WELLNESS WEDNESDAY

Hey folks, Sally Riggs here, psychologist, fellow long hauler and your long COVID coach and welcome back to Wellness Wednesday. Today, I would like to talk a little bit about treatment decision overwhelm. We all get bombarded all day long with different potential options for treatment, whether that be an article in a newspaper, a well meaning friend who tells us all "have you tried this? have you tried that?" A podcast that we hear; a video that we watch; somebody on Facebook or one of the other online groups. So many places where people mention different potential treatment options and given that none of these is proven, it can be very overwhelming to try and make decisions in our own treatment journey. And I wanted to share a little bit with you something that came up for me recently right before I took August off, right before I travelled to London, just so that I can share a little bit about how I try and do this these days. And really tying into what we spoke about last week around paying attention to our bodies, seeing what shows up, seeing what our bodies tell us.

If we're thinking about the mind-body connection, which means that our mind has an enormous influence over our bodies, as well as our bodies having an enormous influence over our mind. And just a quick reminder, when I say mind-body connection, I don't mean mind mind. I don't mean I think this is all psychosomatic, I know that this is a physiological illness that is organically based that we're all dealing with here. But we can have an influence on our bodies, through our minds. And equally the other way around. Oftentimes, our bodies know what we need. And if we can just get quiet long enough, they will tell us.

So, I wanted to share with you an article that I read right before, gosh, it must have been, let's say like a Thursday, and I was scheduled to fly to London the following Wednesday. So I had a lot going on, packing, I was going to be out of the country for about a month, I was going to London and then on to Greece so I needed a lot of different things, not least of all my medications, etc. etc. So I had a lot on my mind. And there was an article in The New York Times about Evushield. Now, this example that I'm sharing with you, again, just to remind you to illustrate about paying attention to our bodies, this is not me telling you a particular treatment that you should be getting. In this case, it's actually not a treatment, it's a preventative measure. And also unfortunately, it isn't available in the UK. And I know a lot of people are watching these videos from the UK. So just to underscore this is not me telling you about a new treatment that is going to overwhelm you. This is me telling you about the process that I go through that can help you with your decision making around treatment.

So, there was an article in The New York Times about this thing called Evushield, which is two different monoclonal antibodies that have been devised by AstraZeneca as a preventative measure for people who are immune compromised. So people who maybe can't get the vaccine or who don't develop antibodies due to the vaccine. And in many cases, as long haulers we qualify, depending on which country we're in for this preventative measure. But what the article was saying was that it has been so poorly... marketed, I guess that's really the word, that most doctors don't know it exists. Most patients that are immune compromised don't know it exists. And so the US has a huge stockpile, and it hasn't been utilized. And I remember reading the article and thinking, oh my goodness, I do vaguely remember somebody talking about this a while back, but I had totally forgotten and I hadn't followed up on it and none of my doctors had mentioned it to me. I wonder if I'm eligible. I am about to go on a trip. And I know the UK has no measures in place right now, I don't know about Greece, but I know that I'm taking some risks in terms of traveling. Oh, my goodness, do I need to get this? And so I very quickly researched and sent out emails trying to find out where I could get it, did it need to be prescribed, did I need a doctor's order? All of those things that I'm guessing you are also pretty used to doing now, rapid fire, quick fire. And you know, my body is in fight or flight, which to some extent is functional, because I need that adrenaline, I need that focus, etc. etc. But I'm aware that I'm feeling quite anxious, because I don't know how similar this is to the vaccine, I've had four doses of the vaccine. And every single time I've had the vaccine, I have been incredibly sick for 72 hours, like basically having acute COVID again, and so I've had to block out my schedule and be in bed for those 72 hours, and I'm about to fly to London on Wednesday. I have things booked with friends and family that I'm really looking forward to. I don't want to take any risks about getting sick.

So I've identified where I can get it, and it is available to me. And in my head, I'm thinking do I get it? Do I not get it? Do I get it? Do I not get it? I'm reaching out: Does anybody know? Has anybody had it? Does anybody know the data? I find a Facebook group, a couple of Facebook groups, and I start of course, looking for answers to the question: do you have any side effects when you get Evusheld? And of course, like with all things that we Google on the Internet, what comes back: a whole mixed bag? Some people did, some people didn't, some people were totally fine, some people had a horrible week or months of feeling awful. And I'm starting to think well, this is just a lottery again. I could get it and be absolutely fine. But I could also get it and be really sick.

And that's when I stopped and just listened to my body. What is it telling me? What is it showing me? I was aware that there was so much anxiety in my body. And that I had been cognitively trying to override that by getting data and getting information and getting feedback from other people. And that's a process that we very commonly go through in treatment decision making in COVID. And the answer is not up here. The answer is here. I was anxious. And my body was telling me this is not the right thing for you to be doing right now. And so I decided, you know what, I'm going to wait until I get back. If it's the right thing for me to do then, we'll figure it out. And of course, immediately, sense of relief, body returned to calm. I was able to soothe my nervous system get out of fight or flight and get back to the task in hand, which was getting ready for my trip.

And nobody can tell whether this was luck, or you know, those who believe in things that are meant to be I don't know, I'm not one of those people. But I made it through the trip. I didn't get COVID again. I'm always very cautious. And I continue to take those precautions in the UK as much as I do in the US, masking, not eating indoors, even with friends and family insisting that we eat outside the whole time. And even throughout Greece, I did exactly the same thing. So when I got back, I was then able to schedule on my terms when I could get this, when I could take three days so that I could recover over the weekend. And it turns out that when I did get it, it did make me very, very sleepy. Now, that was very different than when I had gotten the vaccine. It was not that 72 hours of cute COVID like symptoms again, and I say sleepy because it wasn't fatigue, right. We all know what fatigue means. It's that heaviness in your body. Every cell in your body is exhausted. And it wasn't that. It was sleepiness, I fell asleep on the couch. I fell asleep on the subway going to meet a friend for brunch.But I had a pretty light weekend I was able to sleep a bit more and I was fine.

So the message here as we continue to come back to this is paying attention to what shows up in our bodies. That we get bombarded with so much anxiety provoking panic, right? Because what if this was the thing that made me better instantly and I should do it now and oh my goodness. Take a deep breath. Close your eyes and pay attention to what is happening in your body. What do you feel? What do you notice what is showing up? And that will be the information that you need to move forward.

I hope this has been helpful to you. Wishing you all a tolerable week, and I look forward to seeing you again next week for Wellness Wednesday. Take care.