The ‘fit and healthy’ Wasps legend was floored by the illness with his heartbeat recorded at 218bpm
Scrivener “couldn’t see a way out” as it took him over three years to “get back to normality”
Wasps legend Peter Scrivener has opened up about his terrifying ordeal with long Covid, with the illness sending his heart racing out of control and causing him to lose three stone in less than a month.
The 52-year-old former back rower, who was once the highest-paid player per minute in world rugby, faced a number of major injury setbacks during his playing career, but he was “taken down in spectacular fashion” when he contracted Covid during the pandemic in October 2020.
Scrivener, who was “fit and healthy” at the time, thought he would avoid any serious effects if he contracted the virus, but had his life turned upside down as his body weight dropped rapidly and his heart raced out of control, with his heartbeat recorded at 218bpm at one stage.
He also suffered with brain fog, a high temperature and chronic fatigue, with the illness even causing him to collapse when climbing stairs. Ultimately, he was diagnosed with long Covid as it took him over three years to “get back to some form of normality”.
Recalling the crippling effect the virus had on his body, Scrivener told RugbyPass: “As I was fit and healthy in October 2020, I thought I would be fine and have flu-like symptoms. Oh my god, was I wrong.
“It took me down in the most spectacular fashion, it was literally life-changing. I lost three stone of muscle in about three-and-a-half weeks; my heart was going at 218, that was recorded by an NHS monitor. I had brain fog; a temperature of 40 degrees for 10 days; and chronic fatigue.
“At my lowest point I tried everything,” he added. “It got to the point where I couldn’t see a way out, and I am naturally a positive person. I would walk up some stairs and would collapse. It was horrific. It took me three-and-a-half years to get back to some form of normality, but I am now pretty much fully recovered.”
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While he was floored by Covid, Scrivener’s ordeal ended up having one positive impact on his life, as his experience led him to set up his business, Biowell Health.
Having looked to the rugby world for solutions to his health issues, his former Wasps team-mate Simon Shaw suggested he tried hyperbaric oxygen therapy, in which people breathe pure oxygen in a pressurised chamber to increase oxygen levels in the blood.
Undergoing the treatment led Scrivener to learn that he had an issue with his mitochondria – energy cells – and he then underwent red light therapy, or photo biomodulation, which creates new mitochondria in the body and helps to boost energy levels.
“I looked globally where I could get all this stuff and there wasn’t anywhere,” he said as he explained how the business he co-founded came about. “In the States, there was a very big company called Restore Hyper Wellness.
“I enquired about starting a franchise in the UK but they weren’t interested, so I created a business plan to bring the best technology in the world to the UK, to reset someone’s mitochondrial health and general cellular wellness, and that is what Biowell Health is about.”
Bath’s Louie Hennessey is one of Scrivener’s clients at Biowell Health
Based in Battersea, Biowell Health already has 1,800 clients on its books after opening last year and offers therapies including cryotherapy, red light therapy, hyperbaric oxygen and compression therapy.
While the therapies are open to everyone, a host of top rugby players, including England stars Henry Pollock, Tommy Freeman and George Furbank, use the service. Welsh centre Louie Hennessey and Sale Sharks forward Reuben Logan – son of Gabby and Kenny Logan – are also clients, along with several other famous faces outside of sport.
“Some of our sports clients comes to us to speed up wound healing, some come to optimise their performance – that extra one per cent for Henry and Tommy is a big difference,” said Scrivener. “But everyone comes to us to be better, faster, fitter, stronger and healthier.
“I stumbled on a world that can help everyone, but this all came from rugby, because effectively if Simon Shaw hadn’t have said why don’t you try hyperbaric oxygen, which I’d never heard about before, none of this would have happened and, do you know what, I might not be here, because I couldn’t see a way out.”
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