Extinction Bursts - Why Relapses Are a Sign of Healing

In this video I talk about how symptom flare-ups during ME/CFS or Long Covid recovery are normal, expected, and even a sign of progress. This is due to a phenomenon called an extinction burst, where the brain tries one last time to hold onto old patterns. The key is to continue brain retraining, ignore the symptoms, and focus on self-compassion.

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TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 🤔 Typical Brain Training Setback
01:26 🐀 The Rat Experiment
03:05 💥 How Extinction Burst Works
04:13 ❓ Why Is This Happening?
05:23 ✨ You Brain Is Super Clever
05:57 🧠 What to Do About it?
07:00 😂 OMG Outtakes

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REMINDER: This is for information purposes only and nothing I share should be considered medical advice. Please make your own assessment, do your own further research, and consult your trusted healthcare professionals before deciding if anything I talk about here might be right for you.

#chronicfatigue #mecfs #brainretraining #longcovid

[ylvaeriksson]

Another thing that can cause these bursts, at least for those of us who got into LC partly because of past traumas: When the brain senses that ”everything is calm now, very low stresslevel” it will think ”good, this must be a good time to handle yet another trauma! Let’s bring on some symptoms to make this human pay attention and start working on releasing this next trauma”. If you have childhood trauma you often have many layers of trauma, it is like peeling an onion, another layer as soon as you have taken care of one.

[freya]

The psychological side of the recovery process is definitely testing me more than I thought it might. Looking forward to a time where my mind and body can be peaceful

[Unitedstatesian]

I wouldn't say it is best to just "ignore" the symptoms when they pop up. I find that the biggest way to get the mind to calm down is to stop and listen and "accept" the message. This often diffuses the brain because it knows you have listened and that you will take action if needed.

[catherinefreeman]

Img!!! Been laying here 5 days not able to progress. I went camping thinking I had made all this progress and thought I would give it a go, but the lifting, lack of sleep from a 3 am hoot owl, and the humidity was more then my body could take, and I crashed. I’ve been in be, hardly able to lift my head, with no recovery after 5 or 6 days. Your video popped into my feed right when I started to waver with doubt. Thank you so much!! Your channel is my staple. I am recovering after severe CFS for33 years. I am going to get better, and teach others to heal, hopefully here in Maine. I am excited to get started, but for now I will continue to progressively get better one thought at a time. 😊Thank you so much for your devotion to this work. May your program to help others heal be a great success. All my love, Catherine Freeman from Maine

[allaboutstress]

You are so right. A set back is a sign of success. Nice job

[thedancingdivaofdaviestree]

Yes, it's SO true. The symptom flare floods through the body can feel SO frightening when you've made such excellent progress. This helps us move past the fear or frustration and find acceptance that this is normal, expected - and you're still moving forward. I calmly accepted that for a week, then realized it was getting worse - and had a small melt-down. Yet through that I LISTENED to all the repressed fears and emotions hidden UNDER the acceptance - and the symptoms calmed down. Thanks to somatic work, I now just ignore the renewed symptoms and trust my body is healthy, and keep dancing, running, leaping and enjoying myself. I sit with somatic tracking daily, especially for emotions when this happens. Thanks SO much for such videos! (Loved The Way Out, and I just keep telling myself, "Trust the Process, " it's a false alarm. That helps too!)

[tacocat]

Loved the outtakes. Not only are you intelligent and compassionate, but adorable as well. :)

[Elp]

Raelan you are a gift that keeps giving! Thank you so much for one more piece in this puzzle of the healing process. Thank you🙏❤️

[chadclay]

I needed this video. I have had those times of feeling way better and thinking I'm moving forward and I'll get an old sensation that shocks me as you think your past certain sensations. Now I keep talking positively to myself and staying calm. Good to hear that this is common because at times it's easy to tell yourself that it's something more serious or maybe your the anomaly even though you know deep down that's the fear braining talking. Thank you for the great content!

[vanessawilhelm]

Thanks Raelan - I believe I may be going through this right now - been on a pretty straight path to healing the last 7 months - recently had several weeks with almost zero symptoms. And a few days ago BOOM anxiety and fatigue. Remaining calm but this has helped so much in these little moments of doubt.

[keegsmum]

I needed to hear this today. After feeling like I was finally making progress in my recovery- BAM!- fatigue, symptoms moving around, blah blah! Getting frustrated and a bit down about it all, but you have made me see a silver lining. Thanks!

[HannahLucia]

This is exactly what’s happening to me rn! I’m a little over 2 months into brain retraining and was making such good progress and then BAM huge crash (wasn’t even pushing myself much)
It’s so hard not to fear the symptoms for me! I know it’s possible but it’s so so hard

[DianaCz-pk]

Your channel has saved my life. Thank you❤

[peachesmcgee]

Started on my healing journey nearly 3 years ago now and have had so many "extinction bursts". Even though i know what's happening these days they still throw me off centre for a while. I find things like somatic tracking helpful when i get them.

[amysin]

LOVED this video, Raelan. It’s exactly what I needed to hear right now. I will share it in my Substack newsletter. I especially loved the blooper reel at the end 😅

[MarianneLandry]

Ah thank you so much!! 🙏🥰
Love all the little images and the rat study. The topic is very encouraging to keep responding well no matter how intense things get. 💪🏻

[jog]

Thanks so much, Raelan! That was really good to hear!
Btw, the bloopers were fun and your hair looked so pretty in this video!
Take care now! 💛🧡💜

[cindyritmeester]

Perfect timing, as I'm having a long covid relapse. This makes so much sense. Btw, love your little dog in the back ground. He/she does not seem to have a care in the world 😊

[sandraschneider]

Realan those old pictures 🥹 cuteness overload 🥰 thank you so much for your work 🫂 my 16 year old daughter, recovered finally after 6 years!🙏👑❤️ your channel helped me as her mother to believe in her healing 🥹

[BrettONeill-ii]

Great stuff I just started retraining 2 wks ago with my cfs friend, it's been amazing and we both crashed yesterday and couldn't figure out why when we were doing so well. This explains it, thanks raelen.