© Pierre-Marie Koch / RTL
Once an energetic single mother, Stéphanie Machado's life was upended by Long Covid, but with therapy, alternative medicine and acceptance she has rebuilt a calmer, more mindful way of living.
When Stéphanie Machado meets an RTL Télé colleague in a park on Kirchberg, she spots the camera from a distance and waves. She walks over with a broad smile – long blond hair, a black top, a brightly patterned skirt brushing her ankles. At 43, she radiates energy and joy, making her vitality all the more remarkable given what she has endured in recent years.
Before her illness, Machado was a single mother who kept everything under control, including work, school, the household, her son's activities, and her own sports. She described herself as operating like a machine: highly organised, with an excellent memory, always in motion.
That changed in March 2021, when she caught Covid-19. Although she never developed a cough, she was plagued by muscle and joint pain, chest pain, and severe headaches that were so intense she feared meningitis. The pain, she recalls, was unbearable.
Signed off work for two months, Machado found herself unable to move about. Even getting out of bed left her exhausted and breathless, while paradoxically unable to sleep, she said. Soon after, she also developed trigeminal neuralgia, a condition that causes shooting, electric-shock-like pain from the ear through the face, head and into the arm. Medication brought little relief, she said.
When she attempted to return to work after two months, it became obvious she could not manage. Machado explained that within hours she would collapse from exhaustion, adding that she also suffered from brain fog, feeling dazed, unable to concentrate or write, and even slurring her speech. The right side of her face became numb due to the neuralgia. Panic attacks followed.
At that time, she had never heard of Long Covid, as the condition was barely recognised in early 2021. That summer, however, Luxembourg opened its first Long Covid unit at the CHL. Referred there by her GP, she underwent a three-week thermal cure in Mondorf-les-Bains, but the treatment brought no improvement. The fatigue and pain remained.
Her life narrowed dramatically. She managed only part-time work, yet even that was too much. Everyday activities with her son, family, or friends became ordeals. She said she felt as if her life had stopped. The best way she could explain it was by comparing herself to an old phone battery that drains after only a few hours and needs recharging several times a day. That was, she said, exactly how she felt.
After two years in this state, her health declined further. Unable to keep up with her workload, she was given different tasks at work, which her colleagues did not understand. Stress and pressure mounted until she sank into depression, she said.
Support eventually came through Long Covid therapy groups, where she could share experiences with other patients. Speaking with people who understood her situation was a relief, as it reassured her that she was not alone, Machado said. She also received psychological support to deal with panic attacks and the trauma of managing severe pain while raising her son alone.
Despite this, she slid into burnout, mentally and physically drained, she said. Machado stopped working entirely and shut herself off from family and friends, seeing only her son. It was a deliberate choice, she explains, because her social circle had grown dismissive, telling her she was exaggerating or repeating herself. In the end, she chose isolation to protect her wellbeing, she said.
The path to acceptance
Realising she could not tackle her physical and mental struggles at once, she decided to first focus on her mental health, turning to a psychiatrist to address essential questions about identity: who she was now that the woman she once had been no longer existed.
The key step in her recovery was learning not to fight Long Covid but to accept it as part of her life, she said. Acceptance, Machado said, was what allowed her to rebuild some sense of normality. She explained that she resolved to focus on herself and her son, leaving everything else aside.
She also turned to complementary medicine, drawing on Chinese and Indian traditions such as acupuncture and Ayurveda, which eased her trigeminal neuralgia. Daily meditation helped her shift her focus from pain to balance and harmony.
At her lowest point, she could barely walk for five minutes. Doctors encouraged her to exercise, though sport was out of the question. In Mondorf-les-Bains she discovered Chi Gong, a form of slow body movement. Machado said that even that was initially too much for her, but her instructor reassured her that with patience she would regain mobility within months.
A new stage in life
Today, Machado has reached a new equilibrium. She still lives with her symptoms but manages them through Chi Gong, yoga, meditation, and diet. She explained that she pays close attention to her body, resting whenever fatigue arises, knowing that if she ignores the warning signs, her pain and other symptoms quickly worsen. Machado still has flare-ups lasting several days, but she has learned not to despair, trusting that better days will follow, she said.
For her, the essence of recovery lies in accepting that life is no longer what it was before, and learning to live with that reality. She has changed jobs and continues to work part-time, leaving more space for her son.
In fact, she insisted, she may even be happier now than before. She explained that she feels calmer, more present in her life, more attuned to the beauty of simple things like flowers and the sky, things she admitted she never noticed before.
