Long-Haul COVID, Cranial Nerves, and Resonant Healing with the Homegrown Herbalist

Long-Haul COVID, Cranial Nerves, and Resonant Healing with the Homegrown Herbalist

Talking COVID with the Homegrown Herbalist

Earlier this year, I got to sit down with my good friend, Dr. Patrick Jones, and have a chat about how we could work together in our respective specializations to help our patients who have struggled to overcome the long-term symptoms of COVID-19. Now that the temperatures are getting cooler outside and cold & flu season is in full swing, I thought now would be the perfect time to share what we discussed. A transcript is available at the end of this article. 

Why I Care About Long-Haul COVID

I still remember listening to a patient tell me that after recovering from what everyone called a “mild” case of COVID, she still couldn’t smell her flowers she loved to plant. She was exhausted all the time, her thoughts felt heavy, and simple tasks like walking to the mailbox felt like climbing a mountain.

At first, I wondered if she was exaggerating — but then I heard the same story again and again: lingering fatigue, brain fog, dizziness, ringing in the ears, strange sensations, disrupted sleep. Over time, it became clear: COVID didn’t always leave when the virus left. For too many people, something stubborn and invisible stayed behind.

Because of those conversations, I began digging into what’s now called Long-Haul COVID (or Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2, PASC). I’ve spoken with dozens of patients, and have worked alongside innovators — including my friend and colleague Dr. Patrick Jones — who are exploring noninvasive methods to help restore balance when the body feels “stuck.”

If you’re reading this because you or someone you care about is still struggling, let me assure you: you’re not alone. I wrote this post to share both the science and the hope — and to explain how tools like the Rezzimax Tuner may help the nervous system “wake up” again.

How Common Is Long-Haul COVID? Some Key Statistics

  • In 2022, 6.9% of U.S. adults reported they ever experienced Long COVID (i.e. symptoms three months or longer following infection), and 3.4% of adults reported current Long COVID at the time of survey. (CDC)
  • More recent studies estimate that 7.2% of U.S. adults experienced Long COVID in 2022. (BioMed Central)
  • Other data suggest that roughly 7% of U.S. adults (about 17 million people) currently report Long COVID symptoms in 2024. (KFF)
  • Many people living with Long COVID experience activity limitations: about 79% report at least some limitation in daily life, and 25% say the condition limits their life “a lot.” (KFF)
  • For children, the numbers are lower but still real: as of 2022, 1.3% (≈ 1 million U.S. children) reported ever having post-COVID conditions (symptoms lasting ≥ 3 months). (JAMA Network)

These figures suggest that Long COVID is not rare, and that a significant minority of people infected with SARS-CoV-2 continue to face health challenges long after the acute illness.

What Causes Long-Haul COVID?

The full mechanism behind Long COVID is still being unraveled by researchers, but here are some of the leading theories:

  1. Neurological / autonomic dysfunction
    The virus may disrupt how the brain and nerves communicate — especially the cranial nerves and the vagus nerve — leading to dysregulation of sensory, autonomic, and cognitive systems.
  2. Persistent virus or viral fragments
    Some studies suggest that remnants of the virus (or reactivation of latent viruses) may linger in tissues and continuously provoke inflammation.
  3. Immune dysregulation and autoimmunity
    The infection may trigger an immune response that becomes misdirected, causing ongoing inflammation, autoantibodies, or “mistaken identity” reactions.
  4. Microvascular damage and clotting
    Small blood vessel injury or microclots may reduce oxygen delivery to tissues (especially in the brain, nerves, and organs), perpetuating symptoms.
  5. Tissue damage and repair failure
    Damage to organs (lungs, heart, kidneys) or the nervous tissues during the acute phase may persist or heal incompletely, leaving lingering dysfunction.

Because multiple systems can be involved, Long COVID is often considered a multifactorial syndrome rather than a single disease.

Common Symptoms and Clinical Presentation

Symptoms in Long COVID are diverse and can wax and wane. Some of the most frequently reported include:


Neurological / sensory
:
 • Loss or distortion of smell and taste
 • Tinnitus (ear ringing) or hearing changes
 • Dizziness or vertigo
 • Brain fog, memory or concentration problems
 • Headaches, neuropathy, tingling
Fatigue / exertional intolerance:
 • Persistent, profound fatigue
 • Post-exertional malaise (symptoms worsen after minimal activity)
 • Sleep disturbances
Cardiovascular / autonomic:
 • Palpitations, tachycardia
 • Orthostatic intolerance, lightheadedness
 • Chest discomfort
Respiratory / muscular:
 • Shortness of breath, cough
 • Muscle or joint pain
 • Weakness, deconditioning
Emotional / mental health:
 • Anxiety, depression, mood swings
 • Sleep disorders
 • “Brain fatigue” or cognitive slowing

Because these symptoms often overlap with conditions like ME/CFS (myalgic encephalomyelitis / chronic fatigue syndrome), fibromyalgia, or dysautonomia, clinicians frequently proceed by ruling out other causes first.

Can Healing Happen?

Yes — many people with Long COVID improve or recover over time, though the pace can be slow. Some key points:

  • Many people recover within 3 to 6 months after symptom onset, especially if they receive supportive care and pacing strategies.
  • For those with persistent symptoms beyond 12 weeks, the journey may be longer, and progress can plateau.
  • A subset of people may develop a chronic, ME/CFS–like picture, where symptoms linger indefinitely, though gradual improvements remain possible.
  • Early intervention, neuro-supportive therapies, and holistic care appear to increase chances of recovery.

The central idea is: healing is possible, but it often requires guiding the nervous system to “relearn” balance, rather than just masking symptoms.

Conventional & Supportive Treatments for Long COVID

Since there’s no single cure yet, treatment of Long COVID is typically symptom-based and multidisciplinary:

  • Rehabilitation / physical therapy (very gentle, paced, graded)
  • Cognitive rehabilitation and “brain fog” strategies
  • Breathing exercises, diaphragm work, pulmonary rehab
  • Autonomic retraining (tilt training, volume loading, compression)
  • Sleep hygiene, rest, pacing (avoid overexertion)
  • Medication and supplements as needed (anti-inflammatories, antivirals, anticoagulants, etc., under medical supervision)
  • Psychological support (CBT, mindfulness, counseling)
  • Nutrition, hydration, stress management, sleep optimization

These therapies aim to support what the body is trying to do, while minimizing further damage or exhaustion.

Introducing the Rezzimax Tuner: A Nervous System–Focused Tool

While the Rezzimax Tuner is not a “magic bullet,” it offers a non-invasive, nervous system–oriented approach that may complement conventional care. Below is how it fits into the broader healing paradigm.

What Is the Rezzimax Tuner?

Developed by physical therapist Sharik Peck, the Rezzimax Tuner is a device that delivers resonant vibrational frequencies to targeted areas — especially around the head, mouth, and neck — with the goal of stimulating cranial nerves, the vagus nerve, and neuromuscular pathways. The design is inspired in part by natural harmonics (e.g., a cat’s purr) to support gentle neural recalibration.

How It May Help in Long COVID

  1. Cranial Nerve Recalibration
    Many Long COVID symptoms (loss of smell, taste, hearing, tinnitus, vision disturbances) involve cranial nerves. The Tuner can deliver frequencies through attachments (e.g., mouthpiece, facial sensors) to engage those nerves and help “remind” them how to function together.
  2. Vagus Nerve Stimulation / Autonomic Regulation
    By influencing the vagus nerve and other parasympathetic pathways, the device may help the body shift out of chronic sympathetic (stress) dominance into a more restorative state.
  3. Neural Plasticity & Rewiring
    Vibration and frequency stimulation promote neuromodulation — helping neural circuits re-establish connectivity, reduce maladaptive signaling, and improve synaptic responsiveness.
  4. Enhanced Absorption of Adjunctive Therapies
    Because the Tuner can be used with topical or sublingual herbal tinctures, low-dose phytochemicals can be delivered through mucosal absorption while the device vibrates — potentially boosting their effect on neural tissues.
  5. Safety & Versatility
    The device is non-pharmacological and can be applied even in cases where herbs or medicines are contraindicated (pregnancy, polypharmacy, sensitive populations). It’s gentle, adjustable, and theoretically safe across a wide range of users.

Rezzipes for Long COVID

As a response to COVID-19, we developed a Rezzipe specifically for the Loss of Taste & Smell:

  • Focus stimulation on the head, face, mouth, and neck (cranial nerve pathways)
  • Use the mouthpiece attachment, adding small drops of herbal tincture (e.g. adaptogens, anti-inflammatories) during vibration
  • Combine with tongue and facial mobility exercises, eye movements, and breathing techniques
  • Use daily or near-daily, but always paced so as not to overwhelm the system (very gentle in early stages)
  • Monitor progress (smell, taste, tinnitus, cognition, energy) and adjust frequency profiles over time

Early reports suggest that some users regain smell or taste within weeks — even those told their senses were “lost forever.” As sense returns, sleep, energy, cognition, and overall sense of well-being tend to follow suit.

Take a moment to watch Elaine share her experience using the Rezzimax Tuner to overcome her symptoms of anosmia:

Putting It All Together: An Integrative Strategy

Here’s a suggested framework for integrating treatment, including the Rezzimax Tuner:

Phase Focus Tools & Strategies
Stabilization / Rest Prevent crashes, reduce inflammation, support rest Gentle pacing, sleep, hydration, low-level vibration with Tuner, minimal exercise
Neural Reset / Reconnections Stimulate cranial and vagal nerves Rezzimax protocols, craniofacial work, nerve gliding, breathing & parasympathetic practices
Reconditioning Gradual reintroduction of movement / function Very gentle physical therapy, graded activity, rehab under supervision
Optimization & Maintenance Support long-term resilience Herbs, nutrition, stress management, tune-ups with Tuner, periodic neural “boosts”

Important caveats:

  • Always start with very gentle intensity; the nervous system in Long COVID is fragile and reactive.
  • Use pacing and self-monitoring — avoid pushing into symptom flares.
  • Coordinate with medical professionals; the Rezzimax Tuner is best as a complementary tool, not a replacement for medical care.
  • Track progress (smell, cognition, fatigue, autonomic symptoms) and adjust as needed.

Regaining Balance After COVID

Long-Haul COVID is a real and often disruptive condition. The statistics tell us this is not a fringe phenomenon — millions of people globally continue to wrestle with lingering symptoms. But there is reason for hope: the nervous system is plastic, adaptable, and capable of recovery — especially when given the right cues.

The Rezzimax Tuner offers an exciting, noninvasive way to help the cranial and vagus systems re-synchronize, stimulate neural healing, and assist the body in reclaiming balance.

If you or someone you love is grappling with Long COVID, I encourage a multi-modal, nerve-centered approach — one that honors rest and pacing, but also actively helps the body remember how to heal itself.

Transcript: Long-Haul COVID, Cranial Nerves, and Resonant Healing

Featuring Dr. Patrick Jones and Sharik Peck
Source: The Homegrown Herbalist

Dr. Patrick Jones:
You know, COVID-19 was a terrible bug. It caused a lot of people a lot of grief for a couple of years. But for some people, it’s still causing them a lot of grief.

Today we’re going to be talking about long-haul COVID symptoms — the lingering consequences of having that infection — and some things that you might be able to do to solve some of those problems. Let’s talk about it.

I’m Dr. Patrick Jones from the HomeGrown Herbalist School of Botanical Medicine, and this is my dear friend, Sharik Peck.

Sharik is a physical therapist who developed a remarkable tool called the Rezzimax Tuner. This is the Tuner, and there’s also another version for people who like to juggle — the Mini Tuner.

The Rezzimax Tuner is an FDA-registered medical device that uses resonant vibrational frequencies to solve all kinds of problems.

Well, what the heck does that have to do with COVID-19? What kinds of things are we talking about, Sharik? What’s going on?

Sharik Peck:
Some of the biggest problems we’ve seen with COVID-19 are dysfunctions in the cranial nerves.

In particular, the sense of smell is typically one of the first things affected — that’s the first cranial nerve. All of these cranial nerves enter at the brainstem level, and they’re all critical to keeping the body functioning properly.

Another common symptom we see is tinnitus — a ringing in the ears — which indicates dysfunction in the cranial nerves and their communication systems. People also experience a loss of smell, taste, and sometimes even hearing and vision disturbances.

All of this dysfunction contributes to why people don’t feel well, lack energy, and have trouble sleeping.

Dr. Jones:
Yeah, and you know, it’s funny — I go to these conferences to lecture on herbal medicine and natural health, and all day long people are coming up asking questions about what they can do for this or that.

It used to be that maybe two or three people at a conference would mention tinnitus. But since COVID-19, it seems like every fourth person has really bad tinnitus, vertigo, loss of smell or taste, or brain fog.

Now, I haven’t done the research or brought my clipboard to track it, but it sure seems like there’s been a huge surge in these issues since COVID. I think it’s because of the cranial nerve involvement — the coronavirus getting in there and disrupting those neural pathways.

So what are we doing about it? How do we fix that?

Sharik:
We’ve found a few things that are very helpful. Most of our protocols involve the head and neck, all aimed at balancing those cranial nerves.

In particular, one of the fastest ways to restore the sense of smell and taste that we’ve been researching involves our small, flexible mouth attachment.

We’ll put a drop or two of an herbal formula — or even something simple like lime or lemon — on the device, then place it in the mouth and run the Rezzimax frequencies. This stimulates the trigeminal nerve, the taste buds, and the olfactory system, all at once.

When we add in visual exercises and tongue movements, this “cranial nerve dance” helps the nerves remember how to work together again.

Often within just a few weeks, we see the senses of taste and smell re-emerge in individuals who were told those functions would never return.

Once that happens, people start feeling better, sleeping better, and recovering more effectively from daily stress. That’s what we’re seeing — and it’s making a huge difference.

Dr. Jones:
Yeah, and like Sharik said, that stimulation of neural pathways through vibration — it’s all about frequency.

There are different frequencies, ranges, and combinations, and Sharik’s done incredible work with that. If you head over to his YouTube channel — Rezzimax Channel — he’s got all kinds of videos for fixing all kinds of things. I’ll put a link in the description.

What I love about what you just said is that, in addition to vibration, you can add other things to enhance it — like herbs.

There are herbs that help nervous pathways and the brain remember their jobs and heal from injury — herbs like teasel, ashwagandha, Siberian ginseng, and Panax ginseng.

If you put a few drops of tincture on the Rezzimax mouthpiece while it’s vibrating, those phytochemicals absorb quickly through the mucous membranes. Combined with the vibrational therapy, it’s a powerful one-two punch to wake up those cranial nerves and get them working again — start smelling the flowers, as I like to say!

Just an amazing tool.

And like I said, there’s a lot of great instructional content on the Rezzimax channel, and I’ll link that below.

Sometimes, approaching healing from more than one angle — vibration and herbs, for instance — can be extraordinarily powerful in helping the body repair itself and figure out what to do next.

Sharik:
I love that perspective. One thing you’ve shared with me, Patrick, is that when you take a pharmaceutical pill, it’s usually calibrated to do just one thing.

But when you use an herbal formula — something God created — it may have twenty different actions that help balance other systems in the body at the same time.

When we add in resonant frequencies, when we teach the vagus nerve to hold its frequency at a higher level, and when we do all of this in conjunction, we’re speeding up the body’s natural healing process for everyone.

Dr. Jones:
Exactly. And frequency is incredibly accessible to the body. It helps reestablish neural connections and promotes healing in remarkable ways.

I’ve done acupuncture with tuning forks and auricular therapy with tuning forks — it’s the same principle.

When you combine modalities that work on fundamental levels the body understands — herbs, vibration, frequency — it can be astoundingly powerful.

And as an herbalist, sometimes I can’t use herbs on someone. That’s no fun!

They’ll come up to me, and the first thing I ask is, “What pharmaceuticals are you on?” They’ll list a dozen, and I’ll have to say, “Well, this herb doesn’t mix well with that drug,” so we can’t do what I would normally do.

But I can always use the Tuner.

It doesn’t matter if you’re pregnant, nursing, an infant — even a puppy dog — vibration is perfectly safe and has extraordinary power to reboot, recalibrate, and open up neural pathways, stimulate cranial nerves and the vagus nerve, and just get the whole body doing what it’s supposed to do.

So yes, I’m a big fan.

Sharik:
Me too. I love our work together.

And you know, Patrick, you were such a strong influence on some of the resonant frequencies we put into the device.

I don’t know if you remember, but years ago, we used to modify an older device that helped a lot of people, but it didn’t truly heal them.

Then we had some great discussions about cat purring harmonics, right?

That’s what we captured and put into our device — we mechanized and tuned that perfect range of cat purring harmonics and created a tool based on those frequencies.

Now we even have a utility patent on that “purring range.”

It works incredibly well. In fact, our second device even has a little cat face on it to remind us that it’s inspired by something God created.

That purring range is phenomenal — it helps both humans and animals alike to do really, really well.

Dr. Jones:
Yep — and they don’t shed, you don’t have to feed them, and there’s no kitty litter!

Sharik:
(laughs) Much better pet!

Dr. Jones:
Anyway — and yes, they even work on cats, because cats already know all about calming down with frequencies.

I’m Dr. Patrick Jones from the Homegrown Herbalist School of Botanical Medicine, and this is Sharik Peck, physical therapist and inventor of the Rezzimax Tools and Techniques.

We appreciate your time. Thanks for listening, and have a great day.

If you know someone who’s struggling with any of these issues, click that Share button so they can see what we’re talking about.

And if you enjoyed this, click Like and Subscribe — we’ll send you more information.

Like I said, all the links to Sharik’s information — and where you can pick up one of these little “kitties” that doesn’t shed and can fix all kinds of things — are in the description.

Thanks for watching!

Sharik:
Thank you.

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