Gill Hicks Oxygen User
Miraculous is the word that comes to mind. Improvement beyond my wildest dreams. Yet why oh why isn’t everybody talking about it? Only one article I read on Long Covid said trials in oxygen baric chambers were being conducted in Rugby – which wouldn’t have been enough to make me hopeful enough to look into it and try it. I only heard about oxygen therapy when my daughter sent me an article from Australia saying they had some success with Long Covid. This was my first glimmer of hope that I wouldn’t be spending the rest of my life in this new unwelcome state.
I got Covid / Long Covid 9 months ago, and until the last few weeks, everything else is a bit of a blur. I do remember vaguely a few events, such as some people coming to see me and Christmas day, but I remember them as if I have read about them happening to someone else – no emotions, details or feelings attached. I know many days were like the first day out of bed after a nasty virus, all I could do was get out of bed and slump in an armchair and read light novels. I can’t tell you how many books I have read over the last 9 months, the titles, authors nor storylines, but it is a lot.
I knew there was more going on than what they call ‘brain fog’ and have read that Covid can cause damage to parts of the brain. I can’t tell you how reassured I felt reading the article on oxygen therapy and dementia in the Samson Centre annexe showing brain scans with the brain regenerating. Then I had real hope. I had been doing a few French lessons every day for a year, but with Covid, everything I had learned was completely wiped out. I used to enjoy sudoku, but suddenly I couldn’t do even the very easy puzzles.
I could only manage company for about 40 minutes, then would get tired and my voice would fade and go. Then I lost my voice completely for 3 months.
Then I started oxygen therapy at the Samson Centre. I had read that oxygen therapy was most successful if it was taken on consecutive days for 15 – 20 days, so I greedily took up every slot I could (that my wonderful group of friends were so kindly driving me to since I live in London). I was told to log how I was feeling every day (very helpful) and that the first thing I might notice is cognitive improvement. Sure enough after the first 2 or 3 sessions I was somewhat slowly doing the easy sudoku accurately – relief! Then on my 6th session (first at 1.75 ata), I came out and said thank you to the volunteer – and I could SPEAK! I had my voice back after 3 long months. It lasted a couple of hours, then a day, and now I have been speaking normally for 3 or 4 weeks.
I have now had around 20 sessions over a couple of months. My energy has improved greatly and I can now walk for about 45 minutes. Even the last few days I have noticed my memory is improving, I can organise things better and importantly I feel ‘myself’ again. I still have a problem with audio visual overload and can’t be with a group of people for more than an hour, nor drive more than 15 minutes, but I know, rather than hope that a few more sessions will see me right.
A HUGE thank you to the Samson Centre and all the wonderful volunteers who have made this transformation possible for me.