The Recovery Room with Jackie Baxter
Welcome to The Recovery Room with Jackie Baxter - a gentle, grounded space for anyone navigating a health challenge.For five years, this show was known as The Long Covid Podcast, supporting thousands of listeners through the uncertainty of post‑viral illness. After my own lived experience and recovery from Long Covid, the conversations naturally grew wider — into ME/CFS, Fibromyalgia, Dysautonomia, Trauma, Burnout and the deep nervous‑system work that underpins so many healing journeys.This reimagined podcast honours that evolution.Each week, I explore the science, stories, and small, steady practices that help the body feel safer and more support...
233 - "One More Race": How Matt Fitzgerald Found His Way Back
I talk with endurance coach and author Matt Fitzgerald about losing running to Long Covid, discovering hidden heart disease, and facing months where both pushing and resting make symptoms worse. We explore how he shifts from hunting for a single cure to building a personal patchwork of pacing, symptom support and nervous system tools that helps him return to meaningful movement.
• Life as a lifelong endurance athlete and how identity shapes recovery
• Fitness versus health and how medical testing uncovers underlying issues
• Catching Covid around marathon racing and the delayed Long Covid crash
• The frustrat...
232 - Dr Michael Bagnell - Brain Health Beyond the Crisis: Finding a New Way Forward
I catch up with Dr Michael Bagnell and dig into what recovery really means when you cannot go back to who you were before. We connect mindset, brainwaves, sleep, and tiny daily choices to build agency and real hope for brain health.
• Functional neurology and neuroplasticity as a route to restoration for Long Covid, Dysautonomia, Concussion, ADHD and cognitive issues
• Recovery as redesign rather than a return to the past, with a story of rebuilding life after major disability
• Meeting ourselves where we are, balancing acceptance with hope and personal agency
• The brain’s negativity b...
231 - Marisa Renee Lee - The Self That Remains: Identity and Hope Through Illness
I talk with Marisa Renee Lee about Long Covid, identity, and what it takes to endure a season where answers are slow and uncertainty is constant. We explore grey grief, reality based hope, and the practical choices that help us keep moving towards healing even on the hardest days.
• Getting ill after being highly capable and reliable
• Rewriting a book when life flips the premise
• Authenticity when capacity shrinks and priorities shift
• Defining identity through values rather than job titles
• Learning from a parent’s long illness and lasting impact
• Naming “grey grief” as the gri...
230 - Dr Mel Houser - From Shame to Belonging: Making Room for Every Brain
I sit down with Dr Mel Houser to rethink neurodiversity as a normal fact of human life and to name how shame, masking, and burnout can build when the world expects one way of being. We connect those realities to Long Covid and ME/CFS, showing how access needs, cognitive pacing, and community support can change what recovery and participation look like.
• Neurodiversity as the full range of human brains, not a rare exception
• Why “one size fits all” environments create struggle and shame
• Autistic burnout, loss of tolerance to stimuli, and loss of skills
•...
229 - “Just for Now”: Pamela Rose Helps with Pacing for Recovery
I'm joined by Fatigue Coach Pamela Rose as we dig into why pacing feels so hard and why “energy management” is a better, more practical way to think about it. We share how to find a steadier baseline, account for cognitive and emotional load, and start increasing activity without tipping into PEM.
• Defining pacing as shaping the day around available energy
• Prioritising needs and wants over ‘shoulds’
• Using consistency to create capacity for healing
• Learning the nuance behind physical, cognitive, emotional and social exertion
• When wearables and apps help and when they backfire
• Spo...
228 - Commandos to Curious: Chris Sykes-Popham's Journey from Scepticism to Openness and Recovery
Chris Sykes-Popham shares how he goes from an adventurous Royal Marines career into a brutal ME/CFS crash, then back to full recovery and a life rebuilt around balance and self-trust. We explore perfectionism, invisible illness, and why nervous system regulation can feel like the least popular answer yet still be the most practical path forward.
• Early warning signs like post-exertional payback and brain fog
• Losing a former identity and rebuilding meaning after recovery
• Balance as a daily check for kindness and sustainability
• Extreme striving and the hidden costs of perfectionism
• Gender, emotional expression, and...
227 - Dr Heather Wilde - Listening with Hands: Healing Speeds Up When You Find The Blockage
I talk with Heather Wilde, a doctor of physical therapy, about why Long Covid and ME/CFS symptoms can be downstream of blocked drainage and disrupted nervous system signalling rather than a single “broken” part. We follow her plumber and electrician framework from real client stories into craniosacral therapy, inflammation, and why hope often returns when someone finally finds the true restriction.
• Heather’s hands-on manual therapy approach and why she keeps expanding her toolkit
• A personal recovery story after decades of ME/CFS and what changed
• The plumber mindset for fluid flow and the hidden sour...
226 - Dan Neuffer - Out of the Box: Living Your Own Blueprint
Dan Neuffer and I explore authentic living as a practical way to honour our needs without abandoning responsibility, and why that balance matters even more when we are unwell. We look at how fear, perfectionism, and people-pleasing create inner conflict, drain our energy, and can keep our nervous system stuck in threat.
• Defining authentic living as self-honouring with balance
• Why constant selflessness can become self-neglect
• How childhood patterns and social approval shape our “shoulds”
• Telltale signs of inauthentic living such as resentment and emotion management
• The link between internal conflict, safety, and chronic illness rec...
225 - 25,000 Chances to Heal: Making Every Breath Work for You
I explore breath as a practical healing tool, especially when breathlessness, air hunger, or panic keeps the body stuck in survival mode. I share why “appropriate breathwork” is gentle, flexible, and powerful enough to support both recovery and everyday health.
• Why breathing patterns change during illness and can stay dysfunctional afterwards
• The vicious cycle where breath discomfort signals danger and escalates symptoms
• How better breathing supports efficiency and frees energy for healing and life
• Nervous system regulation through functional breathing and micro moments of safety
• Why a one-size-fits-all protocol can backfire and what “meet yourself where y...
224 - From Data to Body Wisdom: When to Use (and Ditch) Heart Rate Monitoring
In part two of Jackie’s conversation with physiotherapist and Long Covid patient Robin McNelis (“Robin the Physio”), they dig into how heart rate monitors and wearables can support (or sabotage) pacing in Long Covid and ME/CFS. Robin shares both clinical and personal examples of using tech as a behaviour-change tool, not a dictator, and how it can help people eventually trust their bodies more, not less.
In This Episode:
223 - Holistic Detective Work: Unpicking Breath, Pacing & Fatigue with Robin the Physio
Jackie is joined by Robin McNelis (Robin the Physio), a cardio‑respiratory physio and Long Covid specialist, who went from running marathons and leading hospital services to his own Long Covid recovery journey.
In this episode:
What happens when all your tests are “normal” but you’re clearly not.Robin’s role as a “holistic detective” for complex breathing, fatigue and Long Covid cases.How ideas from elite sport and marginal gains translate to people just trying to shower or get to the bathroom without crashing.The reality of post‑Cov...222 - Jake Hollis - What If Validation Is A Treatment Too
I talk with clinical psychologist Dr Jake Hollis about recovering from ME/CFS and Long Covid, and why the nervous system offers a more useful frame than the tired “mind versus body” argument. We explore how validation, language, and recovery stories can shift the brain’s predictions and open up real possibilities for change.
• Jake’s lived experience of long-term illness and a slow recovery path
• How neuroplastic recovery therapies fit alongside biology rather than replacing it
• Why recovery stories can create a visceral nervous system shift
• The harm caused when recovered people are disbelieved or s...
221 - A New Room, The Same Heart. Welcome to The Recovery Room
Five years after starting the Long Covid Podcast, Jackie introduces The Recovery Room – a wider, gentler space for anyone navigating Long Covid, ME/CFS, Dysautonomia, PoTS, Trauma, Burnout, nervous system overwhelm, and long-term recovery.
In this episode, Jackie shares:
Why the podcast is evolving and what “The Recovery Room” means.How her own recovery showed that healing is about more than symptoms.How Long Covid overlaps with other conditions, and why this space now holds many experiences, not just one diagnosisWhat’s staying the same: evidence-informed conversations, recovery stories, nervous system insights, and honest, vulnerab...Welcome to The Recovery Room, with Jackie Baxter
Welcome to The Recovery Room with Jackie Baxter
This space is the natural evolution of a journey that began during my own recovery and through 5 years of the Long Covid Podcast.
A place for anyone navigating a health challenge where they feel misunderstood, isolated and uncertain of the future.A place where science and lived experience sit side by side.A place where fear can soften, and hope can feel realistic again. Gain actionable insights and tools through honest stories, conversations and the power of connection
Listen to The Recovery Room wherever y...
220 - Deepak Ravindran: Recovery Is Not Either/Or: Bridging Biology and Neuroplasticity
I catch up with pain consultant Dr Deepak Ravindran on what four years of Long Covid clinic work and research has taught him about why people get stuck with fatigue, pain, brain fog and autonomic symptoms. We argue for a practical middle path that validates biological change while using neuroplasticity and whole-person support to help the system relearn safety and move forwards.
• Deepak’s shift from pain medicine into leading a Berkshire Long Covid clinic and what patterns stood out over time
• Why most Long Covid patients were not hospitalised and why symptoms can still be sever...
219 - Boundaries, Breath, and Belonging - Foundations for Recovery
I'm joined by Bal Matharu to talk about how breathing links the nervous system, stress biology, and Long Covid symptoms, and why recovery often begins with creating a genuine felt sense of safety. We share practical ways to assess and change breathing patterns, plus the role of co-regulation, boundaries, and carefully held breathwork support.
• Bal’s path from advanced respiratory physiotherapy and ICU work to lifestyle medicine and PhD breathwork research
• The six pillars of lifestyle medicine and why stress management often underpins the rest
• Acute stress versus chronic stress and how the body shifts bloo...
218 - Learning to Listen: Neurodiversity, Trauma, and Long Covid Recovery
We hear Ana’s honest recovery story, from a gradual slide into Long Covid to the moment her nervous system finally stopped treating everyday life as a threat. We talk through neurodivergence, trauma, hypermobility and the practical tools that helped her rebuild a calm, creative life.
• The slow build of stressors that leads to a major crash
• Hypermobility and why intense workouts can backfire
• ADHD and autism discovery and how it reframes burnout
• Tests, uncertainty and how fear can keep symptoms loud
• Restrictive diets, supplement spirals and removing fear around food
• Nervous system regul...
217 - Three Common Recovery Traps (and How to Avoid Them)
I share three common recovery traps and how we can find our way out of them without blame. Today's episode focuses on pacing, nervous system safety, and emotional processing so your body can stabilise and move forwards.
• Pushing too hard on a better day and triggering the boom and bust cycle
• Banking energy for healing by spending some, enjoying some, and saving some
• Stepping off the symptom-fixing merry-go-round and reducing pressure
• Creating safety through kindness, gentleness, and small consistent cues
• Recognising the emotional load of long COVID, ME/CFS, and health challenges
• Finding a...
216 - More Than Just Covid: Stress, Grief, and Jacqui’s Journey to Recovery
I talk with Jacqui from New Zealand about dropping from a high-energy, ultra-active life into severe Long Covid, then building her way back to running, swimming and full work. Mel Abbott joins us to explain why calming the stress response comes before increasing activity, and how tools like breathwork, visualisation and emotional processing can change the trajectory.
• Jacqui’s pre-illness pace as a high achiever and endurance athlete
• Catching Covid during grief and prolonged stress, then dismissing the risk the second time
• The slide into dizziness, dysautonomia and post-exertional malaise after pushing through
• Hitting a severe crash...
215 - Overwhelm 101: Why Your System Says “Too Much” (and What to Do Next)
In this episode of the Long Covid Podcast, I explore one of the most common — and often most confusing — parts of recovery: overwhelm.
Overwhelm can feel like your whole system suddenly says “too much”:
too much noise, too many sensations, too many decisions, too many feelings, too much uncertainty. It can build slowly over time or arrive out of nowhere — and in Long Covid, ME/CFS, & other post-viral conditions, it often shows up faster and more intensely than before you were ill.
In this gentle, practical episode, I look at:
What overw...214 - Out of the Long Covid Maze: How Lalita Found Her Way Back to Health
We hear Lalita’s Long Covid recovery story, from tachycardia and air hunger to a steady return to health by focusing on nervous system safety. We share practical tools for regulating symptoms in the moment, plus the mindset shifts that make self-compassion possible when you’ve been dismissed or frightened.
• Early signs after COVID including raised blood pressure, numb lips and fatigue
• Second infection followed by tachycardia, dizziness, vertigo, chest tightness, brain fog and air hunger
• Repeated emergency visits and the impact of being told it is anxiety
• Understanding Dysautonomia and the autonomic nervous system a...
213 - East Meets West: A New Paradigm for Long Covid Healing
I'm joined by Pierre Brunschwig & Margaret Hampton as we explore how Chinese medicine and conventional western medicine can work together to treat Long Covid, where symptoms are complex and constantly shifting. We focus on subtypes, nervous system safety, immune recovery and the practical foundations that help people feel like themselves again.
• Why combining medical “languages” can fill treatment gaps
• Subtyping Long Covid and treating the person rather than the label
• The five foundations: sleep, diet, inner life, outer life and movement
• Acupuncture as a way to calm the nervous system and restore hope
• Adrena...
212 - Amy Davies - Internalised Pressure in Recovery: Letting Go Of Your Inner Drill Sergeant
We talk about how internalised pressure can keep the nervous system in threat mode and make recovery from Long Covid, ME/CFS and other health challenges harder, even when we are doing “all the right things”. We explore perfectionism, shame, and control, then land on practical ways to create space and choose small steps that help us feel a bit more okay.
• what internalised pressure means and why it matters for nervous system regulation
• why stress responses are meant to be short bursts, not a constant state
• how external pressures differ from unconscious inner demands
...
211 - Nora Rodden - What If Your Symptoms Are A Signal, Not A Sentence
Nora shares her journey from years of back pain, gut troubles, and crushing insomnia to a calm, steady baseline by retraining a sensitised nervous system. Her story blends science, practical tools, and honest moments of fear, relapse, and quiet wins.
• linking pain, GI symptoms and insomnia through fear-based conditioning
• what "psychophysiologic symptom relief therapy" taught her
• outcome independence and reducing sleep pressure
• practical insomnia steps using soothing phrases and data
• gentle exposure to feared foods and spotting inconsistent triggers
• expressive writing and creative outlets to access emotion
• personalising tools rather than copying bluepr...
210 - Roddy Schrock - Old Medicine for a New World: Is It Time to Revisit Homeopathy?
I talk with board-certified homeopath Roddy Schrock about what homeopathy is and why it can appeal to people recovery from Long Covid, ME/CFS and other complex, hard-to-explain symptoms. We dig into symptoms as messages, the power of deep listening, and how homeopathy can sit alongside Western medicine as one piece of a bigger recovery puzzle.
• Roddy’s path from chronic pain and insomnia to studying classical homeopathy
• Homeopathy as an energetic intervention and why the full symptom picture matters
• Dilution and succussion and what “gentle” treatment means in practice
• Using how you feel as a primary...
209 - Beyond Lying Down: What Rest Really Means in Recovery
In this solo episode, Jackie Baxter unpacks what rest really is during Long Covid and ME/CFS recovery—and why simply lying down often doesn’t feel restorative. She reframes the struggle to rest as your body’s way of protecting you, not failing you, and introduces the idea of “banking energy for healing”.
Jackie explores the different types of rest we need—physical, mental, sensory, emotional, social, creative, and nervous system rest—and how safety cues and nervous system regulation make deeper rest possible. She shares practical tool...
208 - From ME/CFS to a Full Life: A Mother’s Perspective on Her Son’s Recovery
Clare shares how her son went from a viral crash at thirteen to full, active living through pacing, autonomic nervous system retraining, and Mickel Therapy. We trace the medical dead ends, the messy middle, and the simple joy‑based habits that tipped him into lasting recovery.
• early sensitivity shaped by stress and frequent infections
• onset at secondary school, loss of attendance and friends
• visible and invisible symptoms including brain fog and dizziness
• NHS pathway, helpful GP, limits of NICE‑aligned care
• colour‑coded pacing and activity management to 40 percent
• ANS Rewire lifting function to about...
207 - Dr Nathan Keiser - Stop Chasing Labels, Start Fixing Mechanisms
We explore a mechanism-first approach to Long Covid & ME/CFS, shifting from labels to measurable neural and vascular bottlenecks that can be retrained. We share how to use dose, recovery, and sleep consolidation to build capacity through precise, small inputs that compound over time.
• reframing diagnosis as a map to mechanisms, not a label
• why cerebral perfusion and autoregulation drive symptoms
• concussion lessons that translate to Long Covid recovery
• structural vascular traps and simple tests that reveal them
• pacing versus targeted micro dosing for plasticity
• using DIY tools as experiments with clear signals
...
206 - Ashley's Recovery Story: I Stopped Pushing, Listened To My Body, And Started To Heal
We share Ashley’s journey from bedbound to rebuilding a joyful life, showing how belief, somatic work, and gentle pacing opened a path out of long COVID. The body is not the enemy; safety, connection, and consistent practice turn symptoms from threat to guidance.
• fast pre‑illness life and early warning signs
• collapse after pushing through infection and isolation
• lack of medical answers and disbelief from clinicians
• finding recovery stories and protecting hope
• moving from trigger‑hunting to nervous system healing
• brain retraining, visualisations, somatic practices and EFT
• pacing within a true window of toler...
205 - Nadyne McKie: When Care Becomes Co‑Regulation And Recovery
We look squarely at the invisible load of caring for people with Long Covid and ME/CFS, why carers’ nervous systems shape recovery, and how boundaries and communication protect both sides. We share clear, humane steps that reduce burnout and build co‑regulation at home.
• Defining the carer role across partners, parents and adult children
• Why caring is invisible, isolating and exhausting
• Boundaries that prevent “fixing” and conflict
• Fluctuating illness, hypervigilance and control
• Co‑regulation and why a calm carer accelerates recovery
• Practical resets that aren’t a self‑care to‑do list
• Sharing the care...
204 - Simon Harrison - "Leaving ME Behind" and Finding Life Again
I talk with author Simon Harrison about losing an active life to ME, finding a diagnosis, and rebuilding health through pacing, meditation, and a bold year seeking light in Portugal. The story is honest about setbacks and fierce about hope, with practical lessons you can apply today.
• early denial and sudden onset symptoms
• shrinking life, sensory overload, fear
• self-experimentation with meditation, breathwork, gentle movement
• diagnosis of ME/CFS and reframing recovery
• pacing, window of tolerance, damage limitation
• why more light and a change of scene helped
• recalibrating normal tiredness vs post-exertional malaise
• progr...
203 - Carissa Conrad - Your New Best Friend: The Vagus Nerve
We explore how the vagus nerve shapes recovery from Long Covid and chronic fatigue, and why building parasympathetic tone changes sleep, digestion, pain, and mood. Carissa Conrad shares clear guidance on non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation, safe pacing, and common mistakes to avoid.
• what the vagus nerve does across heart, gut, immune and inflammation
• why sympathetic overdrive feels normal and how to spot it
• paced breathing, humming and gentle tools to build vagal tone
• what vagus nerve stimulation means and how it works
• TENS versus ultrasound, ear and neck targets, parameter basics
• passive stimulation...
202 - Michelle Irving - How Health Challenges Could Turn Your Work Into Authentic Leadership
We map a clear path from medical leave to meaningful work, sharing the five-stage Career and Chronic framework and the skills that turn lived experience into authentic leadership. Practical scripts, capacity tools, and boundary strategies make work humane and sustainable.
• What career means when health reshapes life
• The five stages: off-ramp, on-ramp, the new, test and redesign, authentic leadership
• Emotional skills for the bed-based phase
• Boundaries without apology or battle
• Baseline versus optimal capacity and how to communicate both
• Reducing emotional labour at work and home
• Why these skills create trusted, empathetic lea...
201 - Lily Spechler - Fuel Before You Fix
I sit down with Lily Spechler, a registered dietitian and long hauler, to unpack why weight change in Long Covid is a metabolic story, not a willpower issue. We map a safer path: fuel first, stabilise blood sugar and blood flow, then make tiny adjustments that your body can tolerate.
• Adding 10–15% above BMR to halt weight gain and calm stress signals
• Glucose spikes from standing and why compression and electrolytes help
• Why cutting calories can worsen dysautonomia and fatigue
• Protein-forward plates with modest carbs to flatten swings
• When weight loss is medically useful in MCAS, hyp...
200 - Celebrating 200 & The Power of Intention in Healing
Welcome to a milestone episode! In the 200th episode of the Long Covid Podcast, Jackie Baxter rings in 2026 by sharing personal reflections on the journey so far and the evolution of the podcast from its origins during her own recovery from Long Covid.
Jackie explores:
Lessons learned from recovery, including resilience, adapting to life’s unpredictability, and the importance of grace in setbacks.The difference between goals and intentions, with practical, science-backed advice on setting gentle, adaptable intentions to support healing and emotional well-being.A guided exercise to help you set your own intention for the da...199 - Creativity 2025 - A Tapestry of Expression
Creativity doesn’t just reflect our lives; it reshapes them when everything else feels fixed. I close the year by handing the mic to artists, writers, and makers whose work was forged in the long shadow of Long Covid & ME/CFS —and whose voices light the way forward.
If you’ve been searching for proof that small creative acts matter, this collection is your sign. If a line, chord, or colour stayed with you, let me know which moment moved you most.
If you'd like to be part of next year's episode, get in touch!
198 - Lighting Candles, Not Waiting for Light Bulbs: Practical Belief-Building Techniques
We go from theory to practice on beliefs and recovery, building a daily framework that protects mindset, reduces flare spirals, and turns small wins into lasting change. Practical tools include proof journaling, identity shifts, nervous system regulation, and curating what you let in.
• building a symptom and activity proof journal
• reframing setbacks as feedback not failure
• identity-based habits to support healing
• managing physiology first with breath
• countering nocebo and fear narratives
• curating social media and inputs
• progress not perfection through tiny choices
• making recovery actions feel good to repeat
• faster bouncebacks...
197 - More Than Mindset: The Crucial Role of Belief in Healing
We explore how belief shapes behaviour, attention, and recovery in Long Covid and ME/CFS, separating grounded acceptance from resignation and linking science to daily choices. Stories, evidence, and small wins show why consistency and self‑compassion matter more than intensity.
• defining belief as evidence‑based stance that drives action
• antibiotics, diabetes, and stroke rehab as clear analogies
• neuroplasticity explained in plain terms
• acceptance for now versus resignation forever
• how negative narratives limit progress
• three layers of proof: rational, social, personal
• noticing micro‑wins via the brain’s filtering
• consistency over intensity in daily...
196 - Cellular Recharge: Can Nicotinamide Riboside help in Long Covid Recovery?
I'm joined today by Edmarie Guzman-Velez & Rudy Tanzi as we dig into a clinical trial of nicotinamide riboside for Long Covid, why NAD matters for cellular energy, and where the results show promise for fatigue, sleep, mood, and executive function. We share what worked, what did not, and the next steps.
• Overview of NAD, mitochondria, and energy in brain and immune cells
• Why Covid may deplete NAD and how NR restores it
• Trial design using intra-individual crossover with placebo run-in
• Dosing at 2,000 mg NR daily under IRB oversight
• Serial NAD blood measurements confirming...
195 - Olympic Insights on the Path to Wellness - Katie's Recovery Story
I am joined by Katie Brennan & Andrea Henkel Burke to share Katie’s Long Covid recovery, how nervous system work unlocked capacity, and why an Olympian’s playbook of pacing, breath, joint maps and cognitive drills can fit chronic illness. The theme is small, smart inputs that prevent crashes and build a stronger baseline.
• early symptoms, second infection and severe brain fog
• switching from push-through to deliberate pacing
• vagus nerve, breath and eye movement drills
• athlete mindset applied to recovery
• gentle mobility plus cognitive tasks for safer gains
• stacking tiny wins to raise baseline c...
