How I slowly found solutions that made a difference

Supply chain and operations consultant Guy Redhead is among the millions of people in the UK who have been battling Covid for a long time. In this shortened version of a recent blog post, he describes his experiences, what helped him and how he came out on the other side.

I became infected with Covid for the first time, at least knowingly, in March 2023, which turned into a long Covid illness – from which I have now thankfully turned the corner into recovery.

It was a challenging time, an absolute nightmare. I was virtually housebound for about 12 months, completely drained with countless symptoms from head to toe and everywhere in between; literally. It completely changed our family life during this time.

During this time I was completely dependent on my wonderful wife to do everything while running her business; Driving kids around, shopping, cooking, doing laundry and taking care of everything that needs to be done as well as taking care of myself and taking care of myself.

Our children also had to adapt and cope with an exciting, challenging time, and I was so proud of how they not only handled it and supported us, but also of the positive ways it changed them.

I’m overwhelmed not only by my family, but also by how lucky I am to have an amazing group of loyal friends and a fantastically supportive professional network.

Long Covid and other chronic fatigue diseases are not well understood. They are incredibly isolating, as the physical and mental fatigue and often excruciating other symptoms leave you stuck at home alone, too much for even friends to go out for coffee, watch TV or read a book.

They are invisible illnesses, so people cannot tell that something is wrong. Most medical tests are performed as usual, so there is no specific reason for the debilitating symptoms.

Although it has been such a difficult time, we have all learned so much and I can honestly say there are a lot of positives that have come from it. As soon as my GP said, “I’m sorry Mr Redhead, this is a bit awkward isn’t it because I have nothing to offer you and you now know a lot more about Long Covid than I do”, I knew I had to figure it out myself and was responsible for my own healthcare.

Instead of feeling disappointed, I was finally able to accept the situation I found myself in, that over 80% of people with long Covid are still suffering after three months and around 70% after 18 months. I wasn’t going to wake up one morning and suddenly be healthy.

Acceptance, used positively, was perhaps the most important step on the road to recovery for me. I essentially did and still do a consulting project for myself; I am now in the phase of continuous improvement!

What are the problems/symptoms? What is the evidence? What possible treatment options are there? What treatments work for the various symptoms I have and how do I put the puzzle pieces together to get better (my original goal was 70% as I felt I could start in a relatively normal family setting). live and work). life at all)?

I researched as much as my cognitive dysfunction and fatigue would allow, followed the rabbit holes of study, read books, ignored 99% of the doom and gloom, conspiracy theories and crazy treatments, and slowly I found solutions that made a difference and enabled me to do something a little more.

My health became my project. Getting myself back to health was the most useful thing I could do, so I focused on it every day.

Through trial and error, a mixture of physical therapy (“MyoFascial” release); a pacing plan and support from Pamela Rose Fatigue Coaching; breathwork and meditation; nutritional supplements (no idea which, if any, helped!); medication; Nutrition, other people’s great research books, social media presence and brilliantly loud voices like Gez Medinger, Dr. Ben Sinclair, Raelan Agle, Tim Smale Hypnotherapy and the final absolute gold when I was able: cold water swimming.

I think I’ve gotten it to about 80%, and maybe even more as I’m making progress every day, which feels amazing. The 20% is coming!

It was a nightmare, but I come out of it feeling incredibly energized. For months now, even though I was feeling very bad, I was so curious to discover the version of me that would emerge from the other side, knowing that as a result of the process I went through and am now, a positive one Change would occur I see these changes come to fruition as I step out into the world again.

The techniques that helped me calm my nervous system and support my immune system have undoubtedly become things that I know will help me thrive in my post-Covid life.

I consider myself lucky that I managed to get back to such a positive position relatively quickly, considering the long Covid-19 condition, while so many others are still suffering for two, three, four years.