I have learnt with this condition people get better from hope, kindness and love, not fear and catastrophe
- Condition
- Long COVID
- At worst
- Severe (mostly bedbound)
- Ill for
- 9 months
- Published
- Dec 2021
Summary
Credits cognitive retraining developed with an unnamed psychology PhD candidate from Norway who had herself recovered from post-viral fatigue syndrome, after months in a self-organised online pacing support group and a referral to an NHS CFS/ME specialist had not resolved his illness. He fell ill with COVID-19 in mid-March 2020 and remained unwell for over nine months, at his worst believing he was dying, with tachycardia, chest tightness, cognitive fog and a "boom/bust" cycle of exertion and collapse that left him too frightened to exercise. He says "I am now well," describing how retraining his conscious response to bodily sensations let him complete an hour of military fitness training within two weeks of starting and reach full recovery within months. Symptoms briefly recurred after a bout of dengue fever on holiday, which he says he resolved within days using the same technique, and he otherwise reports no relapse, noting only that he sometimes feels tired if he overdoes it, "but that's normal for everyone."
Read it in their words
recoverynorway.org — a recovery advocacy site.
What they credit
Credits Brain retraining, Pacing, Trauma & somatic work, PDE5 inhibitors (sildenafil, tadalafil), Pacing and the energy envelope.
Similar stories
-
Melody's ME/CFS, Fibromyalgia and Long COVID Recovery Story
Melody was infected early in the pandemic, hospitalised with double pneumonia, then bedbound for six months and homebound on supplemental oxygen for two and a half years despite thirteen prescription drugs and multiple specialists. She credits a combination…
-
Sirin Gnadeberg Shares How She Cured Her ME/CFS and POTS
Sirin Gnadeberg added salt to her drinking water starting in April 2016, which significantly improved her POTS symptoms, then took 16 weeks of antibiotics after a Lyme specialist found elevated antibodies to Bartonella, Chlamydia and Mycoplasma (despite…
-
Dan Moricoli - On the Path - and Recovering From ME/CFS
Started a heart-rate-monitored graded exercise and pacing program in 2008, beginning with two 5-minute walks every other day with 10-20 minute rest periods, alongside a sleep specialist referral that improved sleep from 2-4 hours to 5 hours nightly, a strict…
-
Jordan - Long Covid Recovery Story
Credits brain retraining. Jordan was ill 22mo with moderate long COVID and reports a partial improvement. Resigned job from fatigue; regained pet-sitting and socialising.