I’d like to think I was pretty fit before I caught Covid. I had run a marathon in Antarctica just a few years before, finishing ahead of many more accomplished marathon runners, had run several ultra marathons, including running 100km from London to Brighton and was training to row the Atlantic solo from Spain to Antigua.
This latter endeavour had resulted in me undertaking overnight rows, 24 hour rowing challenges on the rowing machine and a host of other fun and challenging physical endeavours. And then I got Covid. In a matter of weeks I went from being able to run for hours on end or being able to row for 16 hours a day to not being able to walk up two flights of stairs without my heart rate shooting through the roof and leaving me gasping for air.
Fit I may have been, but I obviously had some health challenges that this virus had exploited, and sadly, fit I was no more. After 6 months of waiting for the effects of the virus to diminish, doing breathwork and generally becoming more sedentary than I had been in over 2 decades, I decided I had to take some more assertive positive action.
Now the pandemic has passed, nobody seems to want to talk about Covid and certainly, even as my doctor admitted, there is little interest or research into Long Covid, yet there are an estimated 1M sufferers of this in the UK alone as my doctor informed me. Given this I was prepared to give anything a try. It was my mum who recommended Hyperbaric Health and Healing to me as she had read that mHBOT could help with the symptoms of Long Covid, and so I made the trip from Kingston-upon-Thames to give it a try, and wow what a difference even that first session made.
Colin and Jennie made it really clear to me that this was not a one-and-done type treatment and that the reason that people with Long Covid are called Covid Long Haulers is because the road to recovery is lengthy. The impact of that first session was so significant that I had to give it another go, and true to their word, the impact of that first treatment, whilst it lasted 3-4 days naturally started to wane, but was boosted again, and then some by each subsequent session.
Now, I have worked with many health care, wellness and fitness providers over the years, from osteopaths, physiotherapists, personal trainers and many more. The one thing that the business model of all of these depend on is repeat business which ironically conflicts with long term sustained wellness.
I am delighted that this wasn’t the case with Hyperbaric Health and Healing. When after a few sessions I was completely sold on the benefits of HBOT Colin sat down with me and explained that for me to get the best results I would need to be doing this daily, potentially multiple times a day and that it wasn’t sustainable for me to be driving to them for that either from a time perspective or financially and so he suggested that I rent a chamber for myself which I could use at will at home, which I did. I have actually gone on to buy my own and am having incredible results. All my recovery indicators are strong, I have started rucking (walking with a weighted backpack) to start the process of building my aerobic capacity and replacing some muscle mass that I have lost and hope to be gently easing back into cycling, rowing and maybe even the odd jog in the coming months. None of this would have been possible without the kindness, support and selflessness of Colin and Jennie who put my health above their own interests to ensure my welfare. A nicer, well meaning and passionately supportive couple and business you could not hope to meet. I owe them my recovered health and for that I will always be grateful. Thank you.
