The Cure for Chronic Pain with Nicole Sachs, LCSW S5 E 13 - Anxiety, Chronic Fatigue, POTS and much more with Vanessa
Nov 28, 2025
Vanessa shares her courageous journey through chronic fatigue, anxiety, and Long Covid. She describes her struggle with debilitating symptoms, including POTS and insomnia. Discovering mind-body work transformed her healing path, leading her to embrace journaling and self-compassion. Vanessa recounts how therapy and gradual exposure helped her reclaim her life, ultimately becoming largely symptom-free. Her story is a powerful testament to resilience, reminding listeners that recovery is possible even in the darkest times.
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Childhood Roots Of Her Symptoms
- Vanessa grew up highly sensitive in a stoic rural German environment and became a people-pleasing, perfectionistic young adult.
- These early dynamics seeded fear of abandonment, codependency, and intense self-expectation that later shaped her illness responses.
Early CFS Episode And Temporary Remission
- Vanessa contracted mono during university, developed chronic fatigue syndrome, then improved and returned to studies and life for a time.
- The nervous system can remit symptoms when they no longer serve to avoid difficult emotions or tasks.
COVID, Grief, And Symptom Onset
- In late 2020 Vanessa faced COVID infection while her mother was critically ill and her grandmother later died, compounding stress and isolation.
- Soon after she developed POTS-like symptoms, insomnia, panic, and increasing medical uncertainty that intensified fear.
