Emma Raducanu backed out of Wimbledon late on and the British No 1 has been told that she needs to build up her resilience having spent weeks out through injury
She took a while to recover from a virus earlier this year, but the reason she's out of Wimbledon is a stress fracture. I don't think there's any indication she has ME/CFS.
She took a while to recover from a virus earlier this year, but the reason she's out of Wimbledon is a stress fracture. I don't think there's any indication she has ME/CFS.
Skallagrim, a YouTuber with 1.63 million subscribers, made a video about his experience with ME/CFS. He does videos about HEMA (historical European martial arts aka mostly swordfighting). My fiancée watches his videos and previously bought boots from him. I want to watch the video with her. If I do, I'll let you know my thoughts here. The comments on his video is mostly of other people with ME/CFS sharing their experience. It's nice to see, but also sad to be reminded of how many people have our disease. Hell, a year and a half ago, I didn't even know what it was. Now I feel like I see it everywhere. The power of recognition and awareness (but also covid increasing the numbers of course).
I have to admit that when it comes to athletes with ME I'm still traumatized by the Marlen Reusser story.
She's a Swiss surgeon / racing cyclist who had a horrific crash which resulted in lost teeth during a race in April 2024, then suffered from PEM in the aftermath.
She mentions a ME/CFS diagnosis.
She released her recovery video in November 2024.
Sounds familiar?
Yeah, she's basically the female version of Paul Garner.
Spring 2024: Following an ideal training block in Mallorca, Marlen Reusser is in outstanding form. The 32-year-old wins the Valencia Tour, and with the major season highlights—the Olympic Games in Paris and the home World Championships in Zurich—everything appears to be going according to plan.
Serious crash at the Tour of Flanders
But then everything changes. At the beginning of April, the Bern native suffers a serious crash at the Tour of Flanders, breaking her jaw, both ear canals, and eight teeth. What follows is a long period of medical appointments. Yet Reusser remains optimistic and keeps her sights firmly set on the Olympics and the World Championships.
After weeks of uncertainty, the diagnosis finally comes
At the start of the summer, however, her ordeal truly begins. Reusser repeatedly falls ill. It starts with tonsillitis and bronchitis. Then comes the fever—again and again—and it simply will not go away. For two weeks.
“It’s turning into a real crisis. We can’t figure out what it is,” she says at the time.
And this is just before the Olympic Games. For four weeks, she is unable to train at all. In mid-June, Reusser tries to get back on her bike, but she soon realizes that training in her condition is pointless. Instead, she spends time at her parents’ home in Hindelbank, passing the time by knitting, among other things.
“I already understood what the diagnosis meant. But I didn’t want to accept it, and I could hardly believe it.”
She feels powerless and devastated, as no one yet knows exactly what is causing her illness. The fever comes and goes in a relentless cycle of ups and downs.
An emotional roller coaster
In August, she finally gets a definitive diagnosis: post-COVID syndrome.
“I already understood what the diagnosis meant. But I didn’t want to accept it, and I could hardly believe it,” Reusser says. “The problem is that you do something, and it just makes you even sicker.”
Bei Marlen Reusser läuft 2024 fast alles schief, was schieflaufen kann. Zuerst Corona, dann ein folgenschwerer Sturz, schliesslich das Leiden an einem heimtückischen Post-Covid-Syndrom – Olympia und die Heim-WM sind futsch. Wie steckt die Berner Radrennfahrerin diese harten Rückschläge weg...
www.srf.ch
Shortly after the documentary was out she recovered.
And now she’s a believer, just like Paul "The Woof" Garner.
There have been a couple of biobabble stories in the local newspapers now where she was also mentioned endorsing the cult.
Marlen Reusser on the Road to Recovery
Published by Geigele – November 25, 2024
Three-time European time trial champion Marlen Reusser is fortunately doing much better. The Bern native has resumed regular training and will attend her first training camp with her new team, Movistar, in January.
In a detailed video, Marlen Reusser explains how happy she is that her health is finally improving.
“We don’t know what the journey ahead will look like, but I have a good feeling. I’ve recovered in both small and big steps.”
Reusser, who was forced to miss the Olympic Games in Paris and the UCI Road World Championships in Zurich because of ME/CFS and has been unable to race since the spring, also explains in the video what has helped her on the road to recovery. She hopes to offer other people living with ME/CFS a perspective that may prove helpful.
She discusses systems such as the autonomic nervous system, the immune system, and certain areas of the brain. These systems function entirely automatically and are activated, for example, when pathogens enter the body.
“My immune system was being triggered by even the slightest stimuli. My body’s alarm system was going off even when there was no need for it,” Reusser explains. “As a result, I constantly had a fever, swollen lymph nodes, and became extremely fatigued even after minimal exertion—even though none of the many medical examinations could identify a physical cause.”
In the video, Reusser also criticizes the fact that, in Switzerland, there is more discussion about poor recovery prospects than about new therapeutic approaches. In other countries, she says, this treatment approach is being researched in clinics and is already being used successfully.
“It involves something that could be described as brain retraining. Sweating and blood pressure, for example, are processes that have to function automatically without our conscious involvement. However, it is possible to influence unconsciously operating regulatory systems through conscious awareness and thereby try to bring these feedback mechanisms back into balance.
I experimented with various exercises to do that. It was worth it, even though it required discipline and trust.”
The Tokyo Olympic silver medalist also says she was motivated by the overwhelming number of messages she received.
“I would like to thank everyone for what felt like a thousand messages, and I wish all those affected, as well as their families, much courage and strength.”
Reusser’s sporting comeback continues on December 18, when she will attend Movistar’s team presentation in Spain.
In an Instagram video she attributes her recovery to psychobabble shenanigans and gives specific advice in the description text:
Posted On: November 23rd 2024, 07:00 am
Long Covid or ME/CFS affected? This is what helped me.
Maybe it can bring improvements to some of you as well.
Thanks to those people who brought these ideas to me and my close ones. I am grateful that I was given time and money to go through this journey in a calm and dedicated way and aware that not everyone has these possibilities.
Resources:
- "Dr. Will Bostock's Insights on Overcoming ME/CFS and Long Covid" video on YouTube (wer es nicht versteht, auf YouTube kann man übersetzt untertiteln lassen)
- YouTube Channel from Raelan Agle with many stories of recovered people
- Jon Kabat-Zinn (e.g. his Masterclass on the "Masterclass"-app, or his book "Full Catastrphic Living")
- Apps like "curable"
- So: Meditation, good Hypnosis and Yoga with all this background
This video is for everyone who has post-COVID or ME/CFS, or knows someone who does.
I was affected by it myself, and I’m still amazed by the power—by how powerful this illness is. And I’m incredibly happy that I’m feeling better now.
I can already hear the comments saying I’m saying this too soon, or that I can’t know yet and should just wait for it to come back. We’ll see. We don’t know.
Anyway, my feeling is that I gradually recovered, in small and big steps, by working on it in a focused way. I genuinely feel just like I did before. And because I’m so convinced by the steps I was able to take, I’d like to share them. Maybe it won’t help everyone, and I’m not saying everyone can recover, but if it helps even a few people, that would be something—because we know how insidious this illness can be.
So, here’s the approach that helped me.
The idea—and I was told all this too, it wasn’t my invention, so I’m not trying to take credit for it—is that the body’s own alarm systems and defense mechanisms, the strategies it uses when there’s a problem, can get stuck. Whether it’s a pathogen, a stressor—say, an earthquake, being chased by a predator, or facing a difficult exam—these mechanisms kick in. For example, the immune system becomes activated, or the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system. The idea is that these alarm signals have become autonomous, or start going off in response to the slightest triggers, even when they normally wouldn’t.
That means things that would normally leave you unbothered, when you’d feel fine and be able to do them, can be enough to activate the immune system or autonomic nervous system completely. This can lead to all kinds of symptoms.
In my case, I knew—or rather, I had the feeling the whole time—that my immune system was completely switched on. I had a fever, swollen lymph nodes, and was completely unable to tolerate exertion. I was exhausted as soon as I did the tiniest thing, and I was just in bed all the time. I also had symptoms of an activated autonomic nervous system.
These processes had gone haywire. They weren’t just kicking in when they were needed, as they normally would; they were also activating when there was no need for them to.
Someone compared it to a warning light in a car that stays on all the time. You have the car checked, but there’s nothing wrong with it. The oil light, or something like that, keeps flashing. You check, and there’s oil, but the light keeps flashing. Eventually you realize that maybe the warning light itself is just broken.
That theory helped me.
And there are approaches based on it. By the way, I thought it was really interesting and important to say that I’ve found these approaches aren’t widespread in the German-speaking world—or, I should say, in Central Europe. On the contrary, the mood here is very discouraging. People tend to talk about the high likelihood that you’ll never recover and about the poor outlook. Meanwhile, in other parts of the world—and that’s where this idea came to me—there are already whole clinics using this Brain Retraining approach, where research is being done and people are being helped.
The approach is basically that these unconscious processes, these brain areas that function automatically and that we normally have no control over, can be influenced through conscious awareness. After all, the body’s regulation has to happen without us having to think about it. If we had to decide when our immune system switches on, how we breathe, when we sweat, or what our heart rate should be, we’d probably be dead before long. It all has to happen automatically. And if there’s a problem there, we do have some ability to influence it, at least through conscious awareness.
I’m so glad this idea was brought to me. I don’t want to say it was easy, or that it is easy. I think it does take a certain amount of being well enough, because when you’re feeling really, really bad, you don’t have the resources or the strength to get started. I think it’s difficult for someone who’s completely at rock bottom. But once you have a little strength, it takes these different mental exercises, and you have to concentrate quite hard. You also have to believe in it and make an effort. But as you can see, in my case, I’m sure it was very worthwhile, and I’m completely satisfied.
Some people will probably think, “What are you talking about?” That’s fine. I just wanted to share it. I’m curious to hear from anyone who’s interested and wants to try it about how it works for them.
Maybe we can help spread these ideas a little further, because there are quite a lot of people affected, and very few officially recognized options for what to do. By the way, thank you—I got a thousand tips, but that was also kind of proof that a thousand supplements and a thousand strange therapies don’t seem to work.
Here in our part of the world, people still don’t know how to help, and maybe this is an approach that could help some people.
I wish all the loved ones of those affected lots of strength, too. I know it’s difficult for you as well—or especially for you—and of course for everyone affected. Good luck—you’ve got this!
There’s one more thing I forgot. Personally, it really helped me to hear and see stories from people who had recovered, or who were recovering. I’d be very happy to share the resources that have helped me personally; I’ve put them below. If you want to try this too, these are the things that helped me make so much progress.
Dieses Video richtet sich an alle, die Post-Covid- bzw.
ME-CFS-Erkrankten oder jemanden kennen, der darunter leidet.
Ich selbst war davon betroffen und bin immer noch beeindruckt von der Macht oder Kraft dieser Krankheit und bin extrem glücklich.
geht es mir nun besser.
Ich höre schon die Kommentare, dass ich das zu früh sage oder nicht sagen könne und nur darauf warten muss, dass das wiederkommt.
Wir werden sehen, wir wissen das nicht.
Jedenfalls ist mein Gefühl, dass ich schrittweise in kleinen, grossen Schritten genesen bin durch gezieltes Arbeiten und mir geht es wirklich wie vorher gefühlt.
Und weil ich so überzeugt bin von den Schritten, die ich machen konnte, würde ich das gerne teilen, weil vielleicht hilft das nicht allen.
Ich will nicht sagen, dass jeder, jeder genießen kann, aber wenn es doch einigen hilft, wäre das ja schon was, weil ja, wir wissen, wie perfide diese Erkrankung ist.
Und deshalb also hier der Ansatz, der mir geholfen hat.
Und zwar geht es darum, dass man denkt, also mir wurde das alles auch so erzählt, dass nicht meine Erfindung, nur dass ich diese Credits nicht für mich abräume hier, sondern das Modell ist, dass eigentlich die körpereigenen Alarmsysteme und Abwehrmechanismen und Strategien, wenn ein Problem da ist, sei es ein Erreger, ein Krankheitserreger oder ein Stress, also keine Ahnung, wenn ein Erdbeben wäre oder wenn man von einem Raubtier verfolgt würde oder vor einer schlimmen Prüfung steht, diese Mechanismen, die dann einspringen, zum Beispiel die Aktivierung des Immunsystems oder die Aktivierung des sympathischen Schenkels, sagt man Sympathikus, des autonomen Nervensystems, dass die diese Alarmleuchten, die die aktivieren, autonom geworden sind oder anspringen auf kleinste Reize, auf die sie normalerweise nicht anspringen würden.
Das heisst, Dinge, die normalerweise einen kalt lassen und es geht einem gut und man kann die machen, reichen, um ein Immunsystem oder das autonome Nerschensystem komplett zu aktivieren, was die Folge haben kann, dass man...
Es gibt ganz viele Symptome, die man haben kann.
In meinem Fall wusste ich oder hatte ich die ganze Zeit das Gefühl, dass mein Immunsystem komplett an ist.
Also ich hatte Fieber, geschwollene Lymphknoten, war komplett belastungsintolerant, also todmüde, sobald ich das Geringste machte und einfach immer im Bett und hatte auch Symptome von einem aktivierten autonomen Nervensystem.
und diese Prozesse, die sind aus Rand und Band geraten.
Also sie sind nicht nur noch angesprungen wie normal, wenn sie nötig sind, sondern sie sind auch angesprungen, wenn sie gar nicht nötig waren.
Jemand hat das verglichen mit einem Warnlicht in einem Auto, das die ganze Zeit leuchtet und man untersucht das Auto, aber es hat nichts.
Also die Öllampe oder so, blinkt auf.
Man schaut, aber da ist Öl, aber die Öllampe blinkt und irgendwann kommt man darauf, ja, vielleicht ist einfach die Öllampe kaputt.
Und diese Theorie hat mir geholfen.
Und dann gibt es Ansätze.
Und übrigens, ich fand es extrem spannend und wichtig zu sagen, dass ich erlebt habe, dass im deutschsprachigen Raum, oder sage ich, in Zentraleuropa, diese Ansätze überhaupt nicht verbreitet sind.
Im Gegenteil, hier ist eine sehr destruktive Stimmung Man redet eher über die grosse Wahrscheinlichkeit, nie davon zu genesen und die schlechten Aussichten, während in anderen Regionen dieser Welt und von da kam auch diese Idee zu mir es schon ganze Kliniken gibt mit diesem Brain Retraining Ansatz, wie sich das nennt geforscht wird und Leuten geholfen wird mit diesem Ansatz Und der Ansatz ist dann eigentlich, dass diese unbewussten Prozesse, diese autonom funktionierenden Hirnareale, für die wir normalerweise keine Kontrolle haben, weil all diese Regulationen des Körpers müssen ja auch ohne unser Zutun funktionieren.
Wenn wir entscheiden müssen, wann das Immunsystem angeht oder wie wir atmen oder wann wir schwitzen oder wie die Herzfrequenz ist, dann werden wir wahrscheinlich längstens tot.
Also es muss alles automatisch gehen Und wenn es dort ein Problem gibt Dann hat man doch Möglichkeit zumindest Über das Bewusstsein Einfluss zu nehmen Und ich bin total froh Dass diese Idee an mich herangetragen wurde Ich will nicht sagen Es war einfach oder es ist einfach
Es erfordert Ich glaube es erfordert schon ein Stück an Gesundsein Weil wenn es einem ganz, ganz schlecht geht Hat man gar nicht die Ressource oder die Kraft In sich anzufangen Ich glaube für jemanden, der ganz am Boden ist, ist das schwierig, aber sobald man ein bisschen Kraft hat, braucht es diese verschiedenen Übungen im Kopf und man muss sich ziemlich konzentrieren und man muss auch daran glauben und sich anstrengen dafür auf eine Weise, aber wie ihr seht, in meinem Fall, ich bin sicher, es hat sich sehr gelohnt und ich bin total zufrieden.
Wahrscheinlich werden einige denken, was sagt ihr da?
Kein Problem, ich wollte es nur teilen.
Die, die es interessiert und die es probieren wollen, bin gespannt.
Ich freue mich auch zu hören, wie es funktioniert.
Und vielleicht können wir ja diese Ideen noch ein bisschen Hilfe breiten, weil die Zahlen von Betroffenen sind doch recht gross und die Möglichkeiten, offiziell bekannte Möglichkeiten, was zu tun, sehr klein.
Übrigens, vielen Dank, ich habe tausend Tipps gekriegt, aber es war auch so ein bisschen der Beweis.
Tausend Supplemente, tausend komische Therapien, keine scheinen zu wirken.
Ja, hier in unseren breiten Graden weiss man sich noch nicht zu helfen und vielleicht ist das ja ein Ansatz, der manchen helfen kann.
Ich wünsche auch allen Angehörigen viel Kraft.
Ich weiss, dass es für euch auch oder besonders schwierig ist und allen Betroffenen sowieso.
Good luck, ihr schafft das!
Ihr habt noch was vergessen.
Mir persönlich hat es total geholfen, Geschichten zu hören und zu sehen von Leuten, die selber so genesen sind oder genesen sind überhaupt.
und ich teile super gerne die Ressourcen, die mir persönlich helfen, hier unten.
Wenn ihr das auch probieren wollt, das waren die Dinge, mit denen ich so viel weiter kann.
For my sins, I have been watching BBC celebrity Traitors, in which Miranda Hart is a participant. I’ve never watched before so I’m not quite sure how it works but as far as I understand the winning gets up to £100,000 for their chosen charity.
She has mentioned a couple of times that she was unwell for a prolonged period but she hasn’t gone in to any detail or said what her diagnosis was in any of the bits I’ve watch, which is probably a good thing. However, if she won, it did occur to me that it might be welcome if gave the money to SequenceME – although I guess that could be problematic if it led to her talking about why she believes she recovered.
For my sins, I have been watching BBC celebrity Traitors, in which Miranda Hart is a participant. I’ve never watched before so I’m not quite sure how it works but as far as I understand the winning gets up to £100,000 for their chosen charity.
She has mentioned a couple of times that she was unwell for a prolonged period but she hasn’t gone in to any detail or said what her diagnosis was in any of the bits I’ve watch, which is probably a good thing. However, if she won, it did occur to me that it might be welcome if gave the money to SequenceME – although I guess that could be problematic if it led to her talking about why she believes she recovered.
I've been watching it too. I think she has just mentioned being ill in general terms. I admit I skip some of the chatting and round table discussions which can get a bit repetitive. I enjoy watching the challenges and traitors doing their stuff.
The winner gets up to £100,000 for their nominated charity depending how much the group win in the challenges. It was recorded a while ago, so any donation to charity is already decided. I think the chance is probably zero that Miranda would choose ME/CFS research, since she thinks she had Lyme and was cured by brain training. She seems to be enjoying herself.
Bayern munich Coach Vincent Kompany After a viral infection, he suddenly developed pain, and a few weeks later he collapsed on the pitch. I really hope he makes a full recovery. BBC Sport article
It’s certainly not going to be ME, but it’s still quite striking how much some viral infections can cause symptoms that resemble ME. I also collapsed at one point early on and had pain, before I had any diagnosis. It’s strange how similar some of these experiences can be.
I wonder what sort of pain and what sort of collapse? My son developed joint pain as part of his initial ME/CFS presentation following a virus and, collapsed while playing a football game, had to be helped off the field. (He liked playing football, it certainly wasn't psychosomatic.)
Another time, I can't remember if it was before or after the collapse, but in that initial few months of ME/CFS when we didn't know what was happening, he lost sight in one eye for about 20 minutes after running around on the football field, presumably an ocular migraine, the only time it ever happened.
Even as I write this, I know it sounds unbelievable, such a weird collection of symptoms. But these things happened, and there was absolutely no psychological reason for them.
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