For 15 years, Rita Simpson woke up with a heavy sense of dread, convinced that unhappiness was simply part of who she was. The 49-year-old charity worker from Devon, England, appeared capable and composed at work, but privately struggled with anxiety and emotional exhaustion. She became skilled at hiding her feelings, describing the experience as exhausting because she was constantly showing others a different version of herself. Despite seeking professional help, including private therapy and EMDR, she says the distress continued, and at her lowest points she turned to alcohol and experienced suicidal thoughts. Her perspective began to shift after she learned about the vagus nerve, which plays a role in regulating functions such as heart rate, digestion, and the body’s response to stress. Remembering how calm she had felt after ear acupuncture, Rita became interested in Nurosym, a wearable device that delivers gentle electrical stimulation near the ear.
Rita said she noticed a sense of calm during her first session with the device, and after approximately six months of daily use, she reported feeling steadier and less emotionally reactive. She explained that anxious thoughts still appeared, but they no longer seemed to spiral into overwhelming feelings as often. Rita also said she no longer relied on alcohol to cope and that the suicidal thoughts she had previously experienced had gone away. Nurosym is a CE-certified medical device developed by Parasym and costs £599, according to the article. It is designed to stimulate a branch of the vagus nerve without surgery, although reported benefits vary and research findings do not guarantee the same results for every user. For Rita, the most meaningful change came when she returned to relief work supporting adults with learning disabilities and encountered people who remembered her from years earlier. They recalled someone confident and outgoing—a person she had almost forgotten she could be. Their memories helped her recognize that the unhappiness she had lived with for so long did not have to define her future.