For some people living with long Covid, their symptoms have improved. One thing is clear, though: in recovery, one size does not fit all
lorence Mutesva fell ill on the ward. A nurse for 18 years, she had been caring for patients with respiratory problems at University College London hospitals when her symptoms came on. Beyond feeling ropey, she was scared. It was March 2020 and people were dying as the first wave of Covid – a mysterious new disease – swept across Britain.
That first bout of Covid was brutal, but it was not the end of the story. Although most people who catch the virus have a mild disease which clears up in a few weeks, Mutesva, 43, was one of those who experience long-lasting illness. The Office for National Statistics estimates that It was August before Mutesva got a sense of what was wrong. Doctors at University College hospital in London had set up a long Covid clinic where tests showed her blood oxygen fell when she performed a simple exercise of repeatedly standing and sitting. Furthermore, a specific blood test suggested she might have “”.
The initial worry was that patients would have complications from Covid, such as inflammation in the lungs, says Dr Melissa Heightman, a specialist in respiratory medicine at UCLH. Some did, but the doctors saw a much broader range of problems. Patients had severe fatigue, breathlessness that couldn’t be explained, palpitations, chest pain, headaches, a loss of smell, dizziness. “That was very worrying given the large numbers of people who were getting infected,” Heightman says.
Willis took a fortnight off and then worked through the winter. She felt OK for a while, though she had started gasping for breath. She pushed through 2021, but early this year her condition deteriorated. She couldn’t walk for more than five minutes. She couldn’t carry anything. She got shooting pains in her arms and legs.
Willis believes she is on the mend, but the prospect of going back to full-on dance teaching in the autumn is daunting. “I’m much better than I was in March, but I still have so far to go,” she says. Her sense of smell has not come back, but it’s the physical fitness Willis misses most. “I want to get back to where I was. I can’t let go of the super-fit person I was for 25 years.
Shield was furloughed for 18 months. Beyond feeling overwhelmingly tired, she had brain fog and couldn’t think as clearly as before. She did very little around the house and made only simple meals. She spent a lot of time sitting down, and could feel her fitness ebbing away and her joints seizing up. “People told me I had to go out for walks and build myself back, but it had almost the reverse effect. I’d sleep for two hours to get over a 20-minute walk. I had to learn how to pace myself.
One of the most common aspects of long Covid, however, is proving harder to treat: fatigue. Patients seem to fall into two groups: some have suffered a severe loss of fitness and benefit from support to gradually recover their physical fitness. But there are others who, whenever they try to be active, find all their symptoms worsen.
When exam time came, Patel found he was force-feeding himself one meal a day to keep his energy levels up.
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