My Long Covid Story
Healing is Possible
Leaving Death in the Dust was primarily created for cancer patients, my dad specifically, but it’s based on what I did to heal from long-covid. If you haven’t already, please take a look at our ABOUT page to learn more about us and our story.
Oddly enough, a lot of what we did to help dad go from a stage 4 cancer diagnosis in November of 2022 to cancer free during March of 2023 came about because I noticed that much of what I found that was being done to heal cancer from a metabolic disease perspective was similar to what I did to heal from long-covid.
The mini-revival I experienced for about a month in the fall of 2022 came to an abrupt end when my dad called me early one November morning to tell me he had stage 4 cancer, spread to his lungs, and that it was going to be about 6 weeks before biopsies, an appointment with an oncologist, and a definitive diagnosis of what specific kind of cancer it was, would be made. That also meant it would be even longer before treatment would begin. None of us were really excited about waiting that long for any of this to take place. The next morning after that phone call from my dad, in which he told us that we were going to stay positive, I turned on the interwebs while my husband and I drank our coffee. The first video to pop up in my recommended watch list was about a man named Tenenbaum who was told he had stage 4 prostate cancer in 2018 and was sent home to die, but he wasn’t ready to die, so he learned everything that he could about beating his death diagnosis, wrote his own cancer protocol, healed his cancer, left death in the dust (for now), and is still alive at the time of this writing. What really struck me about all of this was the focus in his protocol on inhibiting SCOT which also just so happens to be my dad’s name, Scott, and, that the name Tenenbaum means Christmas tree which is the time of year that dad would be starting his cancer treatment. These 2 key words, SCOT and Tenenbaum and their respective associations with our particular situation caught my attention and gave me Hope. Hope that we would not have to sit around for the next 6 weeks wringing our hands and doing nothing, except swim around in our fearful thoughts, while we waited for the healthcare system to work.
Pray First - by Stephanie Schaible, MT (ASCP)
Most of my long-covid symptoms which started in August of 2021 and came to a head in March of 2022, a time period in which I came down with Covid 3 times, have healed.
I had a very mild case of Covid with the Delta variant, but it left lingering symptoms that were starting to get better in December of 2021, but the Omicron’s hit me in January and April of 2022 and that’s when things really took a turn for the worse. The horrible chronic fatigue finally ended for me in October 2022 and by December 2022 the fibromyalgia cleared up. Over New Years 2023, I got covid again, but I recovered pretty quickly and only had a little of the nerve buzzing linger on and some GI upset. My body is now functioning in a healthier way and most of my covid symptoms have all improved. I’ve also lost 15 lbs of the weight that I put on. Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum has said that the average amount of weight gained with chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia related illness is around 32 pounds.
There are no specific healthcare protocols for long-covid. I do not have health insurance because we are self-employed and because Obamacare has made health insurance unaffordable for us, so I can’t afford to go running around to specialists looking for answers, not getting them, and accumulating large medical expenses. We do use a health sharing ministry, but that requires a lot of diligence on our part to help keep costs down and is a dire emergency backup plan for us. I love that our monthly contribution helps pay for the medical expenses of others in our group, who like us, don’t have health insurance. If anyone is interested in joining our health sharing group, hit me up in the comments for a link that I can give you that will help save us some money for referring you. When Covid lingered and lingered on for me in the spring of 2022, I did see my primary care doctor to make sure that the virus had not caused any serious damage to my major organs, and other than affirming that my organs were indeed ok, she wasn’t of more help to me. I had already learned a lot about post viral illnesses from a run in with another virus that hit me hard about 20 years ago. That previous viral experience taught me a lot about what the healthcare system could and could not do for my healing. I’ve documented the details regarding that and the specifics about my Covid symptoms here- My Long Covid Experience.
When Covid began lingering in me, instead of visiting the offices of many different specialists who were most likely not going to be able to do much for me other than create an unnecessary financial burden for myself and my husband,
I had friends pray for me.
In the Summer of 2022 after suffering for nearly 10 months following a third round of Covid that wasn’t getting better and only getting worse, I asked Jesus to show me everything I needed to be healed, and He began to answer me, little by little.
Pray First - by Stephanie Schaible, MT (ASCP)
I had a phone consultation with a functional medicine practitioner’s team member who provided me with some very helpful healing information, I joined a long-covid group (being careful to not get caught up in the tendency of sick people to commiserate, but to encourage and support and share what was working for each of us), I learned as much as I possibly could about what this particular virus was doing to my body, and I began healing each cluster of symptoms I was experiencing, little by little. In other words, I took control of my health with the help of others, and I developed my own healing, health care protocol. This is what survivors do- we take an active role in our own health and do what needs to be done in order to heal. I am very thankful for all of the doctors who have been sharing what they know about healing from a functional and natural medicine perspective on the interwebs.
I hope that my healing journey gives you Hope, encourages you, and helps you to stay positive about healing long-covid which is not unicorn rainbow fart wishful thinking. Staying positive is remaining hopeful in a grim situation and appropriately managing your negative emotions, as they occur, while still pursuing your healing goals. My dad’s decision to stay positive from the beginning of his stage 4 cancer diagnosis in November of 2022 set the positive tone for all of us, and he didn’t need an extensive medical education or psychology degree to know what he already intuitively knew from the beginning of his cancer diagnosis - negative emotions are linked to lowered immunity and lowered immunity is one of the many things that can cause the growth of cancer. Therefore, feeling helpless and hopeless could contribute to the weakening of the immune system and potentially decrease survival time for cancer patients and hinder our healing from other diseases and illnesses like long-covid.
I used what I learned from others on the interwebs (most of them have an M.D. behind their name) to help heal myself from long-covid and to help my dad get rid of his tumors. He’s going to keep doing what he’s been doing to help keep himself cancer free, and it’s a beautiful reminder of how bad things like long-covid can be used for good. It honestly blows my mind to now be able to give thanks for all that long-covid has taught me. #Survivor
I primarily used the FLCCC Doctors long-covid protocol (including Ivermectin), Dr. Jacob Teitelbaum’s SHINE Protocol, and Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s Mast Cell Activation protocol, and Dr. Eric Berg’s videos on nutritional supplements and fasting to learn how to heal from long-covid. Dr. Tina Peers has also had some helpful videos on her substack and Youtube channel, and I highly recommend the book-
Lessons from the Miracle Doctors: A Step-By-Step Guide to Optimum Health and Relief from Catastrophic Illness by Jon Barron
The treatment that I found to be the most effective for my long-covid problems was acupuncture which I’ve documented here-
Acupuncture for the Win! - by Stephanie Schaible, MT (ASCP)
Also, please consider subscribing to Long COVID: Insights from a journey back to wellness | Mardi Crane-Godreau, PhD | Substack as she has much wisdom to share with you about recovering from long-covid.
Sometimes the healthcare system just can’t do everything we want or expect it to, and I think that it took a long illness and the chaos of the Covid pandemic to remind me that as wonderful as modern medicine and science are, they are not perfect and can’t quite guarantee us everything that we would like them to. Looking to the healthcare system first and foremost has become almost automatic for too many of us, let’s not let it take God’s place as first and foremost in our lives. Pray first.
Pray First - by Stephanie Schaible, MT (ASCP)
The most important thing I learned along the way is that healing is about your entire being, your soul, which includes your mind, body, and spirit. Don’t forget to look at your entire self and what you need to do to be healthy and whole in every way. My own healing journey started with prayer.
“Who are you if your story begins to change? Do not be so loyal to your suffering that your healing doesn’t stand a chance.” ~Contemplative Monk
If you know someone who could benefit from what is being done here, please invite them to subscribe!
Most of my newsletters about Long-Covid (specifically) can be found in the Leaving Death in the Dust subsection-
Long-Covid Corner | Leaving Death in the Dust | Stephanie Schaible | Substack
Best Wishes,
My name is Stephanie, I can do hard things, and Leaving Death in the Dust was created in sickness and in hope for healthy healing. ******Remember to make prayer a first priority.
*Leaving Death in the Dust is a newsletter and is not a replacement for professional, regulated, medical, healthcare. This is informational and educational. Some of us in this community may have worked in the healthcare system, but we are not your medical provider and whatever you find here is not the establishment of a professional medical relationship or medical advice. **That is an MT behind my name not an MD.
