Alex Puccio recovers from mental breakdown after Covid-19

Alex Puccio, one of the best female boulderers in the world the last twelve years, shares her terrible Covid-19 mental experience on Insta. "The thing that was the worse for me is the fact that I’m a hypochondriac and had the worse anxiety the whole time I had covid, thinking I was going to wake up one day and take a turn for the worse! :/"

Basically, she was isolated with her boyfriend for four weeks and after two weeks her anxiety developed into "terrible insomnia". After consulting some psychologists and also taking some meds she is slowly getting back on track. She comments to 8a;

"Right now I’m just climbing and running lightly a little. I have had about 6 days climbing for 1.5 hours each time so far. The third day back I was able to flash a lot of V9’s and flash a V11, think that one was A bit easy tho lol. I definitely think climbing is helping my anxiety a good bit tho. Just getting back o normal routine even if I don’t get any or a little sleep the night before. Still doing my normal stuff helps my mind and try to forget or not care about the tiredness and so not stress oversleep."

It should be mentioned that Alex, although having had several climbing accidents, forcing her to take long physical recovering periods, has done 222 boulder 8A and harder, which is superior of the female. She has also gotten silver in the World Championship. Getting an OK for sharing her story she also says that her Insta comments part is important to. "We all need help from time to time and it’s ok to ask for it!!!! Seeing Psychologist and Dr.’s does not make you weak, it actually shows courage and strength! Asking for help is powerful!!! 🙏💪🏻"

Asking if she really is ok for sharing the hospital picture she sent over, she answers."The one in the hospital is from a week or so ago when my anxiety and sleep deprivation were at a HIGH and so my panic made me want to go to the hospital. In which I was fine, they gave me some anti-anxiety meds. If it’s in good context and making it clear that I wasn’t in the hospital at all due to covid, but way after covid was gone and it’s from my extreme anxiety and panic attacks I was getting.

If that is made clear then I don’t mind. Mental health is a real thing and I have always had anxiety, but the 2 weeks or less of covid I had a fight or flight mindset. I thought I would wake up one day and just make a turn for the worse. Being anxious every day, even tho my covid experience with symptoms was not that bad, then causes me to develop insomnia. Then when the covid was gone and my insomnia was there I worries and got really anxious about that. Thinking about when I will sleep again and will I ever sleep again. This is where therapy is helping a lot of abs connecting with others that have dealt with anxiety-induced insomnia for a long time shows you are not alone or going mad. Lol"