News and Tips

Synneva went from being a dedicated weight-lifter to someone who couldn’t muster the strength to sit through a church service. She was almost completely bed bound.

Synneva caught the COVID-19 virus in 2022, and a few weeks later she says she began developing brain fog, an elevated heart rate, and a flu-like weariness that wouldn’t go away.

“It definitely made me really depressed, it brought me down a lot, I was crying everyday. I had a lot of anxiety. I was thinking, ‘am I ever going to get better? Are things going to start looking up?’ I kind of just lost hope at that point.”

Physically, Synneva felt weak and unlike herself, estranged from her own body. But Long-covid didn’t stop there, Synneva felt too unwell to drive, to work, or to attend church, leaving her isolated from and with too much time to dwell on her condition.

It was Synneva’s mother, a former New Heart patient, who suggested she check out the long-covid program here .

“I was hesitant” she admits, “I was thinking, well I don’t know if this is for me, I don’t feel good. I don’t know if I can even make it through the doors.”

But she did make it through the doors, an achievement she credits to desperation.

“I think at that point I was just desperate to feel better, and I was willing to try anything. I had run out of options, I had changed my diet, I had taken all this medication, and nothing had seemed to be working. I had heard that exercise helps with long COVID, which I thought was weird because I had no energy, but then again I thought, well I’ve tried everything else, so ill give it a try.”

It may seem counter-intuitive, but research has shown that exercise is a great way to address long-covid symptoms, when done appropriately.

“The more I exercise the more energy I feel.”

Synneva’s path towards wellness wasn’t straight or easy, and while she says she still isn’t 100%, her program at New Heart has helped her get back into her church, back into work, and now she even brings her husband along to work out with her every now and again.

Her advice to anyone with long-covid is simple: give New Heart a chance.

“Exercise has been proven, by me and by numerous people, to be one of the best things for long covid, that right there should be a little bit of motivation for people to at least want to come in and get a consultation.”

Synneva has since graduated from her prescribed program, but has continued to choose New Heart as her gym. Why?

She says it feels like a second home.