Hi Rachel, I’ve had LC for 9 mo. I’m at a point now where my anxiety is high and I’m still in fight or flight. It’s weird because I feel like I’m calm but obviously I’m not since I get sob after minor activity and talking. I also have PEM and the kind of anxiety associated with work that you mentioned. Thank you for sharing your experience, this is very helpful!
You are a real inspiration ! I got covid 9th January. My active heart rate would spike so I ended up doing almost nothing after a few weeks! Then my resting heart rate increased to a point where I said enough was enough. I’ve had covid twice , a chest infection twice. I have episodes of shortness of breath which I’m almost convinced is TMS of sorts! My fight or flight is/was out of control although I’m trying to sooth with Sussies amazing classes and I was eventually given a beata blocker one week ago at a very low dose of 1.25mg. I hope to stay on that no longer than a month or so. As well as low 10mg amitriptyline (been on 2 months - doc wants me to stay on 6 months but I’m not sure) as I could not sleep no matter what I did! I have never had such crippling anxiety in my life (although I am an anxious person , I also have ADHD - I was a very active post covid and I miss HIIT so much - I will defo learn things from this such as the yoga, better sleep and rest when need) literally frightened of everything! I am about to start journaling although have no real clue what I’m doing. I had a ecg after my first covid which was fine, I’ve had a CT scan on my chest and abdomen which was also clear. I just want me life back. I am still waiting for respiratory and cardiologist to say for sure as not actually spoke to anyone besides my amazing GP who bless her also had LC. I am now 2week into walking again with adding a extra distance each day, now at 38 to 48 mins depending on how fast I go. Thanks for sharing xx
Hey Sheryl! How is your progress now? I’ve had all the scans like you, CT, heart scans, etc and nothing. Always been an anxious person, but now it’s like everything sets me off! Like I fear everything and now having panic like attacks sometimes if I let it get out of control. Started therapy but only 5 sessions in. About to start an anti-depressant since my sleep is horrible and I know it’s not helping me heal. I have good days then I think I push myself to much then have these crashes. So exhausting.
God has not given us the spirt of fear but of power love and a sound mind. What you are talking about is biblical taking every thought captive. The way out of this condition is his perfect love because that is truly the only thing that casts out fear. The virus is long gone but the spirt of fear remains the only way out of long covid is the break the fear loop that was triggered by stress. The spirt of fear is now driving the symptoms not the virus.
Rachel, can you please tell me more about your experience with the insomnia during that time. How bad was it and how long did it last. How did it resolve ?
Ahhh now I see how you recovered so fast. Yes you did the mind-body stuffs which are essential but the hottub in the sun was the ticket. No joke. Water is healing. Sunlight is healing. These things calm and reset your circadian rythms and this would then reset your melatonin - the main thing that heals. I wondered what you did that others have not and this is it. Many are not affluent enough to have a space or money to do similar so my advice is to have a bath daily and to sync with the sun by eating your meals outside or with the window/door open with the sky on your skin.
Hi. Actually I spent £400 on a blow up hot tub and its the only thing that fits in my tiny garden. It was the best money I spent. I probably spent more on supplements! I agree outside of some peoples price range. It helped for many reasons. Firstly it was symbolic. I told myself I was going to enjoy this time out. Secondly it got me outside in the middle of winter and out of my bed. Thirdly it relaxed me. Fourthly it got me to engage with joy and get some sun.
@@rachelwhitfield Yes all great reasons and I think it was money well spent for sure. Sunlights breaks down microclots and infra red light spectrum especially heals the internal wounds that covid caused. Simply giving yourself a gentle and inviting routine to get outside and in warm water like this took months off your healing time. Good work and thank you for sharing so others can learn from you too.
Totally agree. The SUN. Im in week 6 of LC but doing mind body work. Back at gym. Going for walks ea day. I was in a depressed state before covid 12/29/21 so i was ripe. 10 days omicron fatigue vertigo weak. Now numb feet fatigued headaches. Ive decided to fight back on every front. Taking probiotics quercitin D C Zinc coq10 NAC NAD cod oil olive oil. In April sun and a little testosterone. Im 68 unvaxed
Hi Rachel thanks for sharing your story, it was very encouraging for other long haulers. You mentioned you were “stuck” in your recovery which is exactly how I feel. I’ve been a long hauler for 8 months now. Can you describe the Lightness Process in a nutshell? I just want to understand what exactly it does and how it helps you heal.
Hi Mike - I don't really know how to describe the lightning process in a nutshell when its 12 hours of material plus individual coaching. I would suggest looking at their website and maybe purchasing the £15.00 video on dealing with Long covid as this has lots of information but again hard to describe as 4 hours worth. You could look up my coach (fiona Finch Coaching) and request a consultation with her so you can see if its right for you? IN a nutshell it helped me deal with fear. Fear of symptoms and what they meant. Gave me tools to have confidence in my body and what it could do all over again and be able to announce that I was well. I havent looked back since. I think without the LP I would have got better just much slower and I think I might have always been looking over my shoulder for it happening again. Now Im confident it wont. hope that helps x
@@rachelwhitfield Thank you Rachel for the video. I realized I've done this in the past with past nasty flus. The relapse, then getting better, then the relapse, then "thinking I was going to relapse".... Anyway, it's balance because I want to heal but not be "down and out" after the healing. With so much hysteria around COVID (with good reason in early 2020, although the fatality numbers they went by were way off), it's easy to get wrapped up in it.... I do not have the resources I'd like to have, but I can do some things and one is the yoga and the 15 pound (my keyboard doesn't have the pound sign) video but I can't find the website. Can you please supply it for us? For me, I believe my body was made by my Creator to heal and that helps with anxiety; but this was invaluable. Thanks again for all your hard work.
One of my main symptoms is tachychardia and palpitations. I absolutely think that this is part of an ANS dysfunction and am now looking into mindbody techniques. Regarding the fear of symptoms/anticipating PEM, the problem is that having a heart rate that spikes at absolutely EVERYTHING is really scary and almost confirms the fear, which then makes it worse! It's a really hard symptom to 'push through' as it literally feels like my heart will jump out of my chest! Have you spoken to people who have recovered through LT/mindbody, that have had heart symptoms? I am still in the process of having my heart checked out by cardiologists, just in case there is anything wrong, but if it's all clear, then I wonder whether I just need to let my heart rate get really high for a while and go through it?
I’ve had a lot of similar symptoms. One thing I’ve found in relation to breathlessness is that my gas exchange from lungs to blood/oxygen is bad even 2 years in, so when I exercise even something simple like swimming leaves me gasping for air (and yes I’ve been working on breath work). Not sure how I’d be able to jump on my bike and cycle as fast as possible with this symptom because i wouldn’t get very far
Hi. I realised it wasn't just about positive thinking, this is a common misconception. it was about neuroplasticity and what you think about your illness actually defines your illness. If everyday you tell yourself and believe you will recover, this makes a difference. If you believe its permanent, then this will also make a difference. I realised anxiety and stress in particular were keeping me stuck so found ways to reduce and work with these. When I worked with the anxiety I could stop a crash happening. I also looked at my beliefs about the illness and what I thought it was. Once I realised that it was generated from my brain and nervous system I felt better. I started blogging mylongcovidjourney.wordpress.com/ I specifically liked the work of Nicole Sachs, Kyle Davies and Phil Parker. These are all detailed in the blogs
Thank you for sharing your experience. I recognise myself in your story: after having covid i went back to all my usual taks without resting. At this point, i crashed twice and decided that I need to rest before I can recover. I was wondering how long you did not work and took your rest at the start of your recovery?
Hi> yes I had a series of crashes when I tried to continue as normal, These continued in January/February. I cancelled work for a few days at a time but that didnt seem to work so I took an entire month off (March) I immediately felt better which is when I realised how much the stress/indecision/worry about whether to work or not had actually contributed to the crashes. For the first week I was mostly bed/bound and the fatigue was worse if anything but then the fatigue started to lift, In that month off work, I did lots of resting but i also made sure that I got up every morning and got dressed. I went downstairs and had a morning routine. This involved sitting in my garden, drinking a smoothy and chilling in my hammock or hot tub. I would then have breakfast. I always made sure that I had something planned for the day - reading a book, making a call, some sort of movement - yoga or gentle walk. I would rest and mediate and do breathing exercises in between. I believe this routine helped. I started to "enjoy" my time off.I believe this was important. When I went back to work, I started with just 2 hours over zoom. Having been stable for weeks, I crashed two days before work. I now realise it was the worry of being well. I did it anyway and whilst i felt horrendous at the start, by the end I felt better. This is when i realised that it had been stress and I had to force myself to do more to get out of this illness. but I had to do it reassuring myself that I was ok and safe. I spent a month (April) phasing work back in to be able to work full time (with lots of breaks and meditation and breathing exercises in between. By May, I had some symptom free days and was able to work but still hadnt walked further than end of street as was scared of PEM even though I had worked out that it was my fear that was generating symptoms. THis is when I did the course. I think I would have got there on my own but much slower.
This sounds a lot like scam to me. I got infected 4 weeks ago, I was healthy and athletic, now I feel like I'm dying and my life is completely ruined. I can't see how this program would help me...
Kicking and screaming !! I had a good support network that I reached out to and asked for help. I outsourced everything. On reflection I don’t believe I needed to rest as much as I did BUT i believe that taking all the stress out of my life and the “have to dos” for a period were key to getting out of boom and bust I also think that I had to function to get daughter up for school and whilst at time this was awful, it kept me a little bit mobile, gave me a focus and meant that I was never entirely bed bound. I started to notice that there was an upwards trajectory based on doing this every day and then feeding her in the evening. This was the goal I set - to be able to look after her outside of school hours. To begin with there was a lot to deliveroo, overtime I was able to cook a Simple meal. I believe initial rest is important but then re introduction of activity is important x
I had all of these symptoms at different points which is normal for ANS dysfunction which is what I believe a lot of Long Covid is caused by. I had lots of blood tests which were all normal. I believe The SOB is caused dysfunctional breathing - too rapid, too shallow - basically fight or flight activated. This causes CO2 expulsion which means we don’t breath right and get air hungry. Good news is it’s not physical you have to learn to breath again. I saw a breathing pT called Kelly Mitchell. She was excellent and the start of my recovery. The sweats were mostly at night, the nausea was prevalent while I was in boom and bust cycles.
@@prathamrballal1229 its worth joining suzy bolts long covid yoga recovery facebook group. loads of info on POTS. Good news is I know people who had this who have made full recovery. ANS dysfunction can impact so many areas of our body.
I’ve always had a really low heart rate so at one point I was worried that it was too low. It did go up during my illness and on analysis, there were some weird anomalies with it . I didn’t develop POTS which lots of people do On taking to people who were really tachycardic, the thinking is that it’s another symptom of dysfunctional ans and if you can calm your mind and body down it gradually sorts it self out. There’s some great videos out there by Dr Boom Lyn and Suzy Bolt which explain simple things to do for POTS. Hydration, breathing, meditation, re introducing activity calmly and gradually all feature.
Thanks Rachel, very helpful, congratulations on your full recovery!
Hi Rachel, I’ve had LC for 9 mo. I’m at a point now where my anxiety is high and I’m still in fight or flight. It’s weird because I feel like I’m calm but obviously I’m not since I get sob after minor activity and talking. I also have PEM and the kind of anxiety associated with work that you mentioned. Thank you for sharing your experience, this is very helpful!
You are a real inspiration ! I got covid 9th January. My active heart rate would spike so I ended up doing almost nothing after a few weeks! Then my resting heart rate increased to a point where I said enough was enough. I’ve had covid twice , a chest infection twice. I have episodes of shortness of breath which I’m almost convinced is TMS of sorts! My fight or flight is/was out of control although I’m trying to sooth with Sussies amazing classes and I was eventually given a beata blocker one week ago at a very low dose of 1.25mg. I hope to stay on that no longer than a month or so. As well as low 10mg amitriptyline (been on 2 months - doc wants me to stay on 6 months but I’m not sure) as I could not sleep no matter what I did! I have never had such crippling anxiety in my life (although I am an anxious person , I also have ADHD - I was a very active post covid and I miss HIIT so much - I will defo learn things from this such as the yoga, better sleep and rest when need) literally frightened of everything! I am about to start journaling although have no real clue what I’m doing. I had a ecg after my first covid which was fine, I’ve had a CT scan on my chest and abdomen which was also clear. I just want me life back. I am still waiting for respiratory and cardiologist to say for sure as not actually spoke to anyone besides my amazing GP who bless her also had LC. I am now 2week into walking again with adding a extra distance each day, now at 38 to 48 mins depending on how fast I go. Thanks for sharing xx
Hey Sheryl! How is your progress now? I’ve had all the scans like you, CT, heart scans, etc and nothing. Always been an anxious person, but now it’s like everything sets me off! Like I fear everything and now having panic like attacks sometimes if I let it get out of control. Started therapy but only 5 sessions in. About to start an anti-depressant since my sleep is horrible and I know it’s not helping me heal. I have good days then I think I push myself to much then have these crashes. So exhausting.
This is super inspiring! Thank you for sharing your story!!
God has not given us the spirt of fear but of power love and a sound mind. What you are talking about is biblical taking every thought captive. The way out of this condition is his perfect love because that is truly the only thing that casts out fear. The virus is long gone but the spirt of fear remains the only way out of long covid is the break the fear loop that was triggered by stress. The spirt of fear is now driving the symptoms not the virus.
great story and so many parallels to mine, with the anxiety. Only difference is I was hospitalised for a month so have hugely decreased muscle mass.
Rachel, can you please tell me more about your experience with the insomnia during that time. How bad was it and how long did it last. How did it resolve ?
Ahhh now I see how you recovered so fast. Yes you did the mind-body stuffs which are essential but the hottub in the sun was the ticket. No joke. Water is healing. Sunlight is healing. These things calm and reset your circadian rythms and this would then reset your melatonin - the main thing that heals. I wondered what you did that others have not and this is it. Many are not affluent enough to have a space or money to do similar so my advice is to have a bath daily and to sync with the sun by eating your meals outside or with the window/door open with the sky on your skin.
Hi. Actually I spent £400 on a blow up hot tub and its the only thing that fits in my tiny garden. It was the best money I spent. I probably spent more on supplements! I agree outside of some peoples price range. It helped for many reasons. Firstly it was symbolic. I told myself I was going to enjoy this time out. Secondly it got me outside in the middle of winter and out of my bed. Thirdly it relaxed me. Fourthly it got me to engage with joy and get some sun.
@@rachelwhitfield Yes all great reasons and I think it was money well spent for sure. Sunlights breaks down microclots and infra red light spectrum especially heals the internal wounds that covid caused. Simply giving yourself a gentle and inviting routine to get outside and in warm water like this took months off your healing time. Good work and thank you for sharing so others can learn from you too.
Totally agree. The SUN. Im in week 6 of LC but doing mind body work. Back at gym. Going for walks ea day. I was in a depressed state before covid 12/29/21 so i was ripe. 10 days omicron fatigue vertigo weak. Now numb feet fatigued headaches. Ive decided to fight back on every front. Taking probiotics quercitin D C Zinc coq10 NAC NAD cod oil olive oil. In April sun and a little testosterone. Im 68 unvaxed
Hi Rachel thanks for sharing your story, it was very encouraging for other long haulers. You mentioned you were “stuck” in your recovery which is exactly how I feel. I’ve been a long hauler for 8 months now.
Can you describe the Lightness Process in a nutshell? I just want to understand what exactly it does and how it helps you heal.
Hi Mike - I don't really know how to describe the lightning process in a nutshell when its 12 hours of material plus individual coaching. I would suggest looking at their website and maybe purchasing the £15.00 video on dealing with Long covid as this has lots of information but again hard to describe as 4 hours worth. You could look up my coach (fiona Finch Coaching) and request a consultation with her so you can see if its right for you?
IN a nutshell it helped me deal with fear. Fear of symptoms and what they meant. Gave me tools to have confidence in my body and what it could do all over again and be able to announce that I was well. I havent looked back since. I think without the LP I would have got better just much slower and I think I might have always been looking over my shoulder for it happening again. Now Im confident it wont. hope that helps x
@@rachelwhitfield Thank you Rachel for the video. I realized I've done this in the past with past nasty flus. The relapse, then getting better, then the relapse, then "thinking I was going to relapse".... Anyway, it's balance because I want to heal but not be "down and out" after the healing. With so much hysteria around COVID (with good reason in early 2020, although the fatality numbers they went by were way off), it's easy to get wrapped up in it.... I do not have the resources I'd like to have, but I can do some things and one is the yoga and the 15 pound (my keyboard doesn't have the pound sign) video but I can't find the website. Can you please supply it for us? For me, I believe my body was made by my Creator to heal and that helps with anxiety; but this was invaluable. Thanks again for all your hard work.
@@gravitytwo4088 lightningprocess.com/part-1-of-the-lightning-process/
One of my main symptoms is tachychardia and palpitations. I absolutely think that this is part of an ANS dysfunction and am now looking into mindbody techniques. Regarding the fear of symptoms/anticipating PEM, the problem is that having a heart rate that spikes at absolutely EVERYTHING is really scary and almost confirms the fear, which then makes it worse! It's a really hard symptom to 'push through' as it literally feels like my heart will jump out of my chest! Have you spoken to people who have recovered through LT/mindbody, that have had heart symptoms? I am still in the process of having my heart checked out by cardiologists, just in case there is anything wrong, but if it's all clear, then I wonder whether I just need to let my heart rate get really high for a while and go through it?
I’ve had a lot of similar symptoms. One thing I’ve found in relation to breathlessness is that my gas exchange from lungs to blood/oxygen is bad even 2 years in, so when I exercise even something simple like swimming leaves me gasping for air (and yes I’ve been working on breath work). Not sure how I’d be able to jump on my bike and cycle as fast as possible with this symptom because i wouldn’t get very far
Please explain the mind body training you practiced. Mentally my long haul has taken over at times.
Hi. I realised it wasn't just about positive thinking, this is a common misconception. it was about neuroplasticity and what you think about your illness actually defines your illness. If everyday you tell yourself and believe you will recover, this makes a difference. If you believe its permanent, then this will also make a difference. I realised anxiety and stress in particular were keeping me stuck so found ways to reduce and work with these. When I worked with the anxiety I could stop a crash happening. I also looked at my beliefs about the illness and what I thought it was. Once I realised that it was generated from my brain and nervous system I felt better. I started blogging
mylongcovidjourney.wordpress.com/
I specifically liked the work of Nicole Sachs, Kyle Davies and Phil Parker. These are all detailed in the blogs
Thank you for sharing your experience. I recognise myself in your story: after having covid i went back to all my usual taks without resting. At this point, i crashed twice and decided that I need to rest before I can recover. I was wondering how long you did not work and took your rest at the start of your recovery?
Hi> yes I had a series of crashes when I tried to continue as normal, These continued in January/February. I cancelled work for a few days at a time but that didnt seem to work so I took an entire month off (March) I immediately felt better which is when I realised how much the stress/indecision/worry about whether to work or not had actually contributed to the crashes. For the first week I was mostly bed/bound and the fatigue was worse if anything but then the fatigue started to lift, In that month off work, I did lots of resting but i also made sure that I got up every morning and got dressed. I went downstairs and had a morning routine. This involved sitting in my garden, drinking a smoothy and chilling in my hammock or hot tub. I would then have breakfast. I always made sure that I had something planned for the day - reading a book, making a call, some sort of movement - yoga or gentle walk. I would rest and mediate and do breathing exercises in between. I believe this routine helped. I started to "enjoy" my time off.I believe this was important. When I went back to work, I started with just 2 hours over zoom. Having been stable for weeks, I crashed two days before work. I now realise it was the worry of being well. I did it anyway and whilst i felt horrendous at the start, by the end I felt better. This is when i realised that it had been stress and I had to force myself to do more to get out of this illness. but I had to do it reassuring myself that I was ok and safe. I spent a month (April) phasing work back in to be able to work full time (with lots of breaks and meditation and breathing exercises in between. By May, I had some symptom free days and was able to work but still hadnt walked further than end of street as was scared of PEM even though I had worked out that it was my fear that was generating symptoms. THis is when I did the course. I think I would have got there on my own but much slower.
@@rachelwhitfield Thank you for your reply!
How are you doing now? 😊
Im great thanks - ran the london marathon in October. Long covid behind me x
Did the vaccine help?
Wondering if I’m Facebook love ask you questions please
This sounds a lot like scam to me. I got infected 4 weeks ago, I was healthy and athletic, now I feel like I'm dying and my life is completely ruined. I can't see how this program would help me...
How are you feeling now
@@jackholloway1 hi Jack, I have not recovered yet, every day is a new struggle. Thank you for asking. I hope you are well!
@@xtian384 How you doing now, any better?
@@xtian384update?
How did you commit to rest with all the panic?
Kicking and screaming !! I had a good support network that I reached out to and asked for help. I outsourced everything. On reflection I don’t believe I needed to rest as much as I did BUT i believe that taking all the stress out of my life and the “have to dos” for a period were key to getting out of boom and bust
I also think that I had to function to get daughter up for school and whilst at time this was awful, it kept me a little bit mobile, gave me a focus and meant that I was never entirely bed bound. I started to notice that there was an upwards trajectory based on doing this every day and then feeding her in the evening. This was the goal I set - to be able to look after her outside of school hours. To begin with there was a lot to deliveroo, overtime I was able to cook a Simple meal. I believe initial rest is important but then re introduction of activity is important x
Dizzy, maigraine, sweating, unable to stand for long time, shortness of breath, nausea did u had all this
I had all of these symptoms at different points which is normal for ANS dysfunction which is what I believe a lot of Long Covid is caused by. I had lots of blood tests which were all normal.
I believe The SOB is caused dysfunctional breathing - too rapid, too shallow - basically fight or flight activated. This causes CO2 expulsion which means we don’t breath right and get air hungry. Good news is it’s not physical you have to learn to breath again. I saw a breathing pT called Kelly Mitchell. She was excellent and the start of my recovery. The sweats were mostly at night, the nausea was prevalent while I was in boom and bust cycles.
I developed pots thanks for ur prompt answer
@@prathamrballal1229 its worth joining suzy bolts long covid yoga recovery facebook group. loads of info on POTS. Good news is I know people who had this who have made full recovery. ANS dysfunction can impact so many areas of our body.
Tq sister
Did u had high heart rate?
I’ve always had a really low heart rate so at one point I was worried that it was too low. It did go up during my illness and on analysis, there were some weird anomalies with it . I didn’t develop
POTS which lots of people do
On taking to people who were really tachycardic, the thinking is that it’s another symptom of dysfunctional ans and if you can calm your mind and body down it gradually sorts it self out. There’s some great videos out there by Dr Boom Lyn and Suzy Bolt which explain simple things to do for POTS. Hydration, breathing, meditation, re introducing activity calmly and gradually all feature.