Introducing Long COVID
Long Covid can be a single or often a group of symptoms that persist at least three months after you’ve been diagnosed with acute Covid illness or a positive swab.” During the pandemic, Respiratory expert Professor Keir Lewis and Consultant Cardiologist Dr Carl Brookes told us about key symptoms common to people who were finding it hard to recover from their experience of COVID.
long covid, explanation, symptoms,
Long COVID Symptom Tracker
Professor Keir Lewis talks us through the tracker app that was created to try and track symptoms and measure progress.
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Worried about your Heart?
Consultant Cardiologist Dr Carl Brookes speaks reassuringly about concerns that people might have about their heart. He makes suggestions about what tests you might be able to have and puts things into context. We hear from Sian who was worried about palpitations particularly when she tried to exercise and how some tests helped to reassure her.
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Fatigue
Sian thinks she tried too hard to get back to her exercise after her experience of having COVID. Mike and Andrew were also frustrated by their slow progress. The key message in this film comes from Dr Brookes, “It’s crucially important I think that people don’t try and push themselves too hard too quickly…”
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Breathlessness
Rhiane shares things that helped her manage her breathlessness, Sian and Julie demonstrate the breathing exercises that helped them.
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Limb Weakness and Numbness
Stephanie and Rhiane both found that exercise and routine have helped them with nerve pain and numbness.
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Taste and Smell
Our contributors share their experience of this characteristic feature of early cases of COVID.
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Brain Fog
Our contributors describe their experiences of feeling less mentally agile than usual and how they dealt with it. Rhiane and Sian found meditation helpful.
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Recovery
“Most of the evidence we are seeing is that people do get better over time. The symptoms may last even one or two, three years. We do not know for sure. But the majority of people are slowly improving.” Encouraging words from Professor Keir Lewis and Dr Carl Brookes in response to the testimonies of our contributors, many of whom have had a challenging experiences with Long COVID. “I’ve yet to come across anyone who’s not making progress. Everyone does get better in the end and it’s just, it’s that time, it’s incredibly slow for some people.”
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