- Lucy Adams
- The BBC’s social affairs correspondent in Scotland
Lucy has made tremendous progress but most days she still suffers from chronic pain, dizziness, fatigue and brain fog
I suffered from COVID-19 for three years. Although I’ve made a lot of progress, most days I still suffer from chronic pain in my joints, dizziness, fatigue and brain fog.
Looking at me, you might think I’m fine but it’s so sad that I can’t do the activities that I used to enjoy physically.
Before COVID-19, I rode my bike every day, sometimes long distances just for fun, and even cycled around East Africa.
But three years after first contracting the virus in March 2020, I’m sitting on an exercise bike in a Glasgow hospital room, wearing a mask over my face for a respiratory and lung function test, and I struggle to switch as the machine becomes more and more resistant and I grow too weak. .
The nurse notes that they have 80-year-olds doing the same exercises with less noise, while I’m 46.
Now, of course, what I went through is nothing compared to those who are still in the hospital, or those who have lost loved ones.
Most days I am so grateful for all the support I have received from family, friends, neighbors and even strangers.
I’m also grateful that I can do more than I could in those early stages.
But on bad days I feel downright depressed, I’m nowhere near feeling fully recovered.
Lucy auditions as part of Panorama 2021
I have previously written about how I contracted COVID-19 and its symptoms, before the first lockdown started.
For weeks I was fine, and even after the initial infection the symptoms persisted.
Months later, I still had a high fever, severe headache, dizziness, joint pain, shortness of breath, digestive issues, constant fatigue, and heavy sweating.
Seven months later, I wrote about what it felt like to have long-term COVID. It took weeks to put together the article, as I wrote the whole thing lying flat in my bed, typing with one finger on my phone.
More than a year after I was first infected, I made an episode of BBC Panorama looking at the long-term effects of COVID-19 and asked, “Will I ever get better?”
As a result, people still ask me almost daily: “Are you better? What did the doctors tell you? What is the treatment? What is the answer?”
The truth is, I’ve found ways to deal with my symptoms, but I’m afraid I don’t have answers.
Three years later, I wanted to check if I had missed a major discovery, so I went back to some of the experts involved in Panorama since July 2021.
Dr. Eileen Maxwell, who led the first and second long-term COVID review at the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR), tells me that there is no single medical treatment or drug that can treat the condition quickly and effectively.
“There is no magic bullet,” she says. “But we are seeing research showing that long-term Covid clinics in England are helping people live with their symptoms.”
“We’d love to find a cure, but in the meantime, there are a lot of long-term debilitating conditions that we know a lot about how to deal with.”
Lucy says she used to ride her bike every day before she got COVID-19
Dr. Maxwell says that experts haven’t learned much about the “causal mechanisms” of the long-term effects of COVID-19 since the summer of 2020.
“We still don’t have the evidence that it’s one thing with one cause, and there’s no single cure,” she says.
Immunologist Professor Danny Aultmann, of Imperial College London, has been researching the theory that for some people COVID-19 is an autoimmune condition, and that the body attacks itself, as it has early indications of biomarkers in the blood but no conclusions or cure. , saying, “I would say bear with us.” “We’re really trying. Our research is going really well. We have a lot of clues but no answers.”
“The consensus is not clear at all.”
“You haven’t missed the big answer,” Dr. Altman reassured me.
Lucy was active and adventurous long before she contracted COVID-19
When Panorama aired, the UK was just starting to reopen after successive lockdowns. Finding cures for COVID-19 and its long-term effects was still high on the political agenda, but since then the focus has waned. the point.
People have forgotten the disease and its effects as they seek to continue with their lives.
The most recent ONS figures from February 2023 suggest that around two million people in the UK have long-term COVID-19, but the collection of this data has been discontinued.
And research data indicates that between 2% and 20% of people who catch COVID experience long-term symptoms of COVID.
“It’s clear that people who get vaccinated will have fewer long-term symptoms of COVID and fewer people will develop those symptoms,” says Dr. Maxwell.
“The difficulty is that there is a group of you who contracted the virus very early on and are still suffering from its symptoms, but the attention is no longer focused on that.”
Professor Alan Carson, of the University of Edinburgh, told me he did not need to see vital signs in the blood to know that people’s symptoms were real and “terrible”.
“As a physician, if you need a biomarker or screening test to show abnormalities after two hours of listening to a patient about their symptoms, you are clearly in the wrong job,” he says.
Professor Carson compares those who say long-term symptoms of Covid are delusional to those who believe the Earth is flat. He was the first person who could explain in a way that I understood what was happening to me and how the communication systems between my brain and the other parts of my body had gone awry.
Lucy had a brain scan as part of a study at the University of Edinburgh
I was one of the participants in his study looking at the effect of long-term symptoms of Covid on the brain and as part of that I had an MRI scan.
Waiting for the results was terrifying, but it’s reassuring to know there was no visible damage to my brain and I should make a full recovery.
Professor Carson agrees that there is no silver bullet but strongly believes that there are tried and tested rehabilitation processes that will help people.
He also says there are very different subsets of people with long-term symptoms of Covid, including those who have permanent damage to their lungs or other organs, and people, like myself, who test negative but have persistent symptoms.
“The problem from the beginning was the assumption that long-term Covid is one thing,” he says.
“It’s like trying to study apples by looking at an entire bowl of fruit.”
“There is no doubt, for example, that some patients in hospital developed permanent fibrotic scars in the lungs, but grouping these patients together in studies with those who had no damage is problematic.”
“This means that we have a group of inflammatory abnormalities that we don’t fully understand.”
Professor Carson adds: “You, as a patient, need to know whether or not you’re going to get better.”
Totalbig coming from symptoms
Since I wrote that first article for the BBC, I have been contacted by hundreds of people with Covid and myalgic encephalomyelitis, another condition that Professor Carson refers to as “large clusters” of symptoms.
Some suggested treatments, while others suggested I give up and accept that I will never get better. Most of them have asked what I have tried and what has helped me.
Obviously, I’m not an expert, nor am I a scientist, so I can only write about what helped me personally and what didn’t.
A lot of people have told me that they think prolonged COVID indicates feeling tired. But that is the least of the damage.
On some bad days, I feel like the whole room is spinning around me, and my bones ache.
But I’ve been able to do things I thought two years ago would be impossible, including going back to work – albeit part-time – and doing live TV. I used to be terrified of going on air and getting brain fog or fog, but I got over it.
For me, stress is the biggest aggravator of these symptoms, as I find it impossible to avoid but at least try to control it every day.
Almost every day I go to lie down at some point in the afternoon. In the office I have a quiet room to rest in and without it I would struggle to work. I am very fortunate to have been able to keep my job, keep my home – a lot of other people with long-term symptoms of Covid have been less fortunate.
I carry an eye mask and earphones, so even if I’m on an outdoor shoot, I can go and sit away from the outside world, because overexertion is still a big problem.
Lucy auditions as part of Panorama 2021
I realized that if I don’t go to the pool regularly, the joint pain and headaches become unbearable. Sometimes I only have the energy to swim for about five minutes, but it still pays off.
One of the biggest improvements for me came when I was referred to the Glasgow Integrative Care Center who specialize in long-term conditions. Dr Bridie O’Dowd and the mindfulness program helped me manage my symptoms.
It’s not something I would have considered earlier but I still try to use what I learned every day.
As part of that, she helps patients understand the need to do little things that bring happiness every day, even if it’s just sitting in the park or reading a book.
I do breathing exercises and yoga as much as I can and try to regulate my activities. Singing lessons have also helped my breathing, as I recently joined a choir.
A year ago, I started taking a drug recommended by Dr. Carson, which serves many different purposes, but greatly relieves my constant feeling of dizziness.
In December last year, I thought I was better than ever, but then I got COVID-19 again and found it very difficult to recover.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy was an interesting experience, according to Lucy Adams
As a last resort, I tried hyperbaric oxygen therapy. It was an interesting experience, I felt it helped me a bit but my energy didn’t come back and the pain and brain fog didn’t go away.
I know that some have found the cure a miracle for them, so I am happy for them, but it was not a magical cure for me.
I am now more aware of the number of people who are silently dealing with unseen symptoms including chronic pain and chronic fatigue for a range of conditions including long-term covid.
I often feel overwhelmed by the amount of information and facts about the disease that I cannot handle on my own.
I am writing this article to raise awareness of the disease, especially since I had it, so I hope after three years to help others in one way or another.
In the end, I wonder if I’ll ever recover, but I’m grateful for what I’ve achieved.
