Former Loose Women star Andrea McLean has spoken of the debilitating effects of having contracted Covid three times followed by flu.
The TV favourite told of a "rough" past few months which saw her take to her bed when she did more than her body was ready for. But, in an update on her health, she says she is starting to feel better and is able to exercise again, The Mirror reports.
It adds that the 53-year-old felt "absolutely throttled" by flu around Christmas time, leading to her being tested for lupus but doctors discovered that she had long Covid. She spoke about her health to Bella magazine, having previously shared a social media post about how she had been bedridden for three days after doing too much as she tried to recover.
Read more: Cramlington woman bounces back from long Covid and menopause
She said that she has been advised vitamins by her friends, saying: "I've got lots of friends in the health space, so I take everything that they recommend. Any vitamins of supplements that people say 'try this' I take them. I currently take a lot of vitamin D, vitamin C and so on."
She added she had been shocked she became so ill due to being "already healthy". "I was doing everything that you're supposed to do, which was particularly unfair," she said.
"But what I am really appreciative of it my leisure because until you have something that is so debilitating you cannot walk the length of yourself. People say 'oh I'm exhausted' but what I've experienced defies the definition of tired.
"I'd no energy - it's really hard to feel energised. The simple things like going for a walk - I'd be getting further and further behind Nick (husband Nick Feeney), to the point where I'd have to say 'can you stop for a minute' it's things like that."
She said had put on weight while unwell due to not being able to exercise as much and while she had not weighed herself she could "feel it". She added she reached the point where she accepted that the way she was feeling was her "life now" and that it wasn't a case of how long it was going to last, calling it instead a "life lesson".
