Par David M

｜

Published on octobre 2, 2026

Medically reviewed by Dr. Saloni Kabra, B.H.M.S.

I’m 56, and I’ve been looking after my wife since her stroke three years ago.

I haven’t slept properly since, because some part of me is always listening.

I’ve tried sleeping tablets, therapy, a carers’ group, every bit of advice about taking time for myself…

Nothing seemed to make the constant tension and poor sleep go away.

I already knew about the vagus nerve. Every carers’ page has a section on it, tucked between the bit about taking time for yourself and the bit about joining a group.

I was sceptical of anything that needed me to stop and do it, because stopping is the one thing I don’t get, but I picked a device and tried it anyway.

I decided to track it in a journal, day by day.

Here’s the real story, no fluff, just what I actually experienced.

Day 1-4: Nights & The Listening

It showed up in a plain box. I clipped it onto my ear while the kettle boiled. It tingled slightly but was not uncomfortable, just… there.

Je ne ressentais rien et j’ai presque voulu le renvoyer.

Nights are the worst part.

Lights off at eleven and then lying there with one ear open, working out whether that noise was her or just the house.

I put it on and lay down.

About 20 minutes in, something weird happened.

My shoulders had come down, my jaw wasn’t set, and I was lying in the bed instead of standing guard in it.

I wasn’t calm exactly, but I wasn’t braced either:

It felt like I was hearing the house instead of listening to it.

C’est alors que j’ai arrêté de penser à le retourner.

Day 8-12: The Physical Shift

She fell in the bathroom on Wednesday.

She was fine, bruised and embarrassed and cross about it, and I was the one still shaking an hour later.

Twenty minutes with the device once she was settled.

I was still wound up, but it came down instead of running all night.

Je n’ai pas spirale.

My sister takes her on a Sunday afternoon, and I usually spend that hour too wired to do anything useful.

plutôt ?

I sat in the garden and read, and I was actually there for it.

Being permanently on alert can affect sleep and recovery for some people, which may make you feel less recovered no matter how much rest you get.

For me, this felt like a change in how quickly my body settled after stress.

Jour 16-22 : Digestion et sommeil

My stomach’s been in knots for three years. Eating standing up, eating whatever’s left, and a burn under my ribs by the evening.

Day nineteen?

I sat down, ate a proper meal, and my stomach left me alone.

Stress can affect gastrointestinal function and may contribute to symptoms such as nausea, changes in appetite, or stomach discomfort.

For me, it felt easier to eat without the usual tension in my stomach.

Sleep was my biggest struggle: down at eleven, up at two to check on her, then awake until four, just in case.

Je l’ai utilisé une heure avant de me coucher.

Première nuit ? Endormi dans 20 minutes.

Je me suis réveillé à 2 heures du matin mais je me suis rendormi.

After a week, my Oura ring showed it: HRV up, resting heart rate down.

I felt more settled at night, and my Oura data also showed changes in HRV and resting heart rate.

Après 30 jours, voilà ce qui avait réellement changé

Cela n’a pas guéri mes pensées anxieuses.

I still have hard days, still seeing someone.

Cependant,

I felt like my body was responding to everyday stress differently. Before, even ordinary situations could leave me feeling intensely alert. Now, I seem to settle more quickly when something reminds me of the past.

Why Your Body Stays Stuck in Anxious Thoughts (And How This Helps)

You already know the vagus nerve is your body’s “calm down” nerve. Here’s the part that matters when you’re the one doing the looking after.

The danger ended, but my body didn’t immediately stop responding, as though I needed to stay alert.

After trauma, some people can continue to experience heightened arousal or a strong startle response even when they are no longer in danger. Knowing intellectually that you’re safe does not always make those physical responses disappear straight away.

Your body can remain in a heightened state of alertness.

Every bit of advice I’d ever been given needed me to stop first, and stopping is the one thing this job doesn’t allow.

This was the first thing I found that I could just wear while I got on with it.

Nurosym delivers electrical stimulation through an ear electrode designed to target the auricular branch of the vagus nerve. Research on transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation suggests that this type of stimulation can influence autonomic and brain activity, although the exact mechanisms and scientific effects are still being studied.

For me, the practical question was simpler: did I feel different after using it?

I compared many devices before I picked this one. Over 60 scientific studies back this one up:

Cela fonctionnera-t-il réellement pour vous ?

It may be worth exploring if:

You're looking after someone, and there's no hour of the day where you're off duty
You sleep with one ear open and wake up more tired than you went to bed
Every piece of advice you've been given needs time you haven't got
Nobody asks how you are; they ask how they are

Skip it if:

The Practical Stuff

Tarif: Around €700. Not cheap, but less than I spent on sleeping aids, supplements and a gym membership I used four times.

Research subsidy: Get €70 off if you join their study (takes 2 minutes).

Money-back guarantee: I had a 30-day return window, which made me more comfortable trying it.

How to use: Clip it on your ear and control the intensity.

Sessions: 15 minutes to 2 hours.

I do:

Use it while cooking, reading, and sitting with her.

The sensation is a gentle tingling.

Not painful.

Mon avis après un mois

Most wellness products have disappointed me and led me to be naturally sceptical.

This one’s different.

It didn’t fix everything.

I still have anxious thoughts, and nothing about our situation has changed.

But for the first time in three years…

I’m not constantly fighting my own nervous system.

I have more energy left for her instead of spending everything I have just getting through the day.

I sleep between the checks, I eat sitting down, and I’m better company than I was, which she deserves.

30 Days To A Calmer You: Guaranteed Or Refunded

Try Nurosym for 30 days. If it doesn’t help, you just send it back and get a full refund.

You have nothing to lose except another year of doing this on empty.

Bibliographie :

Chalmers, J. A., Quintana, D. S., Abbott, M. J.-A., & Kemp, A. H. (2014). Les troubles anxieux sont associés à une variabilité réduite du rythme cardiaque : une méta-analyse. Frontiers en psychiatrie, 5, 80. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25071612/
Cao, R., Azimi, I., Sarhaddi, F., Niela-Vilen, H., Axelin, A., Liljeberg, P., & Rahmani, A. M. (2022). Accuracy assessment of Oura Ring nocturnal heart rate and heart rate variability in comparison with electrocardiography in time and frequency domains: Comprehensive analysis. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 24(1), e27487. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35040799/
Borges, U., Laborde, S., & Raab, M. (2019). Influence of transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation on cardiac vagal activity: Not different from sham stimulation and no effect of stimulation intensity. PLOS ONE, 14(10), e0223848. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31603939/
Leigh, S.-J., Kaakoush, N. O., Lucassen, P. J., & Walker, F. R. (2023). The impact of acute and chronic stress on gastrointestinal physiology and function: A microbiota-gut-brain axis perspective. The Journal of Physiology. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37756251/
Marsland, A. L., Walsh, C., Lockwood, K., & John-Henderson, N. A. (2017). The effects of acute psychological stress on circulating and stimulated inflammatory markers: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 64, 208-219. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28089638/
Peuker, E. T., & Filler, T. J. (2002). The nerve supply of the human auricle. Clinical Anatomy, 15(1), 35-37. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11835542/
Redgrave, J., Day, D., Leung, H., Laud, P. J., Ali, A., Lindert, R., & Majid, A. (2018). Safety and tolerability of transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation in humans: A systematic review. Brain Stimulation, 11(6), 1225-1238. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30217648/
Segerstrom, S. C., & Miller, G. E. (2004). Psychological stress and the human immune system: A meta-analytic study of 30 years of inquiry. Psychological Bulletin, 130(4), 601-630. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1361287/
Task Force of the European Society of Cardiology and the North American Society of Pacing and Electrophysiology. (1996). Heart rate variability: Standards of measurement, physiological interpretation and clinical use. Circulation, 93(5), 1043-1065. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8598068/
Yap, J. Y. Y., Keatch, C., Lambert, E., Woods, W., Stoddart, P. R., & Kameneva, T. (2020). Critical review of transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation: Challenges for translation to clinical practice. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 14, 284. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32410932/

Cet article de blog est fourni à titre informatif et ne remplace pas l’avis d’un professionnel de santé. Consultez toujours un professionnel de santé pour obtenir des conseils personnalisés..

I’ve Cared for My Wife Since Her Stroke & I’m Exhausted. This Vagus Nerve Device Fixed My Anxious Thoughts in 30 Days