Is long-COVID all in the mind?
Absolutely NOT!
Long-COVID is a very real, physical condition. It shares a lot of the same symptoms as ME/CFS (brain fog, fatigue, post-exertional malaise, muscle weakness etc, which are also real and physical) and has the added symptoms of breathlessness, a racing and erratic heart, lung damage that is visible on scans, and additional neurological damage. This is obviously a real physical illness and is not all in the mind.
Mind-body techniques for a physical issue?
Here is where some of the confusion lies. If I am teaching mind-body techniques, does that imply it’s all in the mind? Not at all! The effects of a severe stress response in the body have been documented since the 1930s and include symptoms such as immune malfunction, inflammation, hormone imbalance, over-stimulation of the heart and lungs, restless leg syndrome, digestive problems, cognitive functioning issues, reproductive issues and neurological malfunctions. This is not just about ‘being stressed’. It is a physical state in the body with massive overload in the sympathetic nervous system and the HPA axis that can lead to a huge range of health problems. When the body is guided out of the stress response, it allows the body to reactivate its innate healing properties and a myriad of health benefits can occur with healing happening at a physical level.
What does the research show us about how mind-body relates to long-COVID?
An article published by the Oxford Immunology Group states,
“Psychosocial factors are also very important in regulating our immune activation and the response to SARS-CoV-2. Two of the main biological systems involved in the stress response, the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis or the autonomic nervous system, are also key in the regulation of our immune response. Therefore, strategies tackling our levels of stress and/or the stress response, including psychosocial intervention, physical exercise or potentially dietary interventions, could be also useful in counteracting some of the negative effects of chronic inflammation.”
How Empower Therapies can help
The Switch will teach you how to switch off the stress response, allowing your body to start healing naturally. You will also learn how to recognise thinking patterns and behaviour patterns that are contributing to fatigue, plus techniques to change these. You will also resolve any deeper emotional issues from the past that might be contributing to you remaining unwell. In addition, you will learn how to make lifestyle changes to promote wellbeing.
If you don’t feel quite ready to jump into a 4-day course or you are not yet well enough to manage course attendance, you might like to start with our webinar series, which gives an overview of mind-body health, the role of stress and thinking patterns, and some basic techniques to start using on yourself. This webinar is a general approach, rather than being specifically about long-COVID. For some people it’s enough on its own and for others it is their inspiration and lead-in to doing the full Switch programme. This can be watched in short chunks if you are too unwell to watch for two hours in a row. Some people who have a severely low starting point (e.g., bed bound or house bound) need to do a few ten-minute Zoom sessions with me to gain enough improvements to be able to cope with any sort of course.
Long-COVID recovery rates at Empower Therapies
16 – full recovery!
3 – at least 90% improvement
3 – 70-80% improvement
3 – 40% improvement
1 – no improvement
0 – got worse
1 – unknown, though reported improvements at the course
Note: People were deemed as having a full recovery from their own self-reports stating that they no longer had any symptoms and were able to do all the activities of their normal, healthy life. Percentage improvements are also based on clients’ perceptions of how close they are to their full, healthy life.
Five of these clients had long-COVID so severely that they were hospitalised many times, were wheelchair bound and could not think clearly enough to do simple tasks like tie their shoelaces. Another was housebound and required assistance to walk from her bed to the toilet. No matter how serious their illness, significant improvements, or full resolution of symptoms, have been experienced by almost all these clients.
Recovery times of the 16 people who are 100% better.
1 – Next Steps webinar
4 – within the four days of The Switch course
3 – 1 week after The Switch
1 – 2 weeks after The Switch
6 – 1 month after The Switch
1 – 3 months after The Switch
I realise this is a very small sample size without formal research, so no big conclusions can be drawn, but it is looking highly promising as a fast and effective treatment for many who experience long-COVID, and I hope that a formal study will happen soon.
What causes Long-COVID?
Here is an infographic from the Clinical Immunology Journal showing the role of stress in long-COVID. My work is very much in alignment with this principle that a severe stress response in the body (at a physical level) is responsible for why people stay sick after an initial illness experience such as a virus.
Among the clients that I have seen so far for long-COVID, there was a significant stressful event, or long-term background stress, prior to catching COVID so it is likely that their stress response was already quite activated. Catching COVID was the final tipping point where their stress response became so strong that it was causing severe depletion of body systems such as the immune, digestive, neurological and hormonal systems, over-stimulating organs such as heart and lungs, and causing inflammation, palpitations, POTS and neurological disturbances.
How can you help yourself?
1. Preliminary research shows that it is important to get enough rest in the early days of your recovery. When you feel tired, rest. Don’t push yourself to do exercise before you are ready. When you do feel like exercising only do gentle exercise with slow gradual increases. This step is applicable for the first 2-4 months after your COVID illness.
2. Get your hope back about recovery being possible by watching some of the movies on this website. Just knowing that there is an answer to long-COVID can help people to relax and calm their stress response and get a bit of a lift in energy levels.
3. Start actively reducing your stress response by doing things like meditation, breathing exercises and activities that you find particularly relaxing.
4. Watch the Next Steps to Recovery 2-hour webinar for some techniques for calming your body, changing your body language to create health improvements and catching faulty thinking patterns.
5. If you are still feeling unwell after about 4 months you are likely to have slipped into the chronic illness zone rather than the acute zone. This is where it is now a good idea to look into attending the full four-day Switch programme to rewire your brain and body back into wellness.
