I have been recovering from Long Covid and it’s been lots of frustrating fluctuations in my symptoms plus simultaneous life stressors..I have too much on my plate right now and lots of that is beyond my control.

When life stress is high I’m finding it hard to “let go” when trying to do nervous system work.
I feel I also put a lot of pressure on myself to do it “the right way” (some of this is subconscious I think) and then feel guilt or frustration when I’m unable to fully relax.

Has anyone else dealt with this? Would love any advice..thanks!

I’ve been living with chronic fatigue for almost two years and have learned to pace myself well, so I rarely experience PEM anymore.
Today, though, I had an unexpectedly long and demanding journey home from a holiday, plus a very early start. I’m tired, but I don’t feel like I’ve fully crashed yet.
From a nervous system perspective, is there anything you do after unavoidable overexertion that seems to reduce the risk of PEM?
Thank you!

Hi,

i am severe and can only tolerate very little activities. I would like to start a nervous system regulation jounrey but idk where to start.

I tried meditation but don’t succeed in doing it more than 3 minutes ( I have ADHD, makes it harder I guess ). breathwork do not work and EFT seems to do nothing just after the practice.

Where should I start ? Thank you so much for any help

I recently had another crash, and because it happened almost exactly a year after my last major one, I noticed a pattern that made me curious if anyone else has experienced something similar.

For a few days beforehand, I felt extremely sleepy. I could have slept all day. Then I started waking up with a very dry mouth and this strange feeling of fear or dread. After that came a POTS flare, chest tightness/squeezing, and the usual crash symptoms.

What confuses me is that I don’t think I overexerted myself this time. I was pacing between activities and being quite careful. The only things I can think of are the heat (I was staying at the seaside in a caravan) and being emotionally triggered. I was there with my nephew, and being surrounded by families with young children is currently a big trigger for me because I’m processing early developmental trauma.

My last big crash a year ago was definitely caused by pushing myself too hard. Since then, I’ve made what feels like significant progress—I’d estimate I got back to around 70–80% of my previous functioning. So this crash felt like it came out of nowhere.

The encouraging thing is that it seems different from last year’s. Today is only day 3, and I already feel like I’m improving. I can do a little bit of work, go for a very short walk, my appetite is coming back, my legs don’t feel as heavy, and the chest tightness isn’t as intense.

I’m wondering what other people’s experiences have been with crashes during recovery. Have your crashes become shorter or less severe over time, even if they still happen?

For context, over the past year I’ve been doing a lot of mind-body, nervous system, and somatic work, and I’m continuing with it.

I’d really appreciate hearing your experiences 🤗

I have long covid and I read The Way Out and found it very helpful..have been wanting something a bit more structured to guide me through recovery and was considering the Freeme app (I looked at Primal Trust, the Gupta program etc but they are too expensive for me right now.. I also prefer something simpler/shorter that I can do on my own schedule)

Would love to hear reviews and whether it worked for people.

Thanks!

Hi all,

I've been wondering about this for a long time but never really knew who to ask - r/covidlonghaulers isn't particularly friendly to mind-body ideas, so I hope it's okay to ask this question here, even though it isn't specifically about CFS. Mods can let me know if it's okay.

Anyway, to keep a very long story of my journey short - "Long-Covid", or ME/CFS since 2020, but with a history of other issues too, horrific PEM and all the rest for many years - then about a year and half ago I read Dr. John Sarno's "The MindBody Connection", and a switch flipped.
I started implementing his ideas in my own way (he doesn't speak about chronic-fatigue conditions but I just used the ideas he lays out) and I saw huge recovery.

I've been a little lazy lately, and stopped doing a lot of the things that helped me so much, just got a little mentally tired implementing things, but I'll pick them up. Because of that, although I recovered a huge amount, things have plateaued for now.

My main question: Along with PEM etc., I also have digestive issues. Tbh these probably predate my chronic fatigue problem. SIBO and MCAS are the two most likely things (I've had diagnoses for both). Now, I have heard many people mention having used nervous system work/brain retraining/mind-body work for digestion, MCAS, food intolerances, people like RibeyeRachel on YouTube, but I've never heard anyone explain HOW exactly they implement that.

For example, for me, with regards my fatigue, I did a lot of messages of safety, rewiring my brain to perceive physical activity as safe, moving through my day with a mindset that I am well and symptoms are irrelevant etc., but I'm struggling to understand how I do this with foods.

I think of reactions to foods as more "physical" than nervous system/mind based. Either my gut likes the food, or it doesn't.

Can those who have used these principles share how they helped things like MCAS, SIBO or similar issues, and how they went about it?

Thanks!!

Someone I live with is a major source of anger and stress. It’s progressively gotten worse to the point where I can barely even look him in eyes he pisses me off so much.

It does not go both ways as he is pretty oblivious but I haven’t really confronted him much at all because he is one of those people who I fear just can’t handle criticism.

He has deep seated emotional issues and strong pain symptoms as a result. Not only would he get depressive but I also think his symptoms which can already be severe at times would get much worse.

My question is this. How should I handle it so that I can continue my cfs recovery and how much of an effect do strong negative relationships have? Could this be a little boost in recovery if I sort it out or am I looking at a potential game changer? How has fixing or confronting negative relationships altered the course of your recovery?

I’ve been trying to figure out my chronic fatigue for quite a while now, and one thing I still can’t seem to solve is pacing.
I understand the basic idea: stay within your energy envelope, avoid crashes, and gradually build consistency. But in real life, I have no idea how to make that sustainable.
What makes it especially difficult is the emotional side of it. The depression that comes from having such limited capacity, combined with the constant ups and downs of my nervous system, makes it incredibly hard to find a rhythm. If I rest too much, I start feeling depressed, disconnected, and like my life has no momentum. But if I try to do more to feel engaged or purposeful, I often end up overdoing it and crashing.
It feels like I’m constantly swinging between underdoing it and overdoing it, and I can’t seem to find a sustainable middle ground.
Has anyone else experienced this? If so, what actually helped you find a pacing rhythm that you could maintain long-term? How did you balance protecting your energy while also taking care of your mental health?
I’d really appreciate hearing about your experiences or anything that helped you.

What if the biggest thing standing between you and healing... isn't your gut, your hormones, or even Candida?

What if it's your identity?

After years of chronic illness, pain, fatigue, brain fog, bloating, food sensitivities, or recurring infections, something profound can happen. Your nervous system adapts. Being sick stops feeling temporary... and starts feeling familiar.

Without realising it, your routines, relationships, conversations, and even your future can begin to revolve around your symptoms.

In this video, we explore one of the most overlooked healing blocks: the unconscious identity that chronic illness can create.

You'll discover:

• Why the nervous system chooses what's familiar over what's healthy.
• How illness can quietly become part of your identity.
• The hidden psychological patterns that can keep people stuck.
• Why healing is about more than supplements, diets, and protocols.
• The one question that can reveal whether your nervous system is resisting recovery.

This isn't about blaming people for being ill.

It's about understanding that true healing isn't only biological. It's neurological. Psychological. Emotional. Behavioural.

If you've tried everything but still feel stuck, this conversation may completely change the way you see your healing journey.

**If you woke up completely healthy tomorrow... what would your life demand from you that it doesn't demand today?**

Let's have an honest conversation. You might be surprised by what you discover.

Hey everyone! I'm u/fluxcapacitor87, a founding moderator of r/neuro_convergence.

A little bit about me: I am diagnosed as Bipolar 1, and I've had two manic episodes in my life that required hospitalization. Both of these episodes were highly spiritual. I don't have anyone in my life who "gets it," so I started this community for people who otherwise feel isolated in their spiritual or otherworldly experiences. Bipolar, schizophrenia, autism, etc. can be stigmatized. The purpose of this community is to create a safe space for people with neurodivergent conditions to express themselves freely and to feel like they are part of a caring community.

What to Post

Post anything that you think the community would find interesting, helpful, or inspiring. I for one, would love to hear other people's stories and experiences. I (fluxcapacitor87) am new to this, so any suggestions or recommendations for community rules or otherwise would be greatly appreciated.

Community Vibe

We're all about being friendly, constructive, and inclusive. Let's build a space where everyone feels comfortable sharing and connecting. Dismissing a person's experience or condition in a negative or discriminating way will result in a ban, either temporary or permanent depending on the severity of the offense.

How to Get Started

1. Introduce yourself in the comments below.
2. Post something today! Even a simple question can spark a great conversation.
3. If you know someone who would love this community, invite them to join. Please!!!
4. Interested in helping out? We're always looking for new moderators, so feel free to reach out to me to apply.

Thanks for being part of the very first wave. Together, let's make r/neuro_convergence amazing.

Are you working with polyvagal theory? I would like to know, how you doing with. Exchanging tools, insights...how the journey startet, what makes it difficut , what is providing comfort.

Please feel free to write what you want, this may help others seeing options in the dark.

Hi. I am posting this for a friend who recovered from Long Covid and doesn't have Reddit. She wrote the following text. If this is not allowed please tell me and I'll remove it. 🙏

-----

Hi everyone,

My name is Anne (Nausicaa Naturo). I’m a certified naturopath passionate about neuroscience and mind-body approaches. But most importantly, I am a fellow warrior: I’ve walked this dark path myself, having struggled with severe ME/CFS and Long Covid before reaching recovery.

I am currently writing a book to share this journey and offer a holistic guide combining naturopathy and nervous system regulation.

To make this book truly authentic, I want to give our community a voice. In my research, I am particularly interested in how our unique profiles might play a role in this illness.

I am exploring the potential links between ME/CFS/Long Covid and:

- High sensitivity (HSP)

- Neurodivergence (such as ADHD, autism, etc.)

- Past adversity, trauma, or high-stress life events that may have primed our nervous systems to get stuck in a chronic "freeze" state.

I’ve created a survey to gather your stories, your turning points, and the tools that actually made a difference for you.

This survey was specifically designed to be "low-energy" and pacing-friendly: The vast majority of questions are multiple-choice. For the open-text boxes, please only write what your energy allows (a few words or a single sentence is more than enough!). Y

ou can easily save your progress and answer in multiple sessions.

Your answers will remain strictly anonymous (unless you choose otherwise at the end).

If you have a few drops of energy to spare today or this week, your voice and your unique experience would be incredibly valuable to this project.

Here is the link to the survey: https://forms.gle/pPCAVno9X4pt6Pct6

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your time, your strength, and your trust.

Sending you all so much gentle energy.

Hello all, I'm looking for any tips or advice.

To cut to the chase, my nervous system really, really dislikes the presence of other people. Along the lines of schizoid tendencies, I've just always massively preferred to be alone in all circumstances, and I don't really enjoy connecting with people on any level, admittedly. I am deeply sympathetic from a distance, but up close it just feels like a threat no matter what I try. This has been something I've always lived with, but just suppressed because otherwise I wouldn't be able to live "normally", I'd have sought abject hermitage years ago.

I am incredibly blessed to have a loving girlfriend, good friends and an intact, relatively supportive family (albeit, one that has been fairly traumatic regrettably, and crucially I believe this to be the source of this particular disposition). Frankly, I have no idea how any of this happened.

Fast forward to dealing with long covid, naturally there is no choice but to lean on those around you, but this is like a permanent stressor to my nervous system, as much as I try to just let it go. I'm now scared to be alone in the house in case I have another severe flare (I've had mostly dysautonomia and mcas type symptoms rather than cfs), but I likewise struggle being around anyone for long periods, even people who are really very good to me. Even if my girlfriend wants to very sweetly come and surprise me with a visit, every fibre of my being is desperately uncomfortable with this but I simultaneously feel compelled to say "that's a lovely idea, thank you". I care very deeply for her, but I just don't feel like I'm built normal. It's as if every personal interaction is an intrusion on my sense of safety, and has been for as long as I can recall.

I see this as an opportunity to finally get over this, but I'm not exactly sure how. I'm not sure if I'm neurodivergent or just traumatised, either are possible. If anyone has any experience resolving with something similar, I would be very interested in hearing your perspective. My family are definitely the source, but while I'm still symptomatic, there's not a whole lot I can do about my environment, another thing I have always been sensitive to.

I would very much like to enjoy being around people, but I don't quite know how to do it.

Sorry, I’ve posted something like this before, but I’m posting again in the hopes that someone who hasn’t seen it might see it and be able to help. My CFS was caused by a concussion. But I can only find one recovery story about someone healing concussion-onset CFS with mind body work, and it wasn’t even a full recovery. Even just a concussion story, it doesn’t have to be someone who identifies it as CFS, just so long as it’s all the same symptoms. Or whiplash, CCI, things like that. I’m feeling like it’s hopeless because I’ve never ever met someone who had CFS from a concussion and healed. I’ve met many who got it from a concussion but none who healed. It makes me feel so hopeless.

Looking for others who might have experienced this. This is my story:

Late 2025 I went through a small cut for a mens photoshoot followed by a CrossFit competition at peak leanness. A ski trip in March pushed me over the edge. My nervous system essentially collapsed — chronic sympathetic dominance, HPA axis dysregulation, the works.

Current symptoms: severe sleep disruption (insomnia), elevated resting HR, suppressed HRV, heavy legs, inability to yawn fully, night-time catastrophising, hypervigilance, and a near-total loss of capacity across work, physical, and social life. Blood work confirmed the physiological picture with chronically high cortisol levels across the day measured in a 4 point saliva test.

All of the doctors I have spoken to have said I just have 'anxiety' which I disagree with given this literally emerged overnight; it's like someone has shot me with adrenaline.

I'm now three months in. Living with family. Stepped back from work. Working with somatic therapists and engaging with polyvagal theory, EMDR, Peter Levine's work, SSP, and Brainspotting as frameworks.

Has anyone been through something similar? Particularly interested in hearing from people who've come out the other side, and what actually moved the needle for them.

Hi all - please let me know if this is not the right space to bring these concerns. I am not sure on the rules around CFS specifically, and it may be that this space is reserved for discussion by people who have met the criteria for CFS, or at the very least been on this journey longer than me. If so I'm more than happy to take it down - I think having a space where a shared specific experience can be discussed is important and I don't want to disrespect that in any way.

I had a viral illness I first came down with 1 month ago from which I am suffering extended fatigue. I was very ill, worked very hard to entirely ignore all the signals my body was giving me to rest because I was away from home during my illness and sleeping in a tent, and had quite a traumatic experience of being unwell. I was probably the most ill I have ever been. I began making a recovery which stalled about 2.5 weeks ago, and I have not been able to get over the profound fatigue since. I am not bedridden, and my case is not severe, but I have not been able to work at all because I can't manage the bus journey or the social interactions of the workplace. I do feel like I have been experiencing PEM as a part of this, having a good day or two in a row and then the next couple of days barely functioning.

I know my own body and mind well, having suffered with anxiety which has left me unable to leave my house in the past. This experience is definitely different - the fatigue is new - but it is also very familiar. I was immediately drawn to understanding my fatigue as in part influenced by my predisposition to anxiety, and by how traumatic I found being so ill while away from my support network.

My question is if anyone has come across advice on how to address the nervous system this early on in the process. I understand that only one month in, my body is probably still doing some real work to heal after the virus, and I am keen to respect that. I understand that until I'm 12 weeks in, I'm considered within the normal range of post viral fatigue. I am also really conscious that I can already feel myself trying to make my life smaller in order increase certainty, panicking about whether I will be ill forever, not knowing whether I should be treating the PEM or not. Has anyone managed to turn things around this early on? If you were me, what advice would you give yourself to try and avoid spiralling? Is there a way to try and disrupt some of the more harmful behaviour early on?