Anti. 🐘Dec 17, 2024

"Doch [Marlen Reusser] hat ihr Leben wieder in die Hand genommen, sich gegen diese schlimme Krankheit und ihre Folgen gestemmt. Mithilfe von Meditation, Hypnose und mentalem Training hat sie es in «kleinen grossen Schritten» geschafft, langsam wieder zu ihrem alten Ich zu finden."

Elite cyclist claims she has healed from her #LongCOVID and #MECFS with the help of meditation, hypnosis and mental training. I mean, sure, anything can happen, but let's hope she is right.

https://www.derbund.ch/rad-marlen-reusser-ist-wieder-gesund-und-hat-grosse-plaene-145217707272

Show threadAnti. 🐘

My opinion: If #MarlenReusser did get better, a big part of it was luck. A huge part was luck. I now dread the takes that suggest, if she was able to overcome her #LongCOVID, everyone can. Many of us try a million things, but do not manage to get better. Even more of us don't even have the energy to sit upright for a long stretch of time, so imagine how meditation might go.

And yes, it's possible to meditate lying down. I have been doing that every might for almost 5 years, but no such luck.

Dec 17, 2024 at 7:45pmWeb
Show threadAnti. 🐘Dec 17, 2024
And hypnosis? I mean, can someone explain to me the rationale there? Isn't that one of those things than can help, IF you believe in it? And not really in somatic issues.
Show threadAnti. 🐘Dec 18, 2024

Side note: I am not at all surprised, given her personality, that Reusser opted for the heroic approach in regards to her #LongCOVID, as in "I am gonna beat this", instead of maybe doing solidarity and advocacy work for her fellow ill people, who don't have the platform and the same fame that she does. Like Matt McGorry did.

I appreciate him so much, don't you? We could use more Matt McGorry's and less Marlen Reusser's.

Show threadAnti. 🐘Dec 18, 2024

The meditation thing also keeps boggling me.

Seriously, if meditation could heal this i would have been healed years ago. I have been meditating for over 35 years, daily, and i have continued to practice all through my #LongCOVID. If meditation could be the solution, that would mean that it is not a somatic illness, but one of a wrongful inner attitude. Mental training also suggests the illness to be psychosomatic.

Okay, i have not tried hypnosis, but really? Still don't get that.

Show threadAnti. 🐘Dec 18, 2024

So even by communicating through the media what helped her, Reusser has taken an anti-solidarity stance towards the community.

In our self-help communities we have had to learn how to tone down what helped us, because we realized that there will never be a one-size fits all solution. As varied as the disease is, as many symptoms as there are, there also won't be a method that helps everyone.

And certain people need to find comfort in the fact that they might never improve. So please.

Show threadDr Ro SmithDec 18, 2024

@antiaall3s While it's not a cure (at all) meditation has helped me significantly lower my heart rate when it's prematurely elevated by ME/CFS, which reduces oxidative damage and helps me stabilise after a crash or reduce crashes - it's got nothing to do with anything mental, for me, and definitely not psychosomatic, or I wouldn't be doing it. The breathing exercises and nerve stimulation help regulate the vagus nerve, that's all.

Again: I do NOT think it will cure me, the benefit is>

Show threadDr Ro SmithDec 18, 2024
@antiaall3s >comparatively small, but it lowered my resting HR by over 20 points back into the normal zone. It isn't psychosomatic.
Show threadDr Ro SmithDec 18, 2024
@antiaall3s you are totally right that it's irresponsible for her to declare she cured herself this way and that it can cure other people.
Show threadAnti. 🐘Dec 18, 2024

@Rhube Since i have always meditated i can't say, if it helps me or not. Hypothetically i would feel worse without it, but i don't feel like testing that.

Given Reusser's status and clout as a famous athlete, she could have been so helpful to many of us. But instead, the way she has handled it, she kind of shot us in the back. Many here will be pressured into doing what she did. The medical research in regards to various phenotypes has not transpired yet.

https://www.cell.com/med/fulltext/S2666-6340(24)00407-0

Show threadMeguminDec 17, 2024
@antiaall3s I highly doubt she will ever return to her former baseline in overall fitness.
Show threadAnti. 🐘Dec 17, 2024
@foremostarchwiz Time will tell. I mean with cyclists it's all about data and watts these days. She got a new contract and is team leader there.