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Dr Sarah's recovery story
- Condition
- Long COVID
- At worst
- Moderate (mostly housebound)
- Ill for
- Not stated
- Published
- No date given
Summary
Sarah got long covid after two covid infections in 2021 and became housebound, unable to work, and unable to care for her young son for more than half an hour. She credits nervous system regulation, pacing, somatic tracking and tapping, and reached full recovery about 2.5 years after her worst point. She now jogs, works and fully cares for her child. A smartwatch for exercise made her anxious about overdoing it, so she changed tack.
This summary is short because we could not read the full page, only the details recorded about it. The original has the rest.
What they tried
Credits Alternative therapies, Brain retraining, Mind-body practices, Pacing, Brain retraining programs (DNRS, Gupta, ANS Rewire, Primal Trust), Graded exercise / graded activity, Meditation, yoga, breathwork, Pacing and the energy envelope, Sarno / TMS / somatic tracking / JournalSpeak, Trauma work (EFT, EMDR, TRE), Vagus nerve stimulation.
What they credit
Also tried
Approaches: Alternative therapies · Brain retraining · Mind-body practices · Pacing
Their path
How ill they were on the ME/CFS severity scale, estimated from what they describe at each point, from when the illness began. Hover a point to see what happened and what they link it to. Open dots mark a change they link to a treatment, orange ones a setback. What the levels mean.
Show as a table
| When | What happened | Where they were | After |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | two covid infections; housebound, severe brain fog, unable to work | Moderate | |
| six months in | brain fog and fatigue improved enough to manage; ready to do a bit more | Moderate | Pacing and the energy envelope |
| after a year of using her tools | about 60% improved on a toolkit of nervous system regulation, pacing, somatic tracking and tapping | Mild | |
| end of the second year | about 90% improved after continuing the toolkit | Near normal | |
| 2.5 years | full recovery after continuing the tools; back to jogging, work, sport and full childcare | Recovered |
Side effects and setbacks
- “At the beginning of my recovery journey, doing too much meant I’d be bedbound for 48 hours, not able to interact.” Made symptoms worse
- Symptom-tracking apps and wearables (Visible)“This kept the anxiety of doing too much and bringing on a crash upfront in my mind” Mood or psychiatric effects
Symptoms mentioned
Symptoms: Anxiety & low mood, Brain fog, Gut problems, Light & noise sensitivity, POTS & dysautonomia, Post-exertional malaise, Temperature regulation, Tinnitus.
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