Interview with Oonagh Cousins

Oonagh Cousins, who once dreamed of representing Great Britain as a rower in the Olympics, got sick early in the pandemic and has been suffering from Long Covid ever since. Her story was first covered by the BBC in November, 2020. Earlier this year, a BBC investigation of the woo-woo intervention called the Lightning Process also featured Cousins. She had tried it and believed it was “exploiting people,” she told the reporters.
I wanted to hear a bit more about Cousins’ experiences as well as what she’s up to now. We spoke earlier this week.

[@kasiachm]

Thank you for talking about the harms of Lightning Process!

[@simonduckworth5941]

That was really interesting, such a good interview 👍 I have a neighbour who mentioned they have a friend with ME who benefited from the LP, so I was initially sceptical yet curious about it. I am no longer curious! Having heard Oonagh’s BBC broadcast article, it was very useful to have her perspective around the LP more broadly (great interview questions, David!). What chimed with me was Oonagh talking about her mental health with Long Covid, I’m very much in the same boat, fortunately I’m in much the same place mentally now as I was pre-LC. I found counselling useful to help with my grieving and acceptance process. It’s not my mental health or attitude preventing me from living the active life that I want - it’s PEM! Oonagh, I hope your health continues to improve and thank you both for your continued LC & ME/CFS advocacy 🙌

[@berenairstone7202]

Wonderful Oonagh-well said. I am one of the many athletes, though not at your level, who have been sick since early 2020. And I have to say this is one of the only occasions in history when being on a sporting health programme has not been entirely useful, in that the patients who had no support at all clubbed together, did a lot of citizen science (via outlets like Gez Medinger’s video channel) and figured out many of the issues ahead of the doctors. From the summer of 2020, a huge influx of patients with pre-existing chronic conditions such as MECFS and chronic Lyme warned us vociferously and repeatedly about the dangers of programmes such as the LP and supported us through the ‘Prof Paul Garner incident’ (covered massively in the media-a doc of tropical medicine who initially vocalised how terrible LC and PEM were, but then did an abrupt about turn and said he was cured by the LP, or something similar. He was also later linked to harmful treatments for MECFS such as graded exercise therapy). Maybe the media in the UK is partly to blame by keeping these threads alive-I noticed last week that the Guardian had printed a letter by the Prof discrediting the ‘team clots’ work since 2021 and the doctors and scientists experimenting to try and improve QOL (not cure) patients by addressing inflammation and amyloid particles. It seems a bit ‘tit for tat’ but the media sometimes stokes the flames. Thanks to Oonagh for getting involved in the research. If people don’t experiment and be brave about pushing forward, we’ll not get to the situation with HIV where multiple drugs and the prep medication make life liveable for a whole bunch of people.

[@robinsierra1029]

I also got Covid in March 2020 and as I was not getting better and contacted my doctor who said it was my anxiety that was causing my symptoms! I absolutely knew that wasn’t true.

[@themupsmuppet]

Well, that backfired for LP ☺ She makes some excellent points.

[@emmawooller3239]

Going on 'Dr Xand's Con or Cure' will really get the word out - what a coup!

[@santeenl]

Lightning process doesn’t work for most people and is pretty ridiculous. I rather get to the root issue: trauma and emotional experiences from childhood.