The vagus nerve is a key part of the parasympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system, which plays a major role in Long COVID and ME/CFS. You can "train" it with an at-home device
I use the Sensate device, which sends vibrations through your chest. It’s very soothing. I wrote about it in one of my recovery tools posts. But I also saw this in YT recently:
Same. I use mine in my bedtime wind down reading half hour. When was experiencing anxiety I used it a couple of times during the day, but I got out of the habit; did take the edge off (mild) anxiety.
I heard about stimulation through vibration before I knew there was also electrical stimulation. I'm not too keen on trying electrical because I have electromagnetic sensitivity (although this might be getting better).
I use the stress releaZer by Beurer. It works like the Sensate but it's way cheaper. It combines resonant breathing with vibration, relaxing music and binaural waves. I find it really helps me relax, and it helped my breathing a lot at a time where it was still very uneasy. I use it before I lay down to rest and before sleep.
I also have another device which can be used to stimulate the vagus nerve through vibration by putting it in the cymba conchae. I was told once that it makes sense to stimulate the vagus at different places, because you never know where it is most dysfunctional.
Super interesting. I hadn’t heard of that device, I’ll check it out. And I hadn’t heard that re different places of the vagus- makes a lot of sense though, since it’s such a long nerve, and with it linking to all the different organs in different places. Thank you for sharing Nuria!
Really helpful article. I haven’t heard of this device before.
I let my body lead and followed whatever direction or next step my body was guiding me in.
So by the time I learnt about nervous system regulation was once I learned to (mostly) regulate it some 3 years in.
I can see how combing breathwork and meditation with this will have big payoffs (in the longer term).
I did the same with triptan medication and castor oil packs for example. Cold showers.
Like you say, a lot of vagus nerve practices are free.
I was fortunate and privileged enough to visit Thailand last year and even in such a poor country, they all now have smart phones. I envisage a world where we each wake up to the powerful benefits of deep healing meditations - thousands of which are accessible on YouTube and can have such profound effects as brain healing - something which happened to me during the first uk lockdown where I used all the time to take my healing practices to the next level.
Imagine a world where we all jump on this bandwagon? Would chronic illness even exist (appreciate I am talking very long term here, but still…it’s a vision)?
And I am totally on board with your vision. I think we (saying "we" but I mean Western science specifically) are just starting to understand what's driving a lot of chronic illnesses, and how we as a society can live much healthier lives. There's also a lot that's not understood about women's health specifically (and Long COVID and CFS both affect women more than men), because that's been neglected in the past - a) more complex to research due to hormonal cycles, and b) less valued by society for much of the 20th century, and we're dealing with the consequences now. So I expect a lot to happen wrt chronic illness and treatments in the next decade or two. So maybe not _that_ very long term?! I'm an optimist ;)
Love that you are on board with this vision! It’s often felt like I am on a desert island on my own with this one! I don’t hold out as much hope for the treatment side of things as you but that may be because it’s neurological for me. And out of the hundreds of neurological disorders, none of the treatments are yet to dove effective. Though there are signs of this changing, it’ll be the first time in all the years of interest there’s been. I have a blog to write on this research but found myself too triggered to turn it into a piece before now. I don’t want to write from a triggered place.
I have tinnitus in my left ear. It took me 3 years to realise I had it but came with a knowing that it had been there for much longer.
I did learn to regulate my nervous system but not through the use of any devices. (I did invest in yoga/tai chi type movement/breathwork/meditation weekly and deep healing bodywork massage therapy every month - but mainly all the practices day in day out were relatively free/inexpensive).
I still have a little tinnitus along with the remnants of what’s left of everything else, but it’s nearly gone.
Hi Gabby! I have tinnitus and I have even dared use stimulation in the ear - though through vibration and not electrical. I use the Z-vibe (it's originally a tool for speech therapy), and put it in my cymba conchae for 5 minutes. This *does* trigger my tinnitus, so afterwards I put the device behind my ear for a minute, just where the jaw bone starts. This stimulates the hearing nerve and soothes the tinnitus.
Hi Gabby, I didn't have tinnitus, and I understand how you'd be extra careful with that. Amy mentioned another device in the comments here, that's not ear-based-- maybe that might be interesting?
I've been using amofit for the past month or so which seems to be helping, technically it's not a tVNS device but uses some other kind of wave to stimulate the vagus nerve. I like that it's simple and you don't feel anything - it's more expensive than TENS machines that do the same thing but without clipping on the ear or needing to adjust settings.
I also wanted to share the link to the group AVA A Vagus Adventure on Facebook which has a HUGE amount of advice on different devices and approaches to stimulating the vagus nerve (from free to cheap to expensive). Also discount codes for many of the devices! https://www.facebook.com/share/nbLMraFrLpNnmtkA/?mibextid=ievgj2
I definitely recommend joining the Facebook group for anyone interested in this approach, it's how I found out about it all and it helped me decide on the amofit.
I use the Sensate device, which sends vibrations through your chest. It’s very soothing. I wrote about it in one of my recovery tools posts. But I also saw this in YT recently:
https://youtu.be/og8UOYatAmg?feature=shared
Ooo interesting, thank you!
Same. I use mine in my bedtime wind down reading half hour. When was experiencing anxiety I used it a couple of times during the day, but I got out of the habit; did take the edge off (mild) anxiety.
Thx for sharing! Maybe I'll try it for a little longer too then :)
I heard about stimulation through vibration before I knew there was also electrical stimulation. I'm not too keen on trying electrical because I have electromagnetic sensitivity (although this might be getting better).
I use the stress releaZer by Beurer. It works like the Sensate but it's way cheaper. It combines resonant breathing with vibration, relaxing music and binaural waves. I find it really helps me relax, and it helped my breathing a lot at a time where it was still very uneasy. I use it before I lay down to rest and before sleep.
I also have another device which can be used to stimulate the vagus nerve through vibration by putting it in the cymba conchae. I was told once that it makes sense to stimulate the vagus at different places, because you never know where it is most dysfunctional.
Super interesting. I hadn’t heard of that device, I’ll check it out. And I hadn’t heard that re different places of the vagus- makes a lot of sense though, since it’s such a long nerve, and with it linking to all the different organs in different places. Thank you for sharing Nuria!
Thank you for this write-up!
You're welcome!
Really helpful article. I haven’t heard of this device before.
I let my body lead and followed whatever direction or next step my body was guiding me in.
So by the time I learnt about nervous system regulation was once I learned to (mostly) regulate it some 3 years in.
I can see how combing breathwork and meditation with this will have big payoffs (in the longer term).
I did the same with triptan medication and castor oil packs for example. Cold showers.
Like you say, a lot of vagus nerve practices are free.
I was fortunate and privileged enough to visit Thailand last year and even in such a poor country, they all now have smart phones. I envisage a world where we each wake up to the powerful benefits of deep healing meditations - thousands of which are accessible on YouTube and can have such profound effects as brain healing - something which happened to me during the first uk lockdown where I used all the time to take my healing practices to the next level.
Imagine a world where we all jump on this bandwagon? Would chronic illness even exist (appreciate I am talking very long term here, but still…it’s a vision)?
Glad it's helpful!!
And I am totally on board with your vision. I think we (saying "we" but I mean Western science specifically) are just starting to understand what's driving a lot of chronic illnesses, and how we as a society can live much healthier lives. There's also a lot that's not understood about women's health specifically (and Long COVID and CFS both affect women more than men), because that's been neglected in the past - a) more complex to research due to hormonal cycles, and b) less valued by society for much of the 20th century, and we're dealing with the consequences now. So I expect a lot to happen wrt chronic illness and treatments in the next decade or two. So maybe not _that_ very long term?! I'm an optimist ;)
Love that you are on board with this vision! It’s often felt like I am on a desert island on my own with this one! I don’t hold out as much hope for the treatment side of things as you but that may be because it’s neurological for me. And out of the hundreds of neurological disorders, none of the treatments are yet to dove effective. Though there are signs of this changing, it’ll be the first time in all the years of interest there’s been. I have a blog to write on this research but found myself too triggered to turn it into a piece before now. I don’t want to write from a triggered place.
That's fair, a lot to be triggered by in this space ;) I'm looking fwd to reading it when you get to it!
Can I ask if you had tinnitus? I have tinnitus (post covid) and scared to use anything on the ear! Thank you for your help and thoughtful words xx
I have tinnitus in my left ear. It took me 3 years to realise I had it but came with a knowing that it had been there for much longer.
I did learn to regulate my nervous system but not through the use of any devices. (I did invest in yoga/tai chi type movement/breathwork/meditation weekly and deep healing bodywork massage therapy every month - but mainly all the practices day in day out were relatively free/inexpensive).
I still have a little tinnitus along with the remnants of what’s left of everything else, but it’s nearly gone.
Hi Gabby! I have tinnitus and I have even dared use stimulation in the ear - though through vibration and not electrical. I use the Z-vibe (it's originally a tool for speech therapy), and put it in my cymba conchae for 5 minutes. This *does* trigger my tinnitus, so afterwards I put the device behind my ear for a minute, just where the jaw bone starts. This stimulates the hearing nerve and soothes the tinnitus.
Btw whenever using any stimulation, it's important to start very slowly. I started the Z-vibe for 10 seconds and built up over 2 weeks to 5 min.
In case you are interested, here are some exercises to alleviate tinnitus: https://artztneuro.com/en/blogs/exercises/tinnitus
(I bought fairly cheap bone conducting earphones on Amazon to do this, I find it helps)
Hi Gabby, I didn't have tinnitus, and I understand how you'd be extra careful with that. Amy mentioned another device in the comments here, that's not ear-based-- maybe that might be interesting?
I've been using amofit for the past month or so which seems to be helping, technically it's not a tVNS device but uses some other kind of wave to stimulate the vagus nerve. I like that it's simple and you don't feel anything - it's more expensive than TENS machines that do the same thing but without clipping on the ear or needing to adjust settings.
I also wanted to share the link to the group AVA A Vagus Adventure on Facebook which has a HUGE amount of advice on different devices and approaches to stimulating the vagus nerve (from free to cheap to expensive). Also discount codes for many of the devices! https://www.facebook.com/share/nbLMraFrLpNnmtkA/?mibextid=ievgj2
I definitely recommend joining the Facebook group for anyone interested in this approach, it's how I found out about it all and it helped me decide on the amofit.