Being young and fit, Kirsty Huxter, 47, thought she’d get over COVID quickly. She was wrong – but she’s fighting back.
When I first caught COVID in March 2022, my symptoms were relatively mild and didn’t stick around more than a few days. So when I contracted it again that December, I assumed it’d be much the same — more like a bad cold than anything else. By then it seemed that, for most people, COVID was now just another reality to deal with, like the flu. And while a significant risk remained for the elderly or those with underlying health problems. So why. within several months, was I completely bed-bound?
When lockdown first hit in 2020, it was a shock to everyone, but we soon found ourselves making the most of our family time. My husband David, 46, worked long hours from home, but the rest of us suddenly had no real responsibilities. My eldest, Rachel, 20, didn’t have to sit her GCSEs, and my other two, Leah, 18, and Elijah, 14, were happy to do school work at home.
We enjoyed leisurely walks, baked, gardened, read, and painted. We spent ages on Zoom calls to friends and family, and did online quizzes and escape rooms. Of course, the stress and anxious thoughts got to us all at various points, but we were lucky enough not to catch COVID, and slowly everything got back to some semblance of normality.
Mystery illness
In March 2022, we all came down with a mild COVID infection. You still had to isolate then, so we spent another week at home before recovering. It was the same when I had it that December; four days after testing positive, I’d shaken off the headache and gone back to work as the manager of a youth charity.
But, as the New Year began, I was still feeling tired, needing to sit down more than normal and not getting quite as much done during the day as I usually did. I saw a GP that February, who said it took some people a while to get over COVID – but I was so exhausted I could barely walk 15 minutes, and was working mainly from home.
By May, I felt as though I’d aged 30 years. One evening, as I took the rubbish bags out and dropped them in the bins, my arm muscles felt as though they were on fire. Back inside, I told David I was heading to bed. He worried because it was 8 pm, and I was usually so full of energy.
The next morning, I felt dizzy standing up, and I had heart palpitations and headaches. I put up with it, hoping it would pass – until one morning that June, I woke up at 4 am with my heart racing. Frightened it was a heart attack, I dialed 999, and an ambulance whisked me to hospital.
After a blood test, I was given anxious thoughts medication and discharged, with a health professional reassuring me I was young and healthy. Only, back home I was bedridden. I spent the next weeks managing to watch short bursts of TV, before the screen fuzzed and all-over pain sent my body into tremors. Light hurt my eyes, so I would lay in bed with the curtains closed.
That August I called an ambulance twice in a week, breathless, my heart pounding. Paramedics did a portable ECG test to record the electrical signals in the heart, and told me I was fine. But David took me to A&E twice soon after, pushing me in a wheelchair I’d bought online.
“With thoughts of my family, a strong will to live burned”
The health professional still had no answers.
“But I’m not OK,” I sobbed, as thoughts of death crept in. I started to think it was the end, and I should say goodbye to my children, who were all worried sick. Like David, they knew how scared I was. With thoughts of them, a strong will to live burned.
Getting Better
Finally, in September 2023, I was referred to the Post-Viral Fatigue Clinic in North Essex, which was run online. My relief was short-lived when a health professional there told me there was no therapy. Thankfully, that’s when I stumbled upon a Post-Viral Fatigue group on Facebook, run by Suzy Bolt. Along with her 360 Mind Body Soul team, Suzy helps chronic illness sufferers with mindset, nutrition, breathwork, and movement.
Instantly, I felt less alone. I joined a Zoom session led by Suzy with 100 other people. While recovery would be slow, I felt like I finally had options. I discovered COVID had damaged my autonomic nervous system, which regulates involuntary physiological processes including heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, and digestion. I needed to realign my vagus nerve, which sends signals between the brain, heart, and digestive system.
By now, I was willing to try anything. And through Suzy’s group, I discovered Nurosym™. It’s a small device created by a leader in neurotechnology, Parasym, that stimulates the vagus nerve using targeted electrical signals. I began 20-minute sessions three times a day, and my body relaxed within a week. A month later, I was eating meals downstairs with my family again.
It’s a slow journey back from Post-Viral Fatigue, and Suzy reminds me in her weekly online groups to be patient and hopeful. These days, David drives me to places, and I’m so lucky to have him. At home, I can walk around, have a bath, and pour myself a bowl of cereal. It’s a world away from my old life, but I’m finally learning to live again.
For more info:
Visit nurosym.com. Find Suzy’s Facebook group by searching “Yoga and Meditation for Gentle COVID Recovery with Suzy Bolt.”
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