So, have you seen any other doctors or health professionals about the postural tachycardia syndrome?

No, it was just like a GP I’m pretty sure, that’s it because they explained it pretty clear – they explained it like pretty well, they were like it’s going to take time to heal, like it's not something for you to be too worried about, but they were like be careful, you know. Don't do anything too hard whatever. Like, okay, that's fine. They explained it pretty well, so they were very like helpful during that time, yes.

Yes, but back then, even recently, recently they’ve gone down, but I used to get a lot of chest pain and very, very dizzy and at school, sometimes I would have to sit in the medical room just to like calm down a bit because it would get really bad. I'd be really, really dizzy on the playground out of nowhere. And I was like, oh this is really hurting now. Like and go like sit in the medical room for like 10/20 minutes and then I’d go back to class.

Yes, that sounds pretty scary, actually. Like, if you don't know what it is.

It was really weird because at first it was the heartbeat, they were like rising and I’d get very like breathless and I started getting like very dizzy, I was like okay let me just take it very like easy ‘cause I don’t want to make it worse or anything.

So, I think it was like a day or two after I had Covid, I started getting really tired just, like walking to like the bathroom, and I was like, okay maybe it could be that you know I just had Covid, I get told that you like get tired easily. So, I thought it was that but then, obviously at home we had that oxygen the oxygen whatever it was, and we checked it and my heartbeat was incredibly like high. And so then, I think like [umm] it got so bad that I even took like a couple of days off from school because I couldn't breathe properly as well. But then my mum made an appointment with the GP, and they said, oh you have postural tachycardia syndrome. Oh okay, we didn’t know this illness and their like oh it’s an after effects from Covid. So, then we found out what it was and then I just tried like – it was so hard because you can’t really do anything to like cure it if you get what I mean.

So basically, I was a bit like ha. Like what? I had never heard of it in my entire life. What is it? It sounded really fancy and I got a bit scared. I was like what postural tachycardia syndrome, that sounds very scary, but they explained it very well. Very nice of them. They were like it will stay for like a couple of months 100%, but she was like, do your best, don't do too much, like hard, vigorous exercise, don't do too much stuff, drink a lot of water and everything. I was like okay, yeah. So, I got better like. At first, I was really scared because I was like oh this sounds very like…very concerning. Like no, it's just like, you're going to be okay, it's nothing too bad, you'll be fine. I was like okay. I felt a bit better after that.

I can't remember exactly what he said, but he said it's not like a rare thing. This does happen to some people after Covid. It happens to people after Covid and I was like oh, because I didn’t really expect it because normally I'm pretty healthy in general. Like I didn't really expect to have a long side effect. I was a bit like, okay, this is a bit weird, but it was alright after like. When I first found out that I had it obviously, but it became alright after like. I came to terms with it, if you would say yes.

Was it the first time that you had heard that people could have long term effects from Covid?

I didn't have like short term effects, like two/three days, like feel tired, their legs would hurt, they’d feel a bit dizzy, but I didn't know like, as long as these many months I’ve already got effects would go on, so I was a bit like shocked and interested to hear about that. It was a bit, yes.

Yes, because I guess there wasn't much like the messaging about

Especially in children. I thought maybe like adults would have more like long term effects and I heard that children have it as well, I was like, okay that's kind of interesting.

Like you have what? One of my teachers were like, oh wait, say that again. What is that? And I was laughing ‘cause they were shocked, like they haven't heard of it before either. I was like, yes I was shocked too. They were like whatever, take it easy, don't do anything that you don't outdo yourself. If you want to try PE, try it. Sometimes I would try it and I wouldn't be able to do that. Okay, just take your time. We don't need to like rush into it like. Whatever makes you feel comfortable. ‘Cause this was around the same time that my dad went into hospital as well so they were like take your time, like you have time, you can do it and I was like. Yes. So, I took it very slow back then.

Yes, it sounds like they've been pretty supportive.

They were very supportive, especially the PE department.

Yes. That's good. And how did your friends react?

They started laughing at me [laugh]. They were like, that sounds so weird. Only you could have that. No wonder. You’re so clumsy. I was like guys stop it [laughs]. They were like laughing. Even in my class it was like you have what and they’d be so shocked. I’m like yes. Yes, that's the thing. It was funny. Even my teachers were laughing at me. I was like it’s not something I can control [laugh]. But you know they were very nice. They were very supportive, though.