"Long COVID & helped back to normality"

I contracted COVID for the 2nd time in January 2024 and was referred to the long COVID clinic for assessment as my health wasn’t improving. Once it was confirmed that I had long COVID, I was referred to the symptom management team and was assigned a vocational occupational therapist.  What an amazing team they are! Their knowledge, support, kindness and patience was second to none. I didn’t even know they existed before my referral. 

A lot of people don’t understand this condition and think that just because the pandemic is over everyone is fine and we can forget it, but many people are still suffering and could be for years - thank goodness we have this team to help us. 

I attended 9 group symptom management meetings, the advice and support was extremely helpful and just knowing I wasn’t dealing with this on my own was a relief. We were able to support each other by discussing our worries/symptoms and could share ideas that had helped us.  The causes of the area we were looking at - ie fatigue or breathlessness, were explained in depth and we were given many coping mechanisms to manage them.

There was an online hub where we could access and recap every meeting  as memory is something that we can’t rely on! There were also diaries etc that  we could print which helped us to track/recognise/record our symptoms and causes. The team checked on us between meetings and we had access to them if we needed them. 

My occupational therapist in particular has been my rock. Nothing is too much trouble for her.  We meet/have teams meetings every two weeks and she has helped, not only with work issues, but with my other conditions too. Any outside help that might benefit us is also highlighted. I honestly don’t know how I would have coped without her. The condition is debilitating but she’s always positive and focuses on what I’ve managed to achieve especially if I’ve had a relapse. 

 I have had this condition for almost 16 months and I know lots of people who have had it longer than this. We don’t know when or if it will end, but with the help and support of this fantastic group of professionals we can at least understand and use their strategies to manage it. I hope the clinic is continually funded so they are able to carry on with their good work as it is a lifeline to the sufferers of long Covid. I feel blessed to have had their support and believe their work should be publicised way more than it is as, they truly deserve to have more recognition.