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In this episode of the Long Covid Hope Podcast, we speak with Andy, who is an IT professional and father of two young children, living in the West Midlands of the UK. Andy caught Covid in March 2020 and experienced respiratory symptoms such as extreme breathlessness and chest pain, which in time progressed into Long Covid with POTS or dysautonomia symptoms as well as post exertional malaise. Andy describes how he experienced gas lighting and a lack of help from healthcare, but found the Body Politic Slack community early on, which was pivotal in finding out about possible treatment options. He went on to radically rest away from his family for some time, as well as trying prescription medications such as a beta blocker and SSRI which helped his heart rate and dysautonomia symptoms. Andy describes his gradual reduction in symptoms and increase in activity, and how he returned back to working full time as well as taking up exercising such as kickboxing. We also discuss the chronic illness experience as a parent to young children and the difficulties and challenges around this, as well as the resilience and adaptability of children.

Today we are speaking with Ariel, who is a consultant who deals with ethical, legal, technical and policy issues around autonomous weapons and artificial intelligence. Ariel is a scientist and has created a website to help other Long Haulers and people with chronic health conditions, called Science Ghost.com, which focuses on teaching about the overactive nervous system and the various mind-body techniques she herself used to gain her health back.

Ariel caught Covid in July 2020 which after a very mild acute phase progressed into Long Covid. At her worst, she was bed bound for months and could only tolerate three different food items. Her Long Covid journey had ups and downs, she felt like she was gradually improving, to only hit rock bottom again in November 2021. However her rock bottom as she calls it led into discovering the tools that helped her to fully recover her health.

We discuss the ten techniques from her website that helped Ariel recover her health. These range from Tolle Dr. John Sarno's treatment of Tension Myositis Syndrome (TMS), meditation and deep relaxation through Yoga Nidra, somatic therapy and of course, radical rest. We discuss Nicole Sachs’ JournalSpeak extensively in this episode.

In this episode of the Long Covid Hope Podcast, the podcast that aspires to shine a light on the more hopeful stories of Covid 19 long haulers, we’re talking with Jerry, a languages teacher living in Aotearoa New Zealand. Jerry is originally from China, so we begin our conversation talking about the pandemic from the Chinese perspective, and of Jerry's experience visiting China during the initial lockdown in January 2020 and how he managed to get back to ANZ before their lockdown began in March 2020.

Jerry shares that despite being fully vaccinated and working as a teacher in an environment where masking was commonplace, he unfortunately caught Covid at the school he was teaching at in Summer 2022. Jerry explains how his symptoms of heart palpations and POTS-related issues were greatly worsened by bad guidance to return to exercise and "push through". Fortunately, he did found a second cardiologist who understood POTS and prescribed a beta blocker, Nadolol, which has helped. We also discuss how Chinese Traditional Medicine herbal tea, yoga, meditation and breathwork have aided his recovery journey, as he approaches his first year anniversary of catching Covid.

Disclaimer: **Please note that we are not medical professionals and this does not constitute medical advice. The Long Covid Hope Podcast or Sarah, Long Haul Yogi does not endorse any treatments described in the podcast episodes. Always speak to your doctor or medical practitioner before starting any new treatments, supplements or beginning a new exercise routine.**

Trigger warnings: medical gaslighting

In this episode of the Long Covid Hope podcast, Sarah meets with Hisaka, a psychologist based in Houston Texas, USA, about her full recovery from Long Covid. After catching Covid in January 2021, Hisaka developed Long Covid, with dysautonomia being one of her main grouping of symptoms. She learnt about an experimental therapy - Stem Cell Therapy - and decided to try it for herself, which led to an immediate drop in symptoms. After three private treatments, Hisaka gained her full health back and is now back working full-time and helping other long haulers. Stem Cell Therapy as a treatment for Long Covid is now in two clinical trials and we look forward to seeing the results.

Disclaimer: **Please note that we are not medical professionals and this does not constitute medical advice. Always speak to your doctor or medical practitioner before starting any new treatments, supplements or beginning a new exercise routine.**

Trigger Warnings: discussion of severe disability, extreme health costs, experimental treatments and their potential limitations

Links mentioned (A-Z):

Join Sarah, Long Haul Yogi, live for her Thursday Zoom Yoga for Long Covid classes, or for her Monday in-person class in Sheffield, UK. Or catch on in your own time, on the OnDemand Series on Subkit ( www.longhaulyogi.subkit.com ) and Insight Timer. All links can be found here: https://linktr.ee/longhaulyogi

In this episode of the Long Covid Hope podcast, the podcast that aspires to tell the more hopeful stories of people with Long Covid, Sarah is joined by Jackie Baxter, of the great Long Covid Podcast. Jackie comes on the podcast to talk about her full recovery from Long Covid. Jackie shares her acute Covid and Long Covid journey, and in particular the breathwork she practiced to help her with her symptoms. We also discuss Jackie's major contribution towards the Long Covid community with her podcast, how she has managed to host a podcast despite the Long Covid symptoms, and the milestone she passed of 100 episodes a little earlier in the year. Congrats on both your recovery and this amazing milestone Jackie! We look forward to seeing what you do next with the Buteyko teaching qualification.

Links mentioned (A-Z):

Join Sarah, Long Haul Yogi, live for her Thursday Zoom Yoga for Long Covid classes, or for her Monday in-person class in Sheffield, UK. Or catch on in your own time, on the OnDemand Series on Subkit ( www.longhaulyogi.subkit.com ) and Insight Timer. All links can be found here:⁠ https://linktr.ee/longhaulyogi

In this extra special episode of the Long Covid Hope podcast, Sarah is joined by Merel and two members of the Long Covid Kids Choir, Caitlin and Clara (and Caitlin's mum Lorna). Merel talks about her experience with her acute Covid infection and Long Covid, in particular her respiratory symptoms and the effect that had as a professional musician and singer. We discuss how she started up the Long Covid Kids Choir, what wonderful activities the choir gets up to and the support this provides for the children who take part. The Long Covid Kids Choir is now a part of the Long Covid Kids charity, which does such great work to support families with poorly children. And last but certainly not least, Merel invites two members of the choir - Caitlin and Clara - to share their own experiences of Long Covid. Please listen to the end to hear from them.

A big massive thank you and hugs out to these two lovely girls who were brave enough to come on the podcast! And we're sure all of the listeners will agree that we sincerely hope that Caitlin, Clara and all children with Long Covid and other chronic conditions get the full support and treatment that they need. We wish that they all can recover their health - and soon. Our hearts go out to all of these children and their parents. If you are moved by this episode, please consider donating to Long Covid Kids charity: https://www.longcovidkids.org/donate

This episode features extracts from two wonderful songs performed by the Long Covid Kids Choir:

- 'When We Celebrate', composed by Lin Marsh, arrangement by Merel van der Knoop for King Charles' coronation

- 'Winter Fantasy', composed by Jill Gallina

Trigger Warnings: chronic illness in children, medical gaslighting, traumatic experiences

Links mentioned (A-Z):

Long Covid Kids Choir: https://www.longcovidkids.org/service-page/lck-choir
Long Covid Kids - Symptoms: https://www.longcovidkids.org/long-covid-kids-symptom-gallery
Long Covid Kids - What is Long Covid: https://www.longcovidkids.org/what-is-long-covid
Long Covid Kids - What is PIMS: https://www.longcovidkids.org/what-is-pims

Our Unhappily Ever After short video: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiIambG8vs0⁠

Join Sarah, Long Haul Yogi, live for her Thursday Zoom Yoga for Long Covid classes, or for her Monday in-person class in Sheffield, UK. Or catch on in your own time, on the OnDemand Series on Subkit ( www.longhaulyogi.subkit.com ) and Insight Timer. All links can be found here:⁠ https://linktr.ee/longhaulyogi

In the first episode of Season 2 of the Long Covid Hope podcast, Sarah meets with Lorrie Rivers, who has both recovered from several years of severe ME/CFS, as well as fully recovering from her Long Covid experience from 2020. Lorrie shares her journey with ME/CFS and fibromylagia and how after recovering and spending several years working to help others with ME/CFS, when she caught Covid she noticed it felt very similar to her. She used the tools that she teaches to others, and managed to restore her health within a year. In this episode, we also discuss the Triology Healing Codes by Dr Alex Lloyd and Lorrie offers a mini healing codes session to listeners during the episode.

Lorrie is the founder of the annual Holistic Health Summit for Long Covid and ME/CFS - where Sarah found out about much of the healing tools that helped with her own recovery from Long Covid. Lorrie also is a health coach and now has her own podcast. Full details are in the links below.

Disclaimer: **Please note that we are not medical professionals and this does not constitute medical advice. Always speak to your doctor or medical practitioner before starting any new treatments, supplements or beginning a new exercise routine.**

Trigger Warnings: medical gaslighting, traumatic experiences

Links mentioned:

Lorrie's Living from Inspiration website: https://www.livingfrominspiration.com/

Holistic Health Summit 2023 (free in July, purchaseable lifetime access after that): https://living-from-inspiration.mykajabi.com/schedule-2023-holistic-healing-summit-for-long-covid-and-me-cfs

Holistic Healing Podcast on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BD_IrS7jgKU

Join Sarah, Long Haul Yogi, live for her Thursday Zoom Yoga for Long Covid classes, or for her Monday in-person class in Sheffield, UK. Or catch on in your own time, on the OnDemand Series on Subkit ( www.longhaulyogi.subkit.com ) and Insight Timer. All links can be found here: https://linktr.ee/longhaulyogi

The Season One Finale episode of the Long Covid Hope Podcast, the podcast that aspires to shine a light on the more hopeful stories of Covid-19 long haulers. In this episode, we hear updates from the Season 1 participants as well as a huge great thank you to everyone who took part. This podcast wouldn't exist without its wonderful and generous interviewees! Sarah attempts to summarise what has happened in Season 1, and reads out some heart-warming listerner feedback. We then look forward towards Season 2, where things are going to get bigger, better and even more inclusive and diverse (hopefully!) In Season 2, we would love to speak to Long Haulers outside of the US and UK, and are also eager to include some vaccine injury stories. If this sounds like you and you would like to contribute, please email Sarah at [email protected]. Sarah also says some words of thanks and appreciation for Body Politic and the Slack community that was a lifeline to her and so many (link to join the new space on Discord in the links below). Lastly, Sarah shares some of her favourite podcasts on Long Covid and some other topics, and then attempts to briefly describe how hopeful the research landscape is looking. This episode ends with an upbeat song extract - word of warning if you listen to podcasts as you go to sleep or rest!

Can't wait for Season Two? Join Sarah, Long Haul Yogi, live for her Thursday Zoom Yoga for Long Covid classes, Monday in-person class in Sheffield, UK. Or catch on in your own time, on the OnDemand Series on Subkit ( www.longhaulyogi.subkit.com ) and Insight Timer. All links can be found here:⁠ https://linktr.ee/longhaulyogi

Disclaimer: **Please note that we are not medical professionals and this does not constitute medical advice. Always speak to your doctor or medical practitioner before starting any new treatments, supplements or beginning a new exercise routine.**

Time stamps:

(00:00) Season 1 Summary and updates on Interviewees

(19:00) What's coming in Season 2

(26:30) Hearing from our Listeners

(29:00) Farewell to Body Politic Slack - and thank you!

(32:30) Podcast recommendations for Long Covid and other topics

(37:00) Brief discussion of research landscape for Long Covid and related conditions

(40:00) Sarah's reinfection update

(48:20) Hopeful message to all listeners - Keep the Hope Alive!

Links mentioned:

Long Covid Podcast: https://www.longcovidpodcast.com/

Long Haul Yogi:⁠ https://linktr.ee/longhaulyogi⁠

Insight Timer free meditation app:⁠ https://insighttimer.com/⁠

Poly Bio Research Consortium: https://polybio.org/longcovid/

Featuring an extract from the song 'Don't Stop Believin'' performed by Journey. All rights reserved by Columbia Records.

Brief Update from Sarah: Following my Covid reinfection I am still in recovery from a significant ME/CFS relapse, and haven't been able to record the final episode of Season 1 yet. It will be coming...as soon as I have the capacity to do so.

I would like to take this moment to say a huge thank you to everyone who has listened to this podcast and shared it. I appreciate how limited many long haulers energy is for consuming content like podcasts, so I am truly honoured you have used your spoons here. I hope it has been worthwhile to you. I am very grateful to receive many kind words of support about how listeners have found this little podcast-that-could. If you would like to share anything with me (including any expressions of interest in being a valued guest for Season 2), feel free to reach me on Twitter or Instagram at @longhaulyogi, or you can also email me at [email protected]. I'm going to be sharing some feedback I received in the final episode.

Take care everybody - and please keep yourself safe from reinfection! xx