What Long Covid does to the nervous system
More and more people are affected by Long Covid symptoms. Many report not being taken seriously — often their symptoms get dismissed across the board as psychosomatic.
Is Long Covid really just psychosomatic?
The so-called post-COVID-19 condition is increasingly recognised, including by University Hospital Zurich (USZ) and Switzerland's Federal Office of Public Health (BAG). It stands to reason that post-COVID isn't purely psychosomatic, and that real physical changes are also helping to trigger the symptoms.
Some clients want to discuss with me whether their symptoms were triggered by the vaccine, the illness, or both. I've also been told it's all in someone's head. What I can say to that: everyone's entitled to think what they want about the causes. What matters to me is taking those affected seriously and finding a fitting solution.
What symptoms show up with Long Covid?
The long-term effects of a coronavirus infection show up in many forms. The most commonly reported are: fatigue, tiredness and exhaustion, limited resilience, reduced motivation, memory problems, pain, breathing problems, disturbances in smell and taste, coughing, concentration problems, "brain fog," tingling in the hands or feet, and dizziness.
Fatigue and reduced resilience are reported most often. Many people with Long Covid feel generally "foggy" — often accompanied by forgetfulness, low drive, and depressive moods. The physical symptoms vary just as much as the psychological ones, with the lungs and pain being the most commonly affected: shortness of breath or coughing can be found in some form in most of those affected. A post- or Long Covid condition is usually diagnosed when symptoms persist for more than three months after the acute infection — many people affected still haven't overcome their symptoms even after a year.
How exactly does hypnotherapy help with Long Covid?
Hypnotherapy has long been used successfully for physical and mental issues. Whether the symptoms are a direct late effect of the COVID illness or are being intensified by other causes often makes little difference to the work itself.
It's well known that hypnosis can trigger fundamental changes on a physical level: self-healing and the reduction of pain and other physical complaints can be stimulated, just like energy, motivation, and confidence. For many people affected, it's already a great relief just to hear that there's something they can actively do.
Medicine currently mostly aims, with medication, at containing the symptoms. As a hypnotherapist, I use hypnosis as a supportive, natural treatment option to align the body's resources toward healing. Even though the whole process can drag on for a long time: the big steps are often made of many small ones — and even a small step gives hope.
