In this testimonial, Rachel recounts a five‑to‑six‑year period of severe chronic illness that began with undiagnosed autoimmune issues, including celiac disease, anemia, and SIBO, compounded by two difficult pregnancies and a demanding work life. She describes being housebound or bedbound, experiencing extreme fatigue, dizziness, brain fog, and a pervasive sense of guilt for being unable to care for her children. After extensive functional‑medicine treatment failed to restore her health, her doctor suggested the Gupta Programme – a brain‑training protocol. Rachel was convinced by the scientific rationale and began the program in September. Within a few months she noticed a reduction in morning dread, clearer cognition, and less fog. By February she returned to work one day a week after a two‑year hiatus, was able to pick up her children from school, travel with her family for the first time in four years, and perform everyday tasks such as driving and shopping without disorientation. Four months into the programme she could walk half a mile to her kids’ school and back, regaining about 70 % of her previous functioning and a renewed sense of independence and self‑confidence.
Chapters
Hi, I'm Rachel. So I've, I've been experiencing chronic illness for about 5 or 6 years. Prior to that, I was working through a lot of challenges with the gut health. I just had 2 children and had 2 difficult pregnancies, so there was a lot going on in my life. Work was very busy as well, but I kept on going until I couldn't anymore. I think it all started with autoimmune conditions, so I was diagnosed as being celiac, which took a long time for a diagnosis. I was very anemic as well. I couldn't get out of bed. I had a SIBO diagnosis. And maybe it was just that perfect storm of the stress, the dysregulation, having no one believe you in the medical system that that was an issue. I never really got any better. And I've been between housebound, bedbound prior to the Gupta Programme. So on a worst day, I would really struggle to get out of bed. I couldn't get out of bed till maybe 10, 11 o'clock. Having been awake since 8, I just couldn't muster the energy or the willpower to get out of bed. I felt sick. When I would stand up, I'd feel really kind of dizzy, spaced out. Everything was a massive effort. I didn't want to eat anything. Showering was really difficult. I couldn't make meals. I couldn't put my kids to bed. I couldn't really be around them at all. Just found them absolutely exhausting. And then the guilt that comes with that is really hard to deal with as well. It was actually my functional medicine doctor. So we'd done rounds and rounds of SIBO treatment. Eventually it had worked, so on paper I looked to be fine. I was, you know, good to go, go and live your life now. But I wasn't. I was getting worse and worse. I still couldn't get out of bed. So she was the one that suggested brain training. There was enough knowledge there to kind of satisfy convinced by my scientific brain that this would be something worth trying. Maybe 2 months in, I didn't have that feeling of dread in the morning to try and get out of bed. I could, I could get out of bed a bit earlier. My head was clearer, less brain fog. I would say something happened between starting the program and I started in September, and by February I was able to start work one day a week again. I'd been off work for 2 years prior to that, so yeah, that was a big turning point. I also remember the first time I picked my kids up from school in about a year and a half, um, felt pretty elated after that. So I could do that maybe one day a week, um, it was amazing. So I hadn't traveled for 4 years. I'm going on a first family holiday, making it through an airport, um, that was massive. And just the small things like taking my daughter to the park, even though I could just sit on a bench, I hadn't been able to do that. Or the first time going to a shop and not feeling completely disorientated and so foggy that you couldn't work out what you were there for. I just know that from when I started it being mostly housebound, some days bedbound. 4 months later, you know, I could, I could walk. It's nearly, it's about half a mile to my kids' school, you know, and pick them up and then walk back again. I think it's nice not to rely so much on my husband to do everything. Um, it's nice for my self-confidence as well to know that I can do things, not all the time, but 70% of the time, you know. I can get the kids from school, I can go to a meeting at work if I need to, I can drive the car, you know, I can take them to their after-school activities. So yeah, that's the main thing, I think, just to feel a bit more independent again.
