A Friend for the Long Haul: A Long Covid Podcast

Hi! This bonus episode of A Friend for the Long Haul - A Long Covid Podcast was recorded in the spur of the moment on our phones, so it's nowhere near studio quality! I literally called Nina to see if she was free, and she was in a parking lot with Bubsie in the backseat.

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What if dark humor and salt could help shine a light on the often invisible world of Long Covid, chronic illness, and disability? Nina Storey, a long hauler who is a singer, songwriter, and comedy writer, decided to create a short film capturing the unpredictable reality of living with Long Covid. Despite the struggles and a very tight deadline, Nina's film, Strangely Optimistic, is a powerful testament to finding joy amid chaos, and it was all crafted in just five days for the 13th Annual Easterseals Disability Film Challenge. In this bonus episode of A Friend for the Long Haul - A Long Covid Podcast, Nina shares the story behind her dramedy and how her personal experience with Long Covid motivated her to push for greater awareness through storytelling. We discuss how she balanced creative vision with her physical health, why representation in media for invisible illnesses matters, and the key role humor plays in survival and advocacy. We speak of the strength of those of us living with chronic illness and disability, the power of community support, and the importance of authentic, unfiltered stories in changing perceptions. This isn’t just about Strangely Optimistic, it's about reminding us all that even in our darkest moments, humor and authenticity can pave the way for connection and understanding. If you’re living with chronic illness, caring for someone who is, or simply want to learn how storytelling can be a form of advocacy, this conversation offers inspiration and practical insight. Nina’s journey shows us that visibility is also about giving voice to the unspoken and challenging the stereotypes. And the occasional fart joke doesn't hurt.Find Nina’s film at https://www.strangelyoptimisticmovie.com or on the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge YouTube channel here:    • Strangely Optimistic - 2026 Easterseals Di...   Please engage with the video on the Easterseals channel - there are prizes for several different winning categories! Likes, comments, and shares of the YouTube video of Strangely Optimistic all contribute. Thank you! Oh, and if you watch the video and spot Nina's homage to me, comment on it and tag me! :) How to Support the Awareness Campaign: From April 4–13, the public can support the film’s mission by watching, liking, and commenting on the official Easterseals YouTube and Facebook posts. These engagement metrics directly contribute to the "Best Awareness Campaign" award, elevating the conversation around Long COVID on a global stage.

Thank you so much! And thanks for listening to and supporting A Friend for the Long Haul!

Also mentioned in this episode: Dr. Wes Ely's Reverse Long Covid Trial: https://www.reversinglongcovid.org/

Beth's "Rest is Medicine" shirt is by Dr. Julia Moore Vogel, and you can see her craftiness on her Instagram account:   / pineapple_sewing  

If you'd like to support A Friend for the Long Haul, you can do so by: Subscribing to this YouTube channel!

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Like and share when an episode moves you! Thanks so much! I am a one-woman disabled by LC team!

Welcome back to A Friend for the Long Haul - A Long Covid Podcast! I have wanted to have Olivia Belknap on this podcast for a long time, and I'm so glad we finally made it happen! Even though I was terribly late and embarrassed lol - Olivia was so kind and gracious!

Olivia is a marriage and family therapist in California working with neurodivergent, chronically ill, COVID-conscious, and queer folks...basically all our favorite people. She's also a long hauler herself, which means this conversation is honest, specific, and zero percent "have you tried going outside more?"

We talk about what it actually means to find a therapist who understands long COVID and chronic illness, and what it costs your nervous system just to get through a single day. We talk about why the therapeutic relationship matters more than any modality, more than EMDR, more than IFS, and why compartmentalizing your COVID consciousness in a session that's supposed to feel safe defeats the whole purpose.

We also get into the messier stuff: the overlap of neurodivergence and chronic illness, interoception and why so many of us are simultaneously dissociated and hyperaware, the boom and bust burnout cycle, complex pandemic trauma, and the very specific exhaustion of being a chronically ill therapist who conducts sessions from the couch during a POTS flare while helping other people regulate their nervous systems.

Olivia is also doing really important work to educate other clinicians because she doesn't think you should have to spend your session time teaching your therapist what long COVID is. That is not what you're there for.

Topics covered:

• COVID-informed and COVID-conscious therapy
• Long COVID and mental health
• Finding a therapist who understands chronic illness and disability
• The overlap of neurodivergence and long COVID
• Interoception, alexithymia, and body disconnection
• Complex pandemic trauma and ongoing relational trauma
• Pacing, burnout, and nervous system regulation for chronically ill people
• Dynamic disability and how symptoms present in therapy
• Barriers to accessing therapy as a chronically ill person
• EMDR, IFS, and trauma-informed care for long haulers
• The COVID-conscious therapist directory
• POTS, MCAS, ME/CFS, and neurodivergent-affirming care

Mentioned in this episode:

• Olivia Belknap: @oliviabelknaptherapy on Instagram | oliviabelknaptherapy.com
• Beyond Fatigue and Brain Fog: Help for Today's Cognitive and Health Issues: presentation through the Chicago School of Psychology with Olivia Belknap, Erin Batali, and Kate McNulty
• The COVID-Conscious Therapist Directory
• Disability Visibility by Alice Wong
• Internal Family Systems (IFS) | EMDR

📞 The Long Haul Line: 720-432-9368 - You can leave a message or text this number anytime - leaving questions, messages, or guest suggestions📧 Email: [email protected]📬 Substack: f4lh.substack.com

A Friend for the Long Haul is a low budget/high love production made by a disabled woman. If it means something to you, share it with someone whose earballs need it.

If you'd like to help me keep the podcast going, you can:

• get your Amazon staples through my Storefront
• grab me something I could use from my Amazon Wish List
• Purchase some long covid gear through my online store, where I sell tshirts, mugs, bags, etc
• Check out my long covid stickers for sale

Welcome to season 4, episode 3 of A Friend for the Long Haul - A Long Covid Podcast! What was supposed to be a quick 10-to-15-minute chat turned into three hours. I am not sorry.

CW: We do discuss topics such as medical trauma and gaslighting, the Faces of Covid Victims project, and the fear that wells up when folks in your support group don’t post for a while.

I got to sit down with Emerson and Jessie from the COVID Long Haulers Podcast and at the end, I announced that I’m adopting them. We talked for so long that what you're hearing is just my portion of the conversation, and it still clocked in at an about an hour. That tracks.

We talked about how both of our podcasts started: out of desperation, out of Discord servers, out of needing to find even one other person who understood what it felt like when plain water dehydrates you, or when your symptoms are so bizarre and so new that you don't have words for them yet. We talked about what it costs to do this work when you're homebound, bedbound, or running on borrowed spoons. And we talked about something that I think about a lot, which is what it actually means to be witnessed. Not fixed or reassured or told be positive. Just truly seen by someone who says: that sounds really hard.

We clearly didn't want this conversation to end. I hope you feel the same way while listening to it.

This is a Long COVID Awareness Month episode about grief, gallows humor, knitted activist vests, and the community that keeps showing up when everyone else kind of backs into the bushes like Homer Simpson.

Topics covered:

• Long COVID community and patient-led advocacy

• Isolation, online support, and the limits of our abled friends and family

• Medical gaslighting 

• Grief, mortality, and bearing witness

• Privilege and representation in patient storytelling

• Dysautonomia, POTS, MCAS, ME/CFS, and medication sensitivity

• Community-sourced treatment knowledge (we talk about meds that have and have not worked for us - always consult your doctor before trying anything new!)

• Co-hosting a podcast while chronically ill

  RELEVANT LINKS:

  As a Linguist, I want to find the words to measure chronic illness by M. Corvi in The Sick TImes

  Covid Long Haulers Podcast Support Discord

📞 The Long Haul Line: 720-432-9368, call or text anytime 

📧 Email: [email protected]

📬 Substack: f4lh.substack.com

A Friend for the Long Haul is a low budget/high love production made by a disabled one-woman operation. If it means something to you, share it with someone whose earballs need it. You can support this podcast by buying long covid merch from my shop, buying your goods via my Amazon Storefront, or sending helpful stuff from my Amazon wishlist.

What does it really mean to be supported when you're living with Long Covid? In this special community episode, I share stories submitted by long haulers, caregivers, and allies...real voices answering questions about isolation, chosen family, and the kind of help that actually helps.

Contributors include Dr. Julia Moore Vogel, pacing buddy extraordinaire Katrina Dreamer, Nina Storey, Katherine Fox, and members of the Covid Long Haulers podcast Discord, (Thank you to Emerson, Jessie, Mika, Vic, Kai, Robyn, Joyce, Jojo, and more) along with a handful of anonymous long haulers who remind us that sometimes the people who understand us most are the ones whose legs we've never seen.

This episode explores what it looks like when community shows up: friends attending doctor's appointments to combat medical gaslighting, online friends building their own Covid-conscious community across Switzerland, a rental cat named Katja who has thoughts about pacing, and two little boys - Ellis and Holden - who became besties on PlayStation because their moms both have Long Covid and, as Ellis put it, "we understand each other."

Contributors also talk about what people get wrong when they try to help, and what "let me know if you need anything" actually sounds like to someone who's already been fighting for their life for years.

This is an episode about what we've built together. Not in spite of this illness, but because of it.

Topics covered include:

• Long COVID community and chosen family
• Isolation and online support for long haulers
• What caregivers and loved ones get wrong about support
• Covid-conscious community building
• Peer support, pacing buddies, and mutual aid
• Children of long haulers finding connection
• Long Covid Awareness Month 2026

Mentioned or featured in this episode:

• The Covid Long Haulers Podcast (Emerson & Jessie)
• Dr. Julia Moore Vogel
• Nina Storey (singer-songwriter & long hauler)
• Katrina Dreamer (my pacing buddy, ep. 1, season 2 & season 3)
• Lissy Donovan (long hauler and business owner, ep. 9, season 3)
• @alecbradburyfnp, @_jemma_bella, @dougieslifewithmecfs

📞 The Long Haul Line: 720-432-9368! Call or text to share a story, suggest a guest, or just say hi!📧 Email: [email protected]📬 Substack: f4lh.substack.com

I'm also on Instagram.

A Friend for the Long Haul is a low budget/high love production made by a disabled one-woman operation. If it means something to you, share it with someone whose earballs need it. Thank you!

Season 4 of A Friend for the Long Haul - A Long Covid Podcast is here! We're starting where it all begins: with each other.

CW: in this episode, we do discuss depression, medical trauma, suicidal ideation, and suicide.

In this first episode of the new season, I sit down with Kathleen Banks, a health systems researcher and Long Covid patient, for a conversation about something none of us planned for: finding our biggest cheerleaders and chosen family in our pockets.

We talk about "pocket friends," - what Kathleen calls the people living in your phone who already know how you feel, who you can reach out to when a symptom scares you at 2am and, who don't need an explanation if you have to cancel a FaceTime. We explore how so many of us arrived on social media not necessarily looking for friends, but for validation, and found so much in each other. We also get into the real cost of being sick in America. It's not just co-pays and premiums, but the fancy expensive bandages you need because of MCAS, and the $77 supplements that you go without because you have to pay your phone bill so you don't lose access to your lifelines. We also discuss community care: what it looks like when you can just send someone money, no questions asked, because you know what it is to need it, or when strangers send your kids more birthday gifts than their grandparents do.

Kathleen also shares her work training public health researchers in trauma-informed methods for interviewing Long Covid patients and why she used episodes of this very podcast to supplement her work. We talk about disability justice, the particular grief of Long Covid Awareness Month, and what it means to still be here, building something remarkable out of what's left.

Oh, and somewhere in the middle of that, we talk about moss. I'm girl moss, not a girl boss.

This is the first episode of my Long Covid Awareness Week series. Season 4 is about community - the ways we've been discarded, and about what we've built for each other anyway. We're still here because of us. My call for listener feedback on community was so well-heeded that this "episode" is being split into several parts that will all be released this week.

More information about Kathleen, my beloved wife:

Kathleen Banks is a health systems researcher with expertise on patient-physician relationships; systems thinking; patient advocacy; and dignity in healthcare. She specializes in the translation of evidence, high-level policies, and systems decisions at the point of care. Ms. Banks has worked with policymakers and officials from the grassroots to the global level, and uses that experience to bridge understanding on how to design and implement effective programs and policies .Ms. Banks is currently finishing her Doctor of Public Health degree at Boston University School of Public Health. Her research focuses on access to patient-centered healthcare for people living with Long COVID. Ms. Banks has been a member of the Patient-Led Research Collaborative since 2024.

You can listen to the Long Covid Theme Songs Playlist on Spotify. It's full of songs from people who have joined me on the podcast. Each song represents some aspects of that guest's long covid experience.

You can find me on Instagram, TikTok, and on my Substack, called Haulin' Ass.

A Friend for the Long Haul is produced by a disabled Long Covid patient. Support community care through my Bonfire shop or my Amazon wishlist, or make purchases for your everyday items through my Amazon Storefront.

Welcome to Season 3, Episode 13 of A Friend for the Long Haul - A Long Covid Podcast! In this episode, I got to connect with Heather Schulte. Heather is the powerhouse behind Stitching the Situation. From her website: "Stitching the Situation is a continuation of artist Heather Schulte’s textile work, Situation Report, a daily cross-stitch documentation of the coronavirus case and death counts in the U.S. from Jan 20-June 25. The Situation Report panels began as the artist’s way to record cases in the US, and translate them visually with stitch. "

We discuss a unique art exhibition called "It Comes in Waves," centered around the impacts of COVID-19. Set in The People's Building, an art gallery located on the east side of Aurora, Colorado, Heather took me on a tour of the displayed art pieces, which include drawings, dye sublimation prints, and masks. The exhibition, organized by Heather, features a mix of personal stories and collective experiences related to living with Long Covid. Special attention is given to the ‘Stitching the Situation’ project, which involves community participation in cross-stitching data and personal stories onto cloth. The discussion also highlights the incorporation of art from incarcerated individuals, collaborations with other artists, and the logistical challenges of managing such a significant project. I'm absolutely thrilled that this podcast is included in the exhibit. I called my portion "A Life Redacted," and it is made up of excerpts of episodes with words redacted from the transcripts. It Comes in Waves illustrates the power of art in documenting and processing collective trauma. Heather, you are amazing, thank you for all the work you do!

You can find Heather on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/stitchingthesituation/ and https://www.instagram.com/heatherdschulte/

Press for It Comes in Waves includes

This feature from Visit Denver

A review from DARIA Art Magazine

One woman’s method for coping with COVID turned into a 5-year art project, now on display in Aurora

Art Show It Comes in Waves Brings Long COVID Stories to Light

From Denver Westword: Running through December 30, It Comes in Waves invites viewers to consider what happens when a crisis slips from public view but its consequences remain. Supported by an INSITE Fund grant from RedLine Contemporary Art Center, the project builds on artist Schulte’s ongoing initiative Stitching the Situation, a national effort to document the human toll of COVID-19 through collective textile work. 

In this bonus episode of A Friend for the Long Haul, I get to talk with Dr. Julia Moore Vogel from Scripps Research. I slid into her DMs to see if she'd like to join me to discuss the recruitment and structure of a new clinical trial examining the effects of tirzepatide, a dual GLP-1 and GIP agonist, on long COVID symptoms.

Dr. Vogel is the Senior Program Director, The Participant Center, All of Us Research Program. She's a fellow long hauler and "manages The Participant Center (TPC) for the All of Us Research Program which is charged with recruiting and retaining 350,000 individuals that represent the diversity of the United States. TPC aims to make it possible for interested individuals anywhere in the US to become active participants, for example by collaborating with numerous outreach partners to raise awareness, collecting biosamples nationwide, returning participants’ results and developing self-guided workflows that enable participants to join whenever is convenient for them." (Thanks for letting me borrow the blurb, Scripps. <3)

Our conversation covers the trial's remote format, patient support systems, potential impacts on symptoms like fatigue, GI issues, and mental health, as well as Dr. Vogel's personal experiences. This episode provides an overview for those interested in participating or learning more about cutting-edge long COVID research. Dr. Vogel also drops a few new nuggets of trial information that she hasn't shared elsewhere!

Here's the structure of the episode:

• Meet Dr. Julia Moore Vogel
• Discussing the TIRZEPATIDE Trial
• Remote Trials and Scripps Research
• Challenges and Support in Clinical Trials
• Placebo Concerns and Trial Integrity
• Gastrointestinal Concerns and Safety Monitoring
• Beth's quest to be sponsored by the Squatty Potty (Call me!)
• Support and the recommendations for therapy around Body Dysmorphia, Eating Disorders, Nutritional Guidance, and trauma from things like MCAS
• Metrics and Questionnaires for Measuring Improvements
• MCAS, EDS, and the Trifecta
• Drug formulations and brand confusion
• Hopes for the Trial
• Final thoughts and the big 3 questions

If you're interested in the the Long COVID Treatment Trial-Tirzepatide (LoCITT-T):

Check out their website: https://longcovid.scripps.edu/locitt-t/

or email the team at [email protected].

If you're interested in my anecdotal experience using tirzepatide as a first wave long hauler since January, you can follow me on Instagram, TikTok, or Substack. I have several posts there that you won't find anywhere else, and none are behind a paywall.

1. A GLP-Fun Adventure
2. One Month into GLP-Fun
3. Talking to your Doctor about GLP-1 Medications
4. My First GLP-1 Check Up
5. My Mounjaro Shopping List

If you'd like to support me in my one disabled woman podcasting endeavors, I sell long covid tshirts and other products and proceeds from that get funneled back into the podcast or used for community care. You can also just Venmo me at @afriend4thelonghaul. That also gets funneled back into the pod. I'm actually trying to raise about $170 by Christmas eve to cover platform and recording costs.

Over the last 1.5 years, I've built a playlist of long covid theme songs from my guests, available on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3n0GXLFRWqDJyifglNNM4K?si=dIlKoxWMRgO53CriOVAjPw

Please like, subscribe, and share A Friend for the Long Haul! Reviews go a long way to help, too. Thank you!

Welcome back to another episode of A Friend for the Long Haul - A Long COVID Podcast! In episode 11 of Season 3, I sit down with Claire and Amaranthia from Sista Creatives Rising. We met shortly after Art and Mind 2025 so that we could recap the experience and tap in to how they were feeling after hosting the event. Held on Thursday, September 25th, Art and Mind 2025 gathered an impressive turnout and showcased a blend of artists, community care, and education. The team who helped support Claire and Amaranthia and who were featured artists includes:

• Sarena Brown
• Chi White
• Brenda Macintyre - Medicine Song Woman
• Frankie Fingerling
• Brittany Shorpshire
• Nabila Nugroho
• Veronica Lee
• Mondo Millions
• Han Hamel

You can find out so much more about them and find a TON of resources in this document! This year's themes included COVID, climate change, and isolation. You can watch the entire event via Claire and Amaranthia's YouTube channel and check out the interactive art gallery they created here. There's actually a full playlist of videos for the event here. This episode offers a deep dive into the meticulous planning, intentionality, and community collaboration that made Art and Mind 2025 a great success!

These two humans truly make the world a better place!

Find Claire and Amaranthia on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/sistacreativesrising/ and subscribe to their Substack.

Please like, subscribe, and share A Friend for the Long Haul! Reviews go a long way to help, too. Thank you!

Welcome to season 3, episode 10 of A Friend for the Long Haul - A Long COVID Podcast! I got the chance to chat with Angeliska Polacheck for this episode. Angeliska is the beautiful soul behind Sister Temperance Tarot. They have been voted best tarot/psychic in Austin, Texas for 11 years in a row! I found Angeliska on social media about 13 years ago, (via the great Austin connector, Spike Gillespie - whose work you should absolutely read) and as time passed we discovered that we have so much in common, including eerily similar astrological charts and health diagnoses.

Angel and I discuss:

• The profound shifts brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and the challenges of living with long COVID
• Personal growth and empathy
• The vital role of art and tarot in healing, but how it, and artists and healers, get commodified and dehumanized
• How chronic illness, disability, and cognitive dissonance impact an independent, small business owner
• Wellness culture and the "manifestation" of health
• Surviving as two disabled Generation X Capricorns with C-PTSD and neurodivergence
• Trusting your intuition when your nervous system is fragged
• What does community even look like anymore
• How tarot can support Internal Family Systems therapy
• Diagnoses of exclusion
• There's at least one Bjork worked in there

You can find Angeliska on Instagram and Facebook as Sister Temperance Tarot. If you're interested in booking a reading, you can do that via their booking schedule. If you're in Austin and would like to invite Angeliska to a safe event, you can find out more about events bookings here.

They also offer sliding scale rates for 1-hour phone sessions for people who hold marginalized identities that are experiencing significant money struggles. Sliding scale sessions are limited and priority goes to Black, Indigenous, queer/trans and disabled folks, so please only inquire about sliding scale if you are facing genuine financial hardship.

If you'd like to support me in my one disabled woman podcasting endeavors, I have an Amazon gift registry that is completely unhinged, where I just throw anything that I see and like. I also have an Amazon Storefront you can use to purchase goods. I also sell long covid tshirts and other products on a Bonfire storefront, and proceeds from that get funneled back into the podcast or used for community care. I also have an Etsy wishlist or you can just Venmo me at @afriend4thelonghaul. That also gets funneled back into the pod.

Over the last 1.5 years, I've built a playlist of my guests long covid theme songs on Spotify.

Please like, subscribe, and share A Friend for the Long Haul! Reviews go a long way to help, too. Thank you!

Hey, friends! Welcome to season 3, episode 9 of A Friend for the Long Haul - A Long Covid podcast. This is a conversation I needed to have, and I'm so glad Lissy Donovan (my friend and a coach for people with busy brains) was here for it. I dive into my recent discovery of a TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) I’d been pretending wasn't a thing for years, as well as our later-in-life ADHD diagnoses. Lissy was diagnosed in her mid-30s, and I got diagnosed post-COVID. If you've been listening for a while, you know I don't know how to be angry. We talk about how I'm learning to process and even healthily express anger which is a truly revolutionary and scary idea for me. We also get into activism, self-care, and self-compassion. Lissy shares how she navigates Long COVID and ADHD.

Topics we gab about include:

• ADHD diagnoses and hormonal changes
• Anger expression and conflict's role in making relationships stronger
• Music, dance, and well-being
• Body image, societal pressures, white supremacy, and the broader systems of oppression
• Engaging in activism while managing chronic illness, disability, and trauma
• Reflections on personal growth
• Social media habits
• Lissy's experience with Long Covid and running her own business

Join us as we explore the intersection of ADHD, trauma, and chronic illness. 

You can find Lissy at https://lissydonovan.com/ as well as Instagram and TikTok. Her YouTube channel is full of longer-form gems that are soooo helpful.

If you'd like to support me in my one disabled woman podcasting endeavors, I have an Amazon gift list that is completely unhinged. I also have an Amazon storefront you can use to purchase goods. I also sell long covid tshirts and other products on my Bonfire shop.

Over the last 1.5 years, I've built a playlist of my guests long covid theme songs. You can find it here.

Please like, subscribe, and share A Friend for the Long Haul! Reviews go a long way to help, too. Thank you!