Karen Wright's Story
- Condition
- Long COVID
- At worst
- Severe (mostly bedbound)
- Ill for
- 3 years
- Published
- Jul 2025
Summary
Karen started with a low-histamine diet that brought overnight improvement, then moved to a broader anti-inflammatory diet, alongside pacing, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy through the NHS Long COVID service, breathwork, meditation, yoga, counselling and HRV monitoring. She had long COVID with about 16 symptoms, including extreme fatigue, brain fog, chest pain and orthostatic intolerance, for roughly three years from autumn 2021, at her worst barely able to walk around the block and largely housebound while her husband took over most parenting and household duties. By summer 2025 she describes herself as recovered, saying "the symptom list is a thing of the past," working 30 hours a week and doing yoga, paddleboarding, gardening and piano. She frames this as balance rather than complete symptom elimination and says she still maintains ongoing pacing and lifestyle adaptations to stay well. She has since left her 23-year NHS career and founded her own company, Sage Health and Wellness, offering physiotherapy and coaching to others with fatiguing illnesses.
What they credit
Credits CBT & mindset, Diet, Pacing, CBT and psychotherapy, Elimination and ketogenic diets, Low-histamine diet, Meditation, yoga, breathwork, Pacing and the energy envelope.
Symptoms mentioned
Symptoms: Brain fog, Heart symptoms & palpitations, POTS & dysautonomia, Pain & fibromyalgia.
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