instead of fighting the virus, your immune system cells can become confused at some point and
start attack your own body. In severe coid9 cases, there was a cytoine storm reported an explosion
of inflammatory chemicals like IL is 6,1 17 or 18. And these storms mirrors what the immune system
is happening or is doing that chaos that we see in autoimmune diseases. Plus some patients with COVID
19 develop a lot of antibodies auto antibodies like ANA, double stranded DNA, SSA, SSB and these
are the same auto antibodies that we see in people with lupus with rheumatoid arthritis or even in
people with antifphospholipid syndrome since 2020 when researchers from Stamford University told us
that about 50% of the people with COVID develop auto antibodies. We found out about more and more
studies that will say so. Is that a coincidence? Most likely it’s not because the presence or
persistent of these auto antibodies can announce that an autoimmune disease is going to happen.
And in 2022, we had the first studies that drew the attention that COVID 19 can increase the
risk of developing autoimmune disease. And this is the study that actually showed an increased
risk to develop lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, shograns disease, multiple sclerosis or diabetes.
And a newer study in 2024 again confirmed that autoimmune diseases or autoimmune inflammatory
rheumatic diseases may occur after the infection with COVID 19. And another study in nature also
brings attention on this subject. But what are the warning signs that you might develop an autoimmune
disease? If you had COVID 19, you know that fatigue is one of the most debilitating symptoms
that you can develop after this virus infection. And I had so many patients that I have seen
in the last 5 years that will struggle with fatigue that impairs their life for many months
or even years. It didn’t matter what they did, how much they sleep or even what supplements they
took because they remain exhausted. And although we don’t understand the reasons why these people
with CO 19 develop fatigue in some cases fatigue is a sign of inflammation or ongoing inflammation
and many autoimmune diseases can cause fatigue. Actually people with lupus with rheumatoid
arthritis with shogran can also have severe and disabling fatigue. So in my opinion, it might
be wise to check with an autoimmune specialist if that fatigue might be a sign of something that
is not necessarily related at this point with the COVID infection. Then many patients that had COVID
19 infection developed rashes, rashes on the skin, like the face or rashes on the legs. If the rash
looks like a butterfly on the nose or the cheeks, it could be because you might have developed
lupus. If the rash is very sensitive when you get outside in the sun and you develop severe
burning, which we call photosensitivity, again, it might be because of lupus. But patients with
COVID can also develop other kinds of rashes like pinpoint rashes that could be a sign of vasculitis
which is an inflammation of the vessels and there are many types of vasculitis depending on
what type of vessel is involved. However, some patients develop blood clots in the legs
or the lungs. And research showed that some people with COVID 19 develop anti-phospholipid
syndrome which is an autoimmune disease that can occur together with lupus or independent of
this disease. APL or antifphospholipid syndrome makes people more susceptible to develop blood
clots and it can cause a lot of other issues from changes in the skin appearance that can look
like a lace and we call this levido reticularis or it can lead to blood clots in the legs in
the lungs or even ulcerations of the fingers or the toes because these blood clots will stop
the blood flow of those vessels and will create complic applications. In my practice, I had many
patients who after COVID 19 infection developed joint pain. Now, let me tell you the story of
one of my patients. Elena was 29 years old. 3 months before she came to my office, she had
a severe case of COVID. She was very sick for about two weeks with lots of fever with cough
and malaise. She recovered after the COVID, but she remained extremely fatigued. And then in
about three months she noticed that she had pain in her small joints of her hands. And then in
a few weeks she developed pain in both of her wrist and the shoulders. Every morning she was
not able to remove her rings and her fingers were very swollen and they look like sausages. She
noticed a lot of morning stiffness that will last for a few hours. But as the day will go by, she
would have less stiffness and her hands will feel slightly better. She was seen by her primary care
physician who gave her ibuprofen, but that did not touch the pain. She was researching her symptoms
on the internet and she found out that there are a few cases of people with similar symptoms who
were diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. Then what did she do? She decided to bypass her
PCP advice and she came to see me. And after listening to her story, I order more specific
tests. And guess what? I have diagnosed Elena with rheumatoid arthritis. Is this a surprise
for me today? Not anymore. Because studies like this one are showing that people with COVID 19 can
develop rheumatoid arthritis, which is one of the most common diseases that I treat in my practice.
rheumatologist on call. Now, let me tell you about other possible autoimmune diseases. Have you heard
about Shogun’s disease? This is another autoimmune disease that I diagnose and treat in my practice.
And most people think about Shogran disease when they hear patients complaining about dry eyes
and dry mouth. However, in patients who suffer from COVID 19, Shograns disease can develop and
can look so much different. These patients can develop severe fatigue, brain fog, cognitive
issues, headaches, and a lot of symptoms of dysotonomia or neuropathy. Have you ever had
your heart start racing while you are sitting still and then you stand up and you feel dizzy or
you even faint? Your hands and your feet get icy, cold and then you suddenly feel short of breath
without any explanation. This can be more than just stress or anxiety. You might be dealing with
something that we call dysotonomia. And dysonia, it’s a malfunction of your autonomic nervous
system. And that’s a part of your nervous system that controls everything that you don’t think
about. Your heartbeat, your blood pressure, your digestion, and even your body temperature.
And in those people with dysotonomia, this automatic system starts misfiring. It’s like a
faulty electric panel controlling your body vitals function and that is flipping the wrong switches
at the wrong time. Some people develop what we call postural orthostatic tachicardia syndrome
or pots. And this is a common form of dysotonomia where your heart rate just jumps abnormally when
you stand up. other will feel completely wiped out and they could develop dizziness. And guess what?
After COVID 19, I have seen a massive increase in dysotonomia cases and some of these cases were
actually new cases of shogun’s disease that I diagnosed. Now, let’s talk about neuropathy.
Neuropathy means nerve damage. And it can happen when your immune system either triggered by an
infection or inflammation or autoimmune diseases, they start attacking your nerves. And this can
lead to burning and tingling in your hands and feet, numbness or shooting pain or loss of
coordination. And in some cases even bladder or bowel issues. And there are many types of
neuropathy, but one particularly important is the small fiber neuropathy which can affect the
tiny nerves that control the pain, the temperature and even automatic functions like the heart rate
or sweating. And many of my patients with Shogun’s disease developed that after COVID. They presented
to me with small fiber neuropathy. Some of these people develop neuropathy after receiving the
vaccine. But I will talk about that more in another video. When I talk about neuropathy, let
me tell you that there are some newer studies like this one that show that some patients also develop
muscle weakness and visual changes or visual loss. They were later diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
And if you do develop these symptoms, it is better to see a neurologist, not a rheumatologist, a
neurologist. Now, have you develop any strange neurological symptoms and in joint pain, any
fatigue or brain fog after COVID 19? This could be signs of autoimmune activations. And here
at rheumatologist on call, we have diagnosed many patients with autoimmune diseases because we
offer a comprehensive assessment. We don’t ignore your symptoms. We don’t believe that they are in
your head. And especially if you have a family history of autoimmune disease, yes, you could be
at risk. And if you develop an autoimmune disease, the best thing to do is to be evaluated by an
autoimmune expert, someone like me, who will be able to recognize these early signs, to run
the appropriate test and treat you appropriately because I have seen many patients misdiagnosed and
mistreated for the last 5 years. And the truth is that COVID 19 may have forever changed how we
think about autoimmune diseases. If you wait until symptoms are full-blown, it may be too late
to prevent damage. And now that you understand how COVID 19 may trigger an autoimmune disease,
what about vaccines? Can the COVID 19 vaccine also unmask or protect you from autoimmunity? And
you need to know this. So, watch this next video.
