This is a first-person testimonial from George describing his experience with long‑haul COVID after a mild acute infection in March. He reports ongoing post-exertional relapses through summer into autumn (brain fog, nausea, profound fatigue) that progressively limited activity, and explains that following the Gupta Program (daily guided meditations, "stops" and brain‑retraining) he regained a sense of agency and gradual recovery, returning to exercise by the most recent month.
Chapters
So leading up to it, I got Covid probably noticed I had it symptoms first a week after dad first did. So on the third week of March I'm superpowered. I was in my last year doing engineering at uni and I'd come home because of COVID like sort of anticipation of a lockdown. So I'd rather be at home in Sheffield. And I was likewise in fairly good shape. Like I played quite a lot of volleyball, decent levels. So I was training. So like four or five times a week. So as you I was in decent shape for 22 year old. And when I actually had Covid again it was really mild. Like I've had colds that are worse. It really just wasn't. I didn't really think much of it and give it. I sort of took it quite easy for a week because I was thinking, okay, I don't want to do anything silly here, like it maybe will get worse and got on my plate finishing my degree, but I took it easy. But after that I was kind of thinking, yeah, I'm better, like it's no big deal. I think I was. I was very focused on uni work. So I was busy and a little bit stressed in that sense. But it was nothing like nothing I've done before, just exams and then likewise I'd start to do think, okay, I'm fine now, I'll go for a run, take it easy, but I'll go for a run. And then I feel okay at the time and afterwards. But then it's like it was always a day or two later that I then feel sick again. It was always the same. The best way to describe it was I felt hungover basically, but obviously I haven't had a drink. I felt tired, sort of really foggy head, a lot of brain fog and nauseous and sick. And this pattern basically continued all summer every I was still able to do quite a lot first. Like I could play a tennis match or I could go for a short run or a little cycle ride or play nine holes of golf or something. But every time I did it and maybe I did a little bit too much, I would feel worse and then I would feel worse for longer and I would be able to do less the subsequent time. So I was able to push myself less and less and less, getting to the point where likewise October, November, I was really couldn't do much more and go for a walk, basically nothing more strenuous. So we started the program at the same time and the reason particularly it was helpful, like it's obviously helpful because I have to say I'm better now, but I can sort of come back to normal. But the other thing is, in the moment, whilst I was ill, it was so useful to have a sense of agency, like, because I don't want to rag on the nhs, but the only stuff I got from them really was basically, don't overdo it and okay, great. But then I'm kind of just sitting around waiting to get better. Whereas with the program, I actually had things to be doing. So, like, I had the meditation to be doing two, three times a day, trying to have a routine in the morning and then doing the stops and the brain retraining. Like, I think, particularly sort of the way I'm wired, like having that sense of agency that I can actually be doing something to get better, help psychologically to cope with it so much. And also I think the thing that really helped me to get better, I think, is having this, like, understanding that or experiencing, rather than just simply understanding that, it's kind of this chronic fatigue is a loop in the brain that. So to have these times, this happens so often where I feel really sick and I'd be convinced that there's got to be something wrong my body, like, I just feel so ill. And then I do a meditation on one of the guided ways of healing, or a guided meditation, and then by the time I finish, I just felt normal. I felt completely normal again. And like, that's. That. That's not normal for, like being ill, is it? You know, you don't just go like this. And I feel better now after 20 minutes of meditation. So having that happen over and over again, just really feel like redrummed into my head that this is a loop in the brain. You stick at it, you will get better. I'm quite, quite glad to say so now, last month or so I've been able to start exercising again. Leading up to that, sort of over Christmas, January, I was upping the workload. I was doing like normal work sort of 9 to 5, and now start training again, doing sport again. Like I said, don't get complacent. So I've not gone crazy, kind of building up quite slowly. Don't as you go mental. But yeah, like, I'm. It was always the case for all of this time, from March through to now, basically all the last month. If I ever saw sport and television or thought about sport, I just thought seeing someone push themselves physically like that, that's just. That's impossible. Like, if I do that, I'll feel sick. I can't. I honestly thought there's just no way I'm ever going to be. Be able to push myself again, like, be in the gym and take a set to failure. It's just. I'll just feel sick. And then, like, literally today, that's what I was doing, and I feel completely fine. And I did that the other day and I feel fine now. Like, it's. That's fantastic.
