Impacts of long COVID

I had covid Feb 21.
Long story short, I’ve been left disabled and can’t work.
I had 2 job interviews recently for jobs I am well qualified for and experienced in. I’m a teacher. They are part time jobs with hours I can cope with.
Both feedback independently told me my lessons appeared “disorganised” although they acknowledged my lessons had been well planned.
My confidence has hit rock bottom.

The purpose of this post is really for others to acknowledge the impact of long covid and to ensure they make adaptations and Allowances for this during stressful times such as interview situations. Employers need to do their bit too.

Thank you for this post and sharing your experience. They sound like very difficult challenges and situations you have been faced with. I guess you have already seen this link - Find help and support if you have long COVID - GOV.UK, but it seemed worth sharing in case you have not. I will ensure to share the points you raise with members of the CONVALESCENCE research team. Best wishes for your speedy recovery.

(A discussion about how to define Long Covid has been started, if you would like to contribute - the forum space can be found here - How should we define Long Covid?).

I’m aware that I am not as badly affected as many Long Covid sufferers. I first had Covid in May 2020. Not too bad with initial infection, pretty much like winter flu. Three weeks later we were calling out the ambulance as my heart pounded, my blood pressure hit the roof and I had chest pains. The following day I was in hospital for tests, but all came back clear and I went home. The next two months saw me in A&E twice with the same symptoms. In between whiles fatigue and brain fog hit. I could get out of bed, but an hour later I was lying down again. I couldn’t concentrate to read a book ( I am usually an avid reader) and barely managed audio books. Couldn’t leave the house to go for a walk as I could only just make it out of the garden.
This continued, with very gradual improvement, over the next 6 months. By the beginning of Jan 2021 I could walk a kilometre and do a little yoga. Normally I would be walking into town every day and going to exercise classes 2 or 3 times a week. Improvement continued. I could read for prolonged periods, do some office admin and get out to walk. At no time could I do these things without having a 2-3 hour rest most afternoons. In March this year I had Covid again and plummeted from about 80% of former activity to well under 50%.
I’m probably back to 80% again, so recovery has been much faster. Had one week of a real crash after not having so much daily rest.
I’m extremely fortunate that we run our own business and all I have to do is a small amount of admin. Also that my partner did a lot of cooking and housework when I was really unwell. If I had needed to return to longer hours of work I don’t think I could have managed at all.
Life is ok. I’m much better, but I am definitely not fully recovered. Confidence in mental and physical ability has taken a massive knock. Twenty eight months of illness leaves me wondering if I will ever get back to what I think of as normal.

Hi Hattieaj.

Thank you for your post and for sharing your insight/experience. It sounds like you have had a really tough time. I wish you all the best wishes for a speedy, full recovery.

A discussion about how to define Long Covid has been started, if you would like to contribute - the forum space can be found here - How should we define Long Covid?

All the best.

I am sorry you are still so affected by Covid, when I read your post I realised that I have not been proactive in getting support with possible long Covid symptoms…
I was hospitalised and in intensive care for 24 days with Covid in April/May 2020. Having survived on return home my main concern was for my mental health, I had nearly a year of trauma counselling and was diagnosed with clinical PTSD .
My physical health improved over time but I am left with a number of symptoms which are impacting on my life in a big way.Fatigue, breathlessness and pain in my chest along with brain fog are the main ones . I have just been diagnosed with Diverticilitus which I believe is also an after affect of Covid as my bowel symptoms were a huge issue during my hospital stay . My GP has now noted long Covid on my notes and I am looking at getting some support finally .I do think that I have felt so grateful to be alive I believed I should just put up with the current symptoms. To be clear my GP has been totally supportive throughout my journey and is now doing a battery of teats to rule out other issues…