The TRUTH About Calming Your Nervous System (Polyvagal Strategies)

[@JaymeGronneberg]

Sally you have it all figured out! I’ve tried to outthink long covid. I never listened to my body/nervous system at all for the last 6 months…I just pressed on. I too have perfectionism and past trauma so it has been a real struggle. I think I am starting to figure it out. With enormous gratitude, Jayme

[@sallyriggs465]

more than welcome!

[@peachesmcgee4795]

I've been ill with ME for over 20 years,and like you were saying, don't think I've been in "rest and digest" since i was a child. It sounds very pleasant! I'm working with a Somatic Experiencing coach at the moment and hoping to get there eventually. Thanks for your videos they're really helpful.

[@sallyriggs465]

More than welcome glad to hear they resonate!

[@einbisschenwasvonjenem]

I like the calm and clear kind of way in which you describe the things.

[@sallyriggs465]

Oh thank you I’m so glad!

[@emmaberrow7648]

What if you have Pots which you use beta blocker that stops adrenaline?

[@joealitz4157]

this is an amazing video and it really helps people understand what's going on. When you talk about before covid and never being in rest and digest I can completely relate. I have always been a type A personality, very high strung my whole life, sometimes anxious I guess to sit still and not do something and constantly on the go. I truly never went into rest and digest and actually was never at peace besides one time. I had decided to start running heavily in 2018. Something about running 15 miles on the open road and getting into that flow state was probably the best feeling I have ever experienced in my life. But I realized I started running because I had to much fight or flight and needed to get rid of it. One day I will get back to running when this all passes but I won't push to the extreme like I did before.

[@sallyriggs465]

thank you so much Joe! you basically described my life with running too!! those long runs of 3 hours plus were literally the only time I felt "still" and I agree with your statement about getting back to running in a different way. I believe there are folks that practice Polyvagal running (if you can call it that). I was watching the NYC marathon around mile 19 in 2022 and you can probably relate 90% of the people looked like they were literally 2 seconds from shut down, but there a small handful who were just gently bouncing along, smiling, totally in ventral - I think we can find that!!

[@joealitz4157]

@@sallyriggs465 exactly ! I always used to listen to rock music when running to pump me up but actually Andrea bocellie made me run longer and more relaxed without crashing after haha. It calmed my nervousystem down. Being in fight or flight running stinks, you get burnt out faster

[@WoofChaqueJour]

Something interesting ive noticed is that I cant nap (sleep more than once a day) and when i try my body jumps to even the slightest of sounds. I believe napping was a tool that helped me recover the last 2 times I got CFS. Also the only emotion I can readily feel is frustration and anger, I basically cant feel any other emotions. Strangely it doesn't sound like I ever go into shutdown unless I give myself PEM.

[@sallyriggs465]

Some of our bodies definitely find a way to run in extended fight or flight for a very long time. But then the crash will probably come eventually and it will be long and deep. I was probably in sympathetic for all of 2020, it’s only 2021 where the shut down/chronic fatigue happened…

[@JacquiQ]

I love your content Sally Ty. 23 years of CFS/ME ! Still trying to get myself well. Hope to read yout book. I cannot see the link for the Nervous System Tracker ? Am I just not seeing it

[@sallyriggs465]

Apologies my team forgot to put it in but it should be there now!

[@Wonderman62]

You are amazing..and you put it out there so simply and calm...easy to follow and understand...love you, fellow long hauler. Blessings!

[@sallyriggs465]

Awww thank you! 🤗

[@EvinFox]

Minute Mark 3: Calm v shutdown. I realized this morning that moving from shutdown to sympathetic is very uncomfortable, and therefore I don't, so I remain in shutdown.

[@sallyriggs465]

Fabulous realization!! The shutdown has been keeping you safe from that. Gently you can also create a safe space in sympathetic too.

[@PeaceIsYeshua]

This really helped me under what shutdown is! Thank you! 😊

[@sallyriggs465]

More than welcome!

[@honeywhite1]

Thank you for these fantastic videos. Just discovered you via the amazing Raelan! Re: your book, do you cover anxiety? My daughter (me/cfs) is out of the shutdown phase (via Lightning Process) but has been stuck in fight or flight for over 1.5 yrs, with draining & debilitating anxiety. Just wondered if u cover this in your book. Thank you.

[@jertho8482]

I am here too, I feel frustrated especially at night!

[@sallyriggs465]

We don’t talk about any specific long covid symptoms in the book - that’s not how learning and calming your nervous system works. But we do talk about polyvagal strategies to help you get out of fight or flight (which is where anxiety shows up)

[@honeywhite1]

V helpful. Thank you so much for taking the time to reply...

[@aprilgarnett55]

Thank you❤❤

[@sallyriggs465]

More than welcome!

[@ChewyLoo]

Hi Sally. Great interview on Raelan and I purchased your book - 3/4 the way through and very insightful! I am consistently in a 'tired and wired' stage, with obsessive thoughts (the least offender but still intrusive is a small phase of music - anything I might have recently heard - constantly looping), and immense bouts of rage or sadness (mostly rage), which I find a quiet and safe spot to just let out. I don't exactly feel 'good' afterwards but I do feel a sense of relief/weight lifted. A new thing is at night if i'm 'in my body' I start having random limb and full-body twitches, quite intense at times. I could stop if I wanted but i'm just letting it happen and not freaking out. Not sure what this is as I walk as much as my body allows without crashing each day. Does this mean I am in fight or flight? Am I on the right track with my responses? Sorry for long post...

[@sallyriggs465]

Twitching is good! Let it happen! If you watch animals in the wild when they get stunned or threatened but return to safety they often have a full body shake that looks a bit shocking to us but it’s actually super functional- it’s moving the adrenaline through. Anything similar we are doing is very helpful to our nervous system!

[@mlmooose8206]

I just bought your book I hope this will help me with me/cfs.

[@veronicaostling5194]

Hello. 😊 I saw your intervju with Raelan and looked after your channel. I got fatique 2010 but I have had lot of trauma since my upbringing. 2015 I got ME/CFS, 2016 I got Fibromyalgi and 2022 I got Covid and tven Long Covid. At the same time I got an aggressive bakterieinfektion andI was so ill that I thaught I lost 28 kg in 2 months. My dictor sad I was lucky that I survived. So I am scared to feel my symptoms. Where do I start? I am better now but still have severe ME/CFS. I am going to took thrue your videos but if you have an idea where to start, please let me know. Thank you for giving me hope ❤❤❤

[@sallyriggs465]

Gently learning to be in your body would be the place to start plus resources to manage that when it gets overwhelming. We call that titration. Dip in, resource out…

[@jessicasmoot2252]

Safe and sound like stephen porges program?

[@sallyriggs465]

Not like his program, actually his program. SSP.

[@trixiet]

Please do a video on GI issues and nervous system

[@sallyriggs465]

Great idea thanks for sharing! What’s your specific question or questions for this video..?

[@rupinderh01]

hi, I have gastritis caused by mcas which gets worse when I get acute covid, I wonder if you could do a video on that?@@sallyriggs465

[@abbys213]

I am having a lot of trouble getting out of fight or flight, despite six months of practice. Could it be that I need to lean into my freeze reponse more first? Is that what you're saying? Also, what about a stellate ganglion block?

[@sallyriggs465]

Yes definitely lean into it! If you fight it you are wasting the precious energy you need to conserve to get out… I haven’t personally had SGB so couldn’t share perspective. If you look on something like Eureka it seems to be 50% chance of being successful which isn’t great (we don’t have RCTs yet so all we have is anecdotal data…)

[@elisabetherkstam6097]

Hi Sally Thank you for a interesting and helpful input🌸I think I heard you say that you would ad a attatchment with some syptoms you sometimes have with post covid and to which stressrespons it is connected. I found your tracking chart but not this pice.. Am I missing something?

[@sallyriggs465]

More than welcome! The first page of the nervous system tracker should have that information at the top.

[@elisabetherkstam6097]

Ahhh... Then I guess you were in on the more emotional symptoms. I thought it would include some physical. I know that the physical is not what I should care about, but when there is some stubborn very unpleasent once I get a bit confused If I should do something up lifting or calming to take care of it the best way. Like is my body thru this physical symtom telling me to calm down or stress up😊.. I guess not paying attention to it is the only thing to do when it comes to the physical once.. The emotion around it is usually unease and worry since it is so special, unpleasent and scary...

[@19grand]

1000 x thank-you.

[@projectnewman3474]

Thank you for this detailed and nuanced information. How long can a cycle of freeze be before we enter another one like sympathetic? Are we constantly moving in and out multiple times a day? I feel like i am in shutdown for muuuch of the last 4 months. I have not been able to feel that gratitude state or ease state or alive state or social state and i was beginning to think i was completely broken and damned. This is very clarifying

[@sallyriggs465]

I think you can easily be in shutdown for months or years on end. We might get briefly activated into fight or flight if something startles us or makes us angry or something else but usually we don’t stay there long and just fall back down.

[@crystalcristina6025]

I'm I going to get better from this

[@sallyriggs465]

Absolutely Crystal you can for sure recover from LC.

[@emmaberrow7648]

Is this TMS?

[@sallyriggs465]

Not really. It’s polyvagal theory. Which is biology.

[@Zonnerise]

And tired ( extreme ) and wired ? Are those 2 states ? Fight and flight and freeze ? Of an example of hitting the brake and gas the same time ( in freeze ??? ) ?

[@sallyriggs465]

Fatigue would be shut down (freeze) and wired would be sympathetic activation ie fight or flight

[@mariskaeelman7038]

​@@sallyriggs465 I guess that is what happens all the time. Being wired and not being able to Come out of it, so becoming very tired after the wired state.

[@sallyriggs465]

@@mariskaeelman7038 yup extended fight or flight is not sustainable and will always lead to shutdown

[@mariskaeelman7038]

@@sallyriggs465 do you give all the exercises for sympatic state and dorsal state in your book ?

[@sallyriggs465]

@@mariskaeelman7038 probably not all the ones that exist in the world, but all the ones that I know and are tried and tested with long covid yes.

[@PeaceIsYeshua]

Hi Sally, in the FAQ of your eCourse, you state that brain retraining courses, such as DNRS and Gupta, teach that our illnesses are all in our heads, but from my research on them, they seem to be very clear in stating that it’s not all in your head, but rather, it’s your automatic nervous system that’s stuck in fight or flight and that the illnesses are very real but that the body can’t heal when the nervous system is stuck in fight or flight. Can you clarify why you think they’re teaching that our illnesses are all in our heads?

[@sallyriggs465]

I have taken the entire DNRS course, granted the old version not the 2.0, and the entire psycho educational component is information on studies that suggest there are no physiological abnormalities in the body. That just isn’t true in LC. Yes the vagus nerve is damaged and if it was working immune response and inflammation reduction would be dramatically improved. But we also have very clear science of the pathophysiology of LC and viral persistence, endothelial damage, autoimmune antibodies etc are all heavily implicated. If you look at the most recent paper on PEM out of Amsterdam it shows that somehow the spike protein seems to change our muscle fibers such that they are all rapid twitch glucose metabolizing rather than 50:50 slow twitch that use Kreps cycle and O2 and mitochondria. The vagus nerve and the ANS can’t do that! 😱. Gupta may be a little better, but they still heavily emphasize brain retraining far too early. kzbin.info/www/bejne/hIeao2mihqyUa80si=Qus7s84TbF4lOgGE

[@PeaceIsYeshua]

@@sallyriggs465 Ah, okay, thank you so much!! That’s interesting about that paper. I think I have long covid on top of CFS, but if our muscles are now fast twitch, I wonder if we need carbohydrates for more glucose. I’m doing keto, but I did seem to have more energy when I was eating potatoes. Ha! Oh, this will sound strange, but Dr. Anthony Chaffee has said there is some evidence that nicotine can help neutralize the spike proteins. Some people get quick relief with just a 2nd patch worn for a few days. Our brain actually has nicotine receptors. Who knew! 🤷🏻‍♀️ Also, systemic enzymes like Nattokinase and Serrapeptase can break down the spike proteins. Augmented NAC is another one that is really helping LC. Like you, I definitely believe it’s biological also. I was about to dive into brain retraining and make a final decision on a course when I found you, and I’m so happy I did! Thank you for all you do!! ❤️

[@PeaceIsYeshua]

@@sallyriggs465 Ah, okay, thank you so much!! That’s interesting about that paper. I think I have LC on top of CFS, but if our muscles are now fast twitch, I wonder if we need carbohydrates for more glucose. I’m doing keto, but I did seem to have more energy when I was eating potatoes. Ha! Oh, this will sound strange, but Dr. Anthony Chaffee has said there is some evidence that nicotine can help neutralize the spike proteins. Some people get quick relief with just a 2mg patch worn for a few days. Our brain actually has nicotine receptors. Who knew! 🤷🏻‍♀️ Also, systemic enzymes like Nattokinase and Serrapeptase can break down the spike proteins. Augmented NAC is another one that is really helping LC. Like you, I definitely believe it’s biological also. I was about to dive into brain retraining and make a final decision on a course when I found you, and I’m so happy I did! Thank you for all you do!! ❤️ _Sorry to compose this with such a strange format. YT auto deleted it, and I’m trying to get it to go through._

[@PeaceIsYeshua]

@@sallyriggs465 Ah, okay, thank you so much!! I too believe there’s a biological component! ❤️ I’m trying to write more, but it keeps getting auto deleted. :/ YT deletes a lot of my posts. I’ll try in multiple comments to see if some can get through. _Sorry to compose with such a strange format. I’m hoping it’ll help them to go through._

[@PeaceIsYeshua]

@@sallyriggs465 PART 1 That’s interesting about that paper. I think I have LC on top of CFS, but if our muscles are now fast twitch, I wonder if we need carbohydrates for more glucose. I’m doing keto, but I did seem to have more energy when I was eating potatoes. Ha!

[@EvinFox]

I also decided I do want to move up the ladder, and I don't know how.

[@sallyriggs465]

Secret is not to try and move up ie fight the state your in, it’s to lean into your existing state. And somatic practices. There is some info scattered about this channel (sadly the algorithm likes different topics each week) but it’s very systematic in my book or course.

[@EvinFox]

I'm reading your book and watched the free course (plus a lot of your videos). My next step is the course.@@sallyriggs465

[@mlmooose8206]

Are you back to running consistently again?

[@sallyriggs465]

Depends what you mean by running… I was very consistently running 4x2mins with 4 min recovery and then 4x30 sprints (super fast) with 4 mins recovery, increasing both intervals by 10 seconds and reducing the recovery window back in January 2023. Then my thyroid was off again and we overshot the increase and my HR jumped 20 points 🙄 and then I did tripe therapy may - sept and I had to stop all any activity 🤦🏻‍♀️ then I was so bummed about that after all my hard work July 21-May 23 that I didn’t really bother trying the last few months… I’m just getting back into it again. You can see my run data on IG stories I post it same day (and then will be saving it to a tab when I make one soon) @Dr.SallyRiggs

[@EvinFox]

"Curl up like a ball." Is that literal or figurative?

[@sallyriggs465]

Literal if that’s what your body wants. I don’t do full fetal position I do more straight legs but I curl up my arms. Play around with it and see what your body is asking for.

[@gerryfriedle416]

I often feel tired but wired. What state of the nervous system is that? Shut down or fight or flight or both at the same time?

[@sallyriggs465]

It’s probably fight or flight. Shutdown isn’t tired it’s severe fatigue. Very different feeling to tiredness.

[@genegarneau3822]

I am out of severe fatigue. Now my nerves are on fire. I feel like I am having a 24 hour panic attack. I cannot sleep. I cannot sit still. I pace back and fourth. I have constipation. I Get hot flashes. I forget allot. What stage am I in? How long will this last? It has been 2 years of covid. I had all the other symptoms, now I am having these symptoms the last 2 weeks.

[@samanthapurcell3125]

I lie in bed, feeling my whole body out of sync, shattered, after 12 hours sleep, head hurts, don’t want want to open my eyes19 months long COVID 😢

[@sallyriggs465]

@@samanthapurcell3125 sadly we’ve all been there Samantha hang in there! 🤗