Input from patients is one of the most valuable resources that medical professionals–as well as other patients–have for learning about the causes, symptoms and treatment of long COVID, also known as post-COVID syndrome. 

In a recent article in The Guardian, Fiona Lowenstein, a journalist, long-COVID patient advocate and the founder of the health justice organization Body Politic, described her bout with COVID-19 and long COVID and how she was able to use rest and a paced recovery to bounce back.  

Fiona’s Story

Before being hospitalized with COVID-19 in March 2020, Lowenstein was a healthy, able-bodied 26-year-old yoga instructor who ran, biked, boxed and lifted weights. Within a few days of being discharged after her acute illness, it became clear that her health was not improving.  

Attempts to push through fatigue, migraines and flu-like symptoms failed, and often only resulted in making her symptoms worse. Within a couple of weeks, she realized that recovery “would be a marathon, not a sprint,” and that she’d have to pace herself and get the rest she needed.  

How Did She Do It?

Lowenstein developed a schedule by which she could ease into each day. She slept as much as possible, made breakfast and brushed her teeth while sitting down, and allowed for a period of rest afterward. Her morning routine would take hours to complete, but it gave her the energy to work at her computer for a few hours, after which her energy crashed again. Particularly exhausting tasks also left her sensitive to light and sound, forcing her to lie still in a dark room. 

This strategy is called “pacing,” and the purpose is to conserve your energy and distribute it as productively as possible. It involves both intensive rest–lying still and doing nothing, not even listening to music or looking at your phone–and planned rest periods between bouts of exertion, to help prevent energy crashes and symptom flare-ups.

Not Just for Long COVID

Pacing is not Lowenstein’s discovery. Slowing down and getting lots of rest has worked for many patients with systemic issues. A few months into her recovery, Lowenstein connected with a number of people who live with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), a debilitating chronic condition that, like long COVID, can involve flare-ups that last for weeks or months. 

Most of the CFS patients that Lowenstein met confirmed the benefits of rest and pacing, describing their effectiveness against CFS symptom called post-exertional malaise (PEM), a worsening of fatigue, memory or concentration, achiness, and flu-like symptoms following even minor physical or mental exertion. 

A Ray of Hope for Sufferers

Lowenstein experienced daily debilitating symptoms from mid-March through June 2020, during which time the only treatments she pursued (aside from supplemental oxygen while in the hospital) were rest and pacing. By the end of June, she was experiencing major improvements.  

She returned to a regular exercise schedule, walked and biked around the city as necessary, and was able to accept a full-time job. Her few remaining symptoms are easily manageable. She attributes her recovery to early access to care, and three months of “intense, sustained, radical rest.”

Going Forward

While she acknowledges that she is no doctor, and that what works for one patient will not necessarily work for all, Lowenstein feels strongly that rest and pacing are “crucial first steps” for COVID-19 and long-COVID patients, and that they can mean the difference between a speedy recovery and long-term disability. 

Unfortunately, she says, her ability to plan long breaks between periods of exertion was due to having a live-in caregiver, some small savings, and financial support from both her and her partner’s parents, which enabled her to stop most of her paid work during those early months. 

These are luxuries that many others don’t have, and Lowenstein counts herself among the many other advocates calling for enhanced workplace protections and the expansion of disability benefits for people suffering from long COVID. 

“Recovery should not just be an option for those of us with the economic advantage to access early care and take time off from work,” she wrote, “but a reality for everyone who has remained ill after a COVID-19 infection.”

*Lowenstein, F. (2021, June 21). I Rested My Way to Recovery from Long COVID. I Urge Others to Do the Same. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jun/21/long-covid-recovery-coronavirus 

Much about the novel coronavirus, i.e., COVID-19, is still not fully understood. As research progresses and our knowledge of the virus increases, information can change rapidly. We strive to update all of our articles as quickly as possible, but there may occasionally be some lag between scientific developments and our revisions.