Laura, an elementary special-education teacher, describes developing severe chronic fatigue after an initial viral illness while working in a high-stress school. Her condition progressively worsened over years to the point of being wheelchair-bound and housebound; conventional doctors offered little help. After paying $2,000 to consult at a private clinic (which recommended the Gupta Program), she began using the program’s techniques (meditation, "stop" interruptions, paced activity) and gradually recovered. Recovery milestones include walking independently on a trip to Vienna, resuming family gatherings (Thanksgiving with 18 immediate family members), planning Christmas tree outings without mobility aids, and celebrating her 25th wedding anniversary. She also mentions her children were ages 8 and 10 when she used short-acting medication to cope.
Questions this video answers
$2,000
8 and 10
25th wedding anniversary
Chapters
Hi, my name is Laura. So I think I'm the typical story that Ashok talks about of someone getting chronic fatigue. So I'm a teacher, elementary, which is, you know, stressful job, but I absolutely loved it. For me, it was my calling. And I decided I wanted to do special ed, and I got a job as the lead in my school. And I happened to be in a school that was pretty tough. Lots of needs and not a lot of support in the school. I even got people suggesting that maybe that wasn't the right school to take that role in, but I really wanted to do it. Looking back now, I wish I had not, but that's okay. And I did help a lot of kids. But in the meantime, at the time, I was exhausted. I felt like I had the weight of the school on my shoulders. And so at night, I would have dreams all night long as if I was working. And then I would wake up in the morning exhausted, and I would have to go through my day having meetings and working with kids. And so I didn't even know at the time I got this weird virus. I was in so much pain. I could feel my entire skeleton. And it went away after about a week, and then. But it kept kind of coming back, like, every few weeks a little bit, and then it would go away, and it would stay longer to the point where then I. It wouldn't go away, and I just went downhill. Like, downhill to the point of wheelchair housebound. Like, couldn't. All I could do was transfer from a chair to the wheelchair and sort of feed myself. Like, it was. It was brutal. I was really, really sick, and the doctors had no clue. My family doctor wouldn't give me any strong meds, just something that would last about an hour. So I literally would take it just before my kids got home from school, because my kids at that time were 8 and 10. So I wanted to kind of be normal for, you know, an hour or two. I couldn't even make it past dinner with them. Then I'd have to go, like, lie in agony. And then after another, probably, well, quite a few years after Covid started, this private clinic opened up. So I had to pay $2,000 to see this doctor who was fantastic. And things had changed because of Long Covid. They had more information about chronic fatigue. And obviously there had been some research done, but the biggest thing she told me was to do the Gupta program. This is how my life was gonna down the stairs once in the morning and go up once at night. And even that was huge and took a Long time. Like, I used to have to stop and sit on the stairs. Or in the beginning, my husband had to carry me up. I mean, I was really bad. So then with the Gupta program, I was not panicking anymore because I understood this cycle going on in my body and that I had to stop the cycle. So I was doing the stop, stop, stops, the meditations, calming my body down, just being aware. Like suddenly I was just really aware of all these things that I had been doing that were making my body more stressed out. So things started to change from not being able to go get a glass of water in my house to now. Well, let me just say that we were. We're celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary and we planned a few trips to celebrate. We just went to Europe and we were in Vienna. I was able to walk to wherever we went. And we could just walk and hold hands together, which is just a joy versus him pushing me. And you can't really have a conversation that way. And looking at the world from down here versus, you know, where everyone else is, especially in crowds. So that was amazing. We just had Thanksgiving and, you know, my family is. It's just, my immediate family is 18 people now. So we had a great time. And it was. I was jet lagged even. And, you know, I just. It's just such a joy for me now and I'm with my family and I feel well and I'm talking to people and I don't come home exhausted. Like, it just. It feels like normal, like back before. So that is a huge, huge accomplishment. Like, every year we go cut down a Christmas tree at a farm. And this year I was thinking about it and I thought, I don't think I need a walker or a wheelchair. I think I can handle it, which is amazing.
