Vagus Nerve Stimulation

I looked into it, but read about potential negative outcomes, including some deaths, so decided not to try it!

Given that part of long Covid is dysautonomia, I think it makes a lot of sense to look at the vagus nerve. I have been doing breathing exercises that are supposed to help with that. I use a biofeedback device for the coherence breathing made and sold by Heartmath.

I see on the LDN 2026 Patient Guide, that Dysautonomia is one of the illnesses that they are using LDN for. LDN has helped me in multiple different ways.

I'm attaching the LDN 2026 Patient Guide and Prescriber's guide; they might provide you a different alternative; supposed to be healing to our immune systems; its benefits are many. They also have a 2026 Mental Health Guide and Dosing Guide; I will post those as well. Worth the reads!

@lesligirl02 Thanks!

I put a lot of effort into vagus nerve simulation.

Breathing is one of the most effective strategies for stimulating your vagus nerve. The physical therapy prescribed by my Long Covid clinic focuses on breathing exercises to calm the autonomic nervous system. Do a search on “PT protocol for long Covid” to check out my older post

Another other low tech option is using the vibration from a tuning fork (128Hz) on your sternum. Let me know if you’re interested in. I’ll post the protocol.

Regarding external stimulation devices, here is an overview:

There are three main options for vagus nerve stimulation . The ear - aural (taVNS), the neck - cervical (tcVNS) or the chest -Cervicothoracic (cVES).

The oral and cervical use direct electrical stimulation for short periods (5-20 minutes). Placement is critical. It takes time to acclimate your body to the treatment. More expensive devices may be easier to use as far as set up and place. Check the Facebook group (see below) though because they disagree with some of the instructions for those devices. The least expensive option is a TENS device that has the flexibility to do low energy stimulation. There is definitely a DYI aspect to this, but there is very helpful guidance on the Facebook site (see below) I tried this first, but it caused inner ear inflammation, which is one of my long Covid symptoms, so I can’t use it.

The cervicothoracic devices use a magnetic field your chest cavity. Placement isn’t critical and the ramp up is quick. I use the Amofit S + device, which is worn as a necklace or clipped onto the neck of a shirt. It can be worn all day and used in three hour sessions.

There is a great Facebook group with members that have tested and shared lots of information on different vagus nerve stimulation devices. It is called AVA A Vagus Adventure. Under featured posts, they have a one stop info spot which links to use useful introductory information, product advice, discount, codes, etc. once you read the background information, you can search keywords to get a feel for people’s specific experiences with certain devices or for certain disorders (covid, autoimmune, chronic fatigue)

@debbiedsf thanks so much for all the info!