"Life begins again where it left off" — Dianna's story
Four and a half years after her covid infection, Dianna tells how twenty sessions of hyperbaric oxygen therapy gave her back her sleep, energy and clarity.
- After 4.5 years of long covid and countless treatment attempts, Dianna noticed the first clear change around session fifteen of her HBOT programme.
- After twenty of forty sessions: better sleep without medication, the pain gone, more energy and a clear head — her partner Jan sees the difference too.
- One story is not proof; that is why we follow each participant individually in the NEST pilot, alongside the published research.
Four and a half years ago, Dianna fell ill. What began as a corona infection turned into a long battle with long covid: pain throughout her body, persistent headaches, sleeplessness, no energy, sensory overload and a head that no longer worked the way it used to.
Do you recognise this — or do you guide someone with long covid? One message is enough to hear whether the pilot fits.
“I tried everything,” Dianna says — from occupational therapy to cannabis gummies to get to sleep, and much more. But real relief never came.
Searching for answers
Dianna did not let it rest. She read widely about long covid and came across the research into hyperbaric oxygen therapy — a treatment already widely used in Germany for people with long covid. Dianna has always been a passionate athlete, but had to let that go because of her complaints. About a year ago she picked it up again, adapted and not at full strength. Through sport she came into contact with Nanouk, who at that moment was starting to work at a place with a hyperbaric oxygen chamber: NEST.
The first changes
After twenty sessions, Dianna already feels like a different person. She sleeps better. The pain in her body is gone. Cognitively she is making real progress, and she has much more energy.
Her partner Jan sees the difference too: more stamina, less quickly overstimulated, and no more two days of recovery after a day with too many stimuli.
“You didn’t notice it straight away,” they say, “but after about fifteen sessions we really saw clear improvements.”
Back to life
Where Dianna used to need days to recover from simple things, she can now cycle, walk, and even spend a weekend camping with her grandchild. An afternoon nap is now the exception rather than the rule, where it used to be a fixture. She no longer uses sleep medication, hardly any painkillers, and dares — carefully — to take up sport again.
The bridge to the outside world
“After twenty sessions I am already so much better, I am very curious what it will be like after forty,” Dianna says. “I know there are so many people living with long covid, and it would be wonderful if my story reaches them — and they get the chance to try this too. Because I hope many people can feel better again through this. Long covid has an enormous impact on your life and also on your relationship.”
Life begins again where it left off. — Dianna
Dianna shares her story in the hope of reaching other long covid patients who may benefit from hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
For the record: this is the story of one participant in our pilot, not a promise about your outcome. What the science does and does not know about this treatment — including the Dutch registry in which 56 to 63 percent of treated patients improved in a clinically relevant way — you can read in our full article on hyperbaric oxygen therapy for long covid. If You want to know whether the pilot fits Your situation, one message is enough.
