A fit and healthy woman has been left bedridden for days by long Covid, eight months after contracting the virus.
Heather Campbell, 23, had no underlying health conditions when she tested positive for Covid-19.
She was unwell for three weeks at home but despite having symptoms, her first two PCR tests were negative, before she tested positive.
The nurse from Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, Scotland, was forced to take days off work as long Covid caused fatigue, muscle and joint aches and brain fog, the Daily Record reports.
Heather said that any physical activity, including walking at a slow pace, makes her symptoms worse and leaves her in bed for days afterwards.
She said long Covid has had a major impact on her life and because she is often exhausted, she feels like she is missing out on many things.
The nurse said she is not attending many social events and for this reason, she often feels isolated.
She is now urging other people to get vaccinated against Covid-19.
Heather said: “I was fairly unwell at home for around three weeks and my symptoms took a long time to settle. I was treated with oral antibiotics and a steroid inhaler for a lower respiratory tract infection in December.
“In January I attended A&E with increasing chest pain but all my tests came back normal. I have since been referred for a 24 hour heart monitor, chest x-ray and numerous blood tests which have also come back as normal.
“The other symptoms I have to live with daily include a loss of appetite, extreme fatigue, spiking temperatures and fevers, muscle and joint aches, tachycardia, heart palpitations, chest pain, headaches, eye aches, initial hallucinations, difficulty sleeping, abdominal pains, confusion and brain fog."
She added: “Physical activity including walking at a slow pace aggravates symptoms and can leave me with joint and muscle pains and in bed for days afterwards.
“These symptoms have dramatically impacted on the way I am able to live my life.
“Some days I do not want to get out of bed and even taking a shower and washing my hair can cause heart palpitations.”
In April, Heather tried to return to work, but due to the demands of the job and her ongoing symptoms, she only managed to work for two days before she had to go on sick leave again.
Heather said she is a completely different person from the nurse who got sick eight months ago.
She explained: “I never would have expected at 23 to be so unable to do things that before were so easy.
“I don’t feel 23 anymore, I feel so much older.
“I find myself not attending many social events with friends since the easing of restrictions due to exhaustion and I can feel quite isolated. I’m missing out on so much.”
She also urged everyone to be careful, because Covid can also have a major impact on healthy young people.
Heather said: “With restrictions easing in Scotland I would just urge everyone to remain vigilant, stick to the rules as much as possible and, if able to, get vaccinated in order to protect themselves and each other from the virus.
“I understand the desire to want to meet friends and family in big groups without masks or social distancing after such a long period of time, however, I am an example that any young, fit and healthy individual could be affected so heavily by Covid.”
A study carried out by Imperial College London found that over two million adults in England may have long Covid.
Women, people who smoked, were overweight or obese, lived in deprived areas, or had been admitted to hospital, were all find to have a higher risk of persistent symptoms, while Asian people had a lower risk.
Increasing age was also linked with having persistent symptoms, with the risk rising by 3.5% with each decade of life.
Professor Paul Elliott, director of the REACT programme from Imperial’s School of Public Health, said: “Our findings do paint a concerning picture of the longer-term health consequences of COVID-19, which need to be accounted for in policy and planning.
“Long COVID is still poorly understood but we hope through our research that we can contribute to better identification and management of this condition, which our data and others’ suggest may ultimately affect millions of people in the UK alone.”
