A Long-Awaited Update

Hey everyone,

A year and a half ago I shared a pretty big update on my blog. And then I stopped talking about it.

Some of you may recall that in Feb. 2023, I got hit pretty hard by the long-term effects of the virus that shall not be named.  I hate talking about it (and someday, when this is all in the past, I want to come back and delete all mentions of it from my site!).

But for now the reality is that it really messed me up.  For a long time, I haven’t been sure if I’d ever get back to where I was before. 

Now, for the fist time, I have ✨hope ✨

I’ve finally been stumbling on treatments that I believe will help me – and so far, I’ve been seeing improvements!

Recent research is showing that those of us with Long Covid likely never cleared the virus fully from our bodies. This is similar to other “mysterious” illnesses such as ME/CFS, chronic fatigue syndrome, and chronic Lyme disease.  

For decades, doctors claimed these diseases  were too “complicated” to understand – or else said it was all in patients’ heads.  For reasons that aren’t yet clear, these diseases are more likely to affect women, which of course means doctors are even more likely to conclude patients are just making it up.

But there is a small but dedicated group of researchers who have taken it on themselves to research these conditions. And, with all of them, they’re finding that they are likely caused by a pathogen that’s managed to escape our immune system, and hasn’t been fully cleared by the body. 

Part of me has been embarrassed to talk about it. Why did this happen to me? Why couldn’t my immune system get rid of this thing?

But at the end of the day, you all have been so kind and caring – I do want to give back and make sure I share these answers with anyone else who may be struggling. ❤️

I’ve heard from several of my readers who are also struggling with Long Covid. I do believe more people are dealing with long-term effects of this thing than we know.

Right now, my treatments are focusing on activating my immune system to clear the remaining virus.  I’ve been investigating things like glutathione, mitochondrial supplements, and peptides – all of which are also used in Chronic Lyme.  In some ways, there are a lot of commonalities here, so I feel hopeful things will pan out!

(These are just a few of the things that have helped me- more info here).

Truth be told, I feel as though I’ve been traveling the depths of a world I never wanted to know. And maybe, I’m finally starting to emerge to tell you all what I learned.

My view of everything is way more complicated now.

As many of you who’ve been dealing with chronic pain have likely been told, sometimes conditions such as fibromyalgia can be caused by an over-sensitized nervous system. This concept really helped me at one point earlier in my life.

However, my view has been much more complicated. Now, I realize that things don’t always have a simple answer. Even conditions such as fibromyalgia may potentially be caused by a virus, or a bacteria, or something going wrong on a microsopic level.

As you may know, I have also used brain retraining as part of my recovery from mast cell activation syndrome. Brain retraining also – sometimes- helps people make dramatic recoveries from conditions such as multiple chemical sensitivity and mold toxicity, sometimes called CIRS.

My view was that so many of these conditions – whether pain, or limbic system dysfunction (sometimes believed to be the cause of multiple chemical sensitivity and CIRS) could be healed by healing the nervous system. And judging by some of the recovery testimonials, I still believe that is true– sometimes.

But now I recognize that the human body, and the way it interacts with our environment, are in fact way more complicated than that. There is so much individual variation down to genetic and epigenetic level. For example, some people may have a genetic variation that makes it much more difficult to break down mold toxins and remove them from the body.

I had no idea about so much of this stuff, and, I’m ashamed to admit, I had total confidence in the mainstream medical establishment (which may be I shouldn’t have, given my own experience with SI joint dysfunction!) If they said these conditions weren’t real, and were mediated by an oversensitive nervous system, I largely believed them.

I remember reading one paper at some point in 2022 that made me begin to question my beliefs. It had to do with whether fibromyalgia was usually preceded by an infection, and if that infection might still be somewhere in the body.

I distinctly remember sitting at the kitchen table and having almost a pit in my stomach, to think things might be way more complicated than I knew. To think everything is caused by an overactive nervous system is very simple and clean, with an easy answer.

But, as my own experience with Long Covid has shown me, it is not that way – not at all.

There is a whole world inside of our bodies, with seemingly infinite individual variation.

It’s a bit scary, but it’s also pretty incredible.

To be clear, I will never, ever be glad that this happened to me. I’m never going to say it was worth it. But I have striven to make the best of the situation and learn what I can, and I’m happy to say that at last, I think I see the beginnings of an answer.

I’ll be sharing highlights of my healing process on this site. I also have a Substack, Long Covid Be Gone, where I share more detailed info.

For more on the science of Long Covid and other infection-associated chronic illnesses, please check out the work of the amazing PolyBio Research Foundation.

And of course, I’ve got so much more to share on the SI joint, inspired in part by some really great coaching sessions I’ve gotten to do lately!

Looking forward to hearing what you all think!