Can holistic therapies fill gaps in current mainstream fatigue and long covid treatments?
I am struck, by how my support in recovery from fatigue can go beyond current mainstream medicine’s routes. I specialise in fatigue, anxiety and pain conditions practising craniosacral therapy, reiki and mindfulness.
Some mainstream professionals and departments are really trying with long covid. Some seem frustrated, though there are supportive routes in place, reaching far beyond any previous fatigue pathways.
Still, I feel I have a sense of fatigue recovery, and that mainstream medicine is unable to include all of in treatments until sufficient clinical analysis etc has taken place. With the gentle empathic techniques I use, I can follow the improvements I see in and hear of from, my clients. As well as reading current research and adapting my treatments to it.
During a recent conversation with a mainstream medical professional, he mentioned that most of what they do for long covid sufferers is pacing and how well patients get on with that, is the key to whether the patient recovers. He was obviously frustrated at how little they could do for patients. It is my experience that fatigue sufferers benefit from becoming their own specialists in pacing and that deep relaxation is critical.
When I mentioned that my clients have often been stuck in fight, flight or freeze modes, he agreed that the patients are very ‘sympathetic’ and mentioned that it is very hard to get them out of it. Now that is one of my specialities, deep relaxation, working with and soothing the nervous and cardiovascular systems (and more). I use the gentle holds of craniosacral therapy and reiki to listen to the body, deactivate and release. I love to teach clients to calm their own systems with mindfulness techniques and more; always bringing a positive feeling or energy, a sense of lifting.
The deep relaxation of these techniques appears to allow the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems to rebalance. Everyone knows that massage can make your body and mind feel better. There has been research showing that craniosacral therapy, reiki and mindfulness can help stress and more. In the latter, this research is extensive and very well accepted. My Mindfulness Now training combines both the original, well-evidenced streams of Mindfulness by Jon Kabat Zinn (MBSR) and Mark Williams (MBST). The latter offered a breakthrough in the treatment of depression, anxiety and emotional trauma, and is recommended to treat depression by NICE. I have built on this knowledge with Embodiment, Resourcing, Chakra meditations, Reiki, Journey Meditations and more. I’m proud of the knowledge, techniques and experience I’m able to bring to my clients. For example for my upcoming Mindfulness for Fatigue, Anxiety and Pain classes.
Research has shown that our minds can affect our immune system. The main theories on post-viral fatigue seem to be that either the virus is still present, hidden in our bodies. Alternatively, there is a secondary virus that flourished while the system was weakened. Thirdly our own immune system had a rushed response to the original virus that is ineffective at differentiating between the pathogen and our own cells, leading to it attacking our own cells. Techniques such as Craniosacral Therapy, Reiki and Mindfulness seem to help the body know itself. Embodiment allows the body to be a body, animals seem to know how to relax and recover like the Jaguar pictured.
We know that implicit memories (rather than explicit/exact memories), are the only types of infant memories. For implicit memories, we retain a feel of events rather than exact details and may respond to stimuli automatically. For example, during a craniosacral therapy appointment a child might tell a story of a cow that wouldn’t eat, their parent can then explain that they didn’t eat as a baby and the child can then let go of the experience.
This seems to resonate with the way we appear to hold trauma in our bodies, as tensions etc and how we react in the same (often unhelpful) ways when a current event connects to a perceived trauma.
It is my experience that these implicit and body memories can be addressed and processed through the holistic work of craniosacral therapy and reiki and using mindfulness. Once we begin to let go, the fatigue seems to have less to hook on to.
I taught mindfulness online to Rebecca (name changed for privacy). She was bedridden and very sensitive to electronic equipment. After several sessions, we started on mindful movement and she suddenly took off and the next time I saw her she was enrolled in an art class and able to have her daughter back to live with her. We both thought her ability to hold herself more compassionately was a big milestone.
Alison practice craniosacral therapy and reiki at our Exeter centre. For more information see alisonmacdonald.net - she is also on Facebook and Instagram.
