The Health Guru – Lockdown

Lockdown has been very difficult for some whilst, others have been able to get on with it or help and volunteer for others. In my household, I started off quite well in that I ate healthily and took part in online fitness classes run by my triathlete super fit cousin Claire Bloom. My father took over the cooking here, on lockdown as he had come back with us from Spain and had to stay with us for the duration.

After a few weeks my husband, who had only been going out to buy groceries and collect medication, fell ill on Easter Sunday, where he was suffering from flu-like symptoms and stayed in bed for two days. In that time, I was leaving tea, paracetamol, drinks, food and menthol bowls outside the room for the moments he could actually get up to take them. After a couple of days, he got up and seemed much better by which time I got ill with the same flu symptoms. However, mine seemed a lot worse and my sugars were through the roof as a Type 1 diabetic.

After a week of these symptoms, I then felt much better and even managed the steep hill at the back of the garden down to the river, that gave me some much-needed fresh air. However, the following day I suddenly felt like I had an elephant on my chest and back and all of a sudden, my breathing took a turn.

I phoned the Doctor who thought I could have had flu or mild symptoms of Covid-19 and that I should feel better in a few days. However, things worsened and I spent many nights not going to sleep as I could not breathe where my husband stayed up with me, bringing me Vicks bowls (the only thing that helped me breathe) and Lemsip (not the max version as this contains Ibuprofen). That the NHS has now overturned to say is fine to take.

I phoned the Doctor again a week later, who sent antibiotics and an inhaler as I still had trouble breathing and then, one night my husband called the paramedics as I was turning blue and could not breathe. They confirmed that my oxygen levels were one hundred percent and so were my vitals, so they gave me the choice to go to hospital, that I turned down. However, it was a very scary time and lasted around five weeks until any signs of improvement and even then, my chest was still tight.

In that time, a local homeopath had gotten in touch and gave me a remedy to use on my machine, that can use remedies to heal a person. She had recommended Stratium and so I put the remedy in the machine (trust me on this, or get in touch for more information). I seemed to feel better immediately, but then a while later, I turned blue and nearly passed out, hence the paramedics were called. I spoke to the homeopath the next day who told me her husband who was suffering from the same symptoms was given the same remedy and also turned blue, where the paramedics were called, and his vitals turned out to be one hundred percent.

The homeopath proceeded to tell me that she forgot to tell me this may happen! However, after this, the remedy has worked and pushes the body through to healing. Whilst I felt a bit better two weeks on, I was still suffering. So, I think this virus affects people differently, but for those who get the full-on respiratory attack, your life hangs in the balance. The paramedic told me that a nurse who had been taken into hospital passed away and the paramedic who took her also passed away with different variations of Covid-19, that made me more anxious. However, as everything was one hundred percent I had to then, trust my body to heal as the homeopath told me, my body is doing everything it should. Wise words that kept me going during that time.

I received healing from complementary therapist Carolyn Sykes, an acupuncturist and therapist, formerly from Llanelli, now based in Berkshire. Carolyn uses healing techniques and disciplines from Chinese medicine and the consciousness teacher, Sandy Newbigging. Newbigging believes everything is consciousness or energy and that our emotions and traumas get trapped inside the body causing illness and disease. We do not consciously invite these diseases but as we are all consciousness they manifest in our bodies. I have known this for a number of years and after doing some consciousness work with Carolyn we found that my symptoms were because of grief. All consultations took place online.

I also had a session online with my trainer, for the machine, Sean Redmond online and he reiterated that grief was the cause of the terrible symptoms and we even managed to shift the feeling of an elephant sitting on my chest. Grief affects the lungs but can affect any part of the body and through being in the moment, we can find the root of our illnesses. Having experienced the loss of my mother in February, grief also lowers the immune system making us more vulnerable to illness.

I also offer sessions to get to the emotional root of our health problems but it is a long process and does not happen overnight. Five weeks on and mucus is still in my lungs where the machine managed to clear it, as well as Vicks! We lost two family friends in that time too and grief became a collective experience.

During lockdown however, I had made my own soap that I gave to neighbours and local residents made with ingredients such as vodka and margarita. I also gave away cakes and biscotti. Meanwhile, I was overwhelmed with neighbours checking up on me and people asking if I needed anything. I received lots of plants and homegrown vegetables from neighbours, as people turned to homegrown that was wonderful. It seemed many were being creative at home with baking, fixing up the house, painting and so on. We bought two chickens from a reputable local farm and they took them straight into our garden into their new pen, and hen-house where we started to get fresh eggs every day.

One of the most amazing communities was in Caerphilly, South Wales where my mother-in-law lives. She was becoming increasingly anxious as we normally visit with food and I was unable to do her usual online shops due to no delivery slots. I then put a call up for help on the local community page where over one hundred people donated and got in touch. Hence how amazing I felt the Caerphilly community were. I had many offers to do my mother-in-law’s shopping where her anxiety was much relieved as a lovely lady, Christine picked up her shopping, a paper, books, cakes and delivered Sunday dinner. Amazing people out there!

Also, we must not forget the wonderful work of Emyr Evans, from CETMA who set up and manned a local food bank in Burry port with his wife. Amazing work!

During the illness I managed to nurture myself with Rose milk body bath (Weleda) £14.95.

Seven weeks later I still had a tight chest and very sore lungs that made me anxious and I had another healing session with Celene Giminez who offered me a free healing session online. Celene managed to help with healing my chest and suddenly, I felt I could breathe easier. Her technique may be strange to some but it is based on Theta healing that I have come across before that talks to your subconscious about feelings of unease or trauma you may have experienced. I felt much better as a result and it lasted for a few days where I also felt my sense of dread had lessened, so I felt calmer. Someone I know had Covid-19 for thirteen weeks and mine was seven so, I think that all the healing really helped.

I am sorry for all those who are grieving for lost loved ones during this difficult time. It certainly feels surreal this year, with the loss of my mother, Covid-19 pandemic and actually contracting it. Let’s hope the second half of the year improves. As a community I am sure we are all standing together and helping each other when we can.