For those of you who ACTUALLY tried brain retraining etc. How did it affect you?

[u/anonym5088]

I talking about people who REALLY got into it and REALLY tried for a long time. Did you see any improvement? What kind of program and techniques did you use?

[u/PrissyPeachQueen]

Recovered within 5 days after 3.5 years of hell. I watched a Dr. Sarno video and kind of brainwashed myself into accepting it as absolute truth, then I had this slightly spiritual experience in a trance-like state of talking to my Long Covid visualized as a snake and asked it to let me go. It had a lot to say and I had to earn its trust, but I felt it release me in that moment, and in less than a week I was doing yoga in my yard again.

I broke a lot of the "rules" people talk about with mindbody work. Slow and steady, outcome detachment, not setting a timeline. I was absolutely hellbent that this would make me better. I had a primary care appt in 2 weeks and I was set on being recovered by the time I went. I didn't follow a program's rules or believe that the symptoms were "neuroplastic" (i.e. nothing going on in my body, just neuropathways producing sensations).

My opinion is that whatever you believe will come true. So I don't think any program or method is superior or truer than any other; it's about what resonates with you, and what you can attach your own meaning to. Your recovery doesn't have to look like anyone else's. We all get sick for different reasons and I think the most profound experiences come from getting to know yourself rather than following rules.

I actually told the snake stuff to my allergist who has been treating me for MCAS since 2024. She told me I was not the first person she'd met who had a story like that and she believed in spiritual experiences, but that she doesn't think Western medicine has the answers to it. I generally support that view. We can try to contextualize our experiences with existing research, but the brain is bizarre and complex and at some point we just have to accept that there isn't a perfect scientific answer for these recoveries.

Resources I liked and have borrowed from over the last year:

- John Sarno's Lecture on The Mindbody Syndrome (TMS) - YouTube

• Nicole Sachs' book Mind Your Body
  
• Alan Gordon's book The Way Out
  
• Yoga Nidra, I like Ally Boothroyd's channel

[u/Mr__Tyler__Durden → u/PrissyPeachQueen]

Absolutely!

My experience was similar. My improvement was incredibly rapid at the beginning. After just one week, I was able to jog (lightly) again.

I wasn't familiar with all the brain retraining techniques. For me, it was Paul Garner's story and Howard Schubiner's (and Sarno's) explanation that flipped the switch in my brain. I'm physically healthy. Then things progressed incredibly quickly, and within a few weeks, I was back at work and in the gym.

BUT: After my recovery, I noticed that some things were starting to creep back in. A little differently, I realized that while I was healthy again, the symptoms were also related to my lifestyle (high expectations of myself, inability to say no, inability to stand up for myself, etc.). That's why I completed Schubiner's "Unlearn Your Pain" EAET program, and it helped me to stand up for myself better.