Whilst reading research done by medical professionals dealing with Covid patients I noticed something very interesting. There doesn't seem to be a correlation between the severity of infection and the development of Long Covid .....
The Wuhan study showed that people with mild Covid-19 reported persisting symptoms and most people in the US and UK who are suffering Long Covid had a relatively mild infection. So how come people with Long Covid were generally not the ones who were hospitalized?
As news of the pandemic hit our newsfeeds in the beginning of 2020, the world was deluged by a constant stream of statistics, images of overfilled mortuaries, exhausted healthcare workers and desperately ill patients on ventilators. Stories of loved ones dying alone and panic stricken family members shut out of caring for their fatally ill parents and partners were everywhere. I'm wondering if the people who were hospitalized didn't have access to this terrifying 24hr news cycle, they were imprisoned in their own hells. But those who were well enough to stay home did? Those who suffered at home often got to see the horror day in and day out.
Many innocently watched around the clock, mesmerized and paralyzed with what they saw. But what did that constant diet of tragedy and panic do to the nervous system? What, I wondered, is the connection with Long Covid?
Most of the many symptoms I have seen with Long Covid patients are very similar to the chronic pain and trauma clients I have been working with for many years now. Unexplained headaches, palpations, stomach problems and dizziness. Its all stress related. It is also well researched that prolonged stressful thinking compromises the immune system. Are you beginning to see why maybe some get Long Covid and others don't? Now that doesn't mean it isn't real, these symptoms are very real, but they are being generated by a brain that is over loaded with stress and anxiety and is screaming for us to slow down.
So, breath slowly.
Learn how to do Deep Resting.
Stop reading the news and scaring yourself and take it easy.
Your inner speed needs to slow down just like your outer one.
And please reach out if you would like help with understanding this more.
chanastudley@gmail.com