From Pacing All Night With Panic to Building a New Life in Panama

Michael's Story: Living With Long COVID

I'm a commercial fisherman up in Alaska, and it's an intense job. There's a lot of machismo in it. How hard you can fish, how little you can sleep, who'll fish in bigger waves and scarier conditions. The job is only part of it. My whole life has been pushing myself to the limit, maxing out my reserves, ever since I was a kid.

I went through a rough fishing season, there was financial pressure, some relationship problems, my dog almost died, and then major problems with my boat. All of that stress was building and I was going to keep pushing through it.

Then I got a virus and I just wasn't feeling better. After two months I still wasn't right. And what would I do? Go surf for four hours, completely tax myself, and be in bed for a week. Then I'd feel a bit better, take my machete into the jungle and sweat five pounds out, and feel terrible for two days. It was me not respecting my body and not understanding when to just relax.

That's when the panic attacks and the insomnia started. My energy was in the gutter but I was still pushing. I did all the tests like everyone does. There's nothing wrong with you, man, you're fine.

Somebody suggested an eight-day water fast. I'd fasted before, and I go for things, so I went for it. By the eighth day I felt worse and worse. I ate, and then my whole system shut down. No energy to do anything at all. Over the next month or two I kept getting worse.

I had tinnitus in one ear and then both, a cough that wouldn't go, zero energy, no color in my face. The insomnia was extreme and so was the anxiety. Multiple panic attacks a day. I'd think, if I can get to bed by eight, maybe I get a couple of hours before it starts. Then like clockwork, between eleven and midnight, wide awake, panic starting, couldn't breathe. And I'd pace all night, with no energy to walk, because it was the only way to burn off that crazy energy. I was stuck in fight or flight.

That's when I started going deeper than I ever had with brain retraining and the mind-body connection. Everything we do is programming. Every thought we have, from the day we're born, is programming our brain in one direction or another. And I realized I'd never known how to relax. I was always on edge, always people pleasing, never settling down.

My first big win was being able to actually feel gratitude. Not think about it, feel it in my chest. And then realizing I could call on it. I'd never had a gratitude practice. Once I had that moment, my recovery took off. Things were still hard, but I could come back to that.

The community mattered as much as anything. Caring about somebody else takes away some of what you're going through. I'm 47 and I'd never met anybody who'd been through this, and suddenly there was a group who cared about me and I cared about them. The self-compassion and self-forgiveness are part of the same thing.

My coach could tell me in real time, this is going to pass, you're in an adjustment period. You already know it, but you need to hear it. When your amygdala is firing, it's hard to trust your own judgment.

The mantras got me through. This too shall pass. And staying in a three-foot world. When you're in a panic attack for eight hours, every moment is hard, but there are little nuggets of understanding in there, and it starts like an ember and grows.

The other thing is pacing myself. Old Mike would go until there was nothing in the tank and he was sucking on fumes. Now it's, do I have the capacity? I do, so I'll keep going, and I'll leave some in the tank. You don't have to finish today.

The Science Behind Long COVID Recovery

In Long COVID, the nervous system gets stuck in a chronic stress response. Research suggests the issue may be functional rather than structural. Your nervous system may be stuck in protection mode, and even normal activities can feel overwhelming. This is what keeps symptoms like fatigue, brain fog, and insomnia cycling.

Nervous system retraining uses neuroplasticity, your brain's ability to rewire itself, to help shift out of that stuck state. Instead of managing symptoms, it may address the underlying pattern. That's when real, lasting recovery starts.

Before vs. After: Michael's Recovery

Area	Before Recovery	After Recovery
Nights	Pacing until morning through panic attacks	Sleeping, and out at parties with friends
Energy	Zero energy and no color in his face	Eight hours of physical work in 90 degree heat
Location	Housebound	Living in Panama and running a new business
Pace	Push to the limit every single time	Takes breaks and leaves something in the tank
Emotional	Stuck in fight or flight	Calls on gratitude on purpose, every day

Where Is Michael Now?

Michael lives in Panama, is building a new business, does full days of physical work, goes snorkeling, and is back to seeing friends. He describes a deeper peace and contentment than he had before any of this, and he's open that he still has further to go. Michael made this progress through CFS Recovery's recovery system, built on nervous system retraining. This story is one of over 100+ hours of filmed recovery case studies from real people sharing their real experiences. Not scripted. Not staged. Real people, on camera, in their own words.

We've helped people as young as 9 and as old as 86. People who've been dealing with this for 3 months to 50 years. People from bedridden to semi-functional and everywhere in between. Over 3,000 documented client wins across our community.