Ayesha

Ayesha got Covid when she was pregnant, and had not had the vaccine as she wasn’t sure if it was safe during pregnancy. Since getting Covid, she has experienced weakness and fatigue and is unable to as much as she used to, such as cooking for her relatives. She was unable to take her children to and from nursery. Ayesha has not talked to her GP about her symptoms, and did not know that what she was experiencing was ‘Long Covid’. Ayesha was interviewed in July 2022.

Ayesha got Covid in December 2021 when she was pregnant. She felt awful and totally exhausted. She had not had the vaccine because she did not feel it was safe to have it during pregnancy. She had her baby in March 2022 via caesarean section. Her sister had come from Pakistan to help out, which was a total life saver because Ayesha herself was on complete bedrest. Her husband and brother were also living at home so helped a bit as well; however, her husband works as a security guard overnight so needs to rest in the day.

Ayesha feels like she is no longer as active as she was before she got Covid. She feel like she walks very slowly and feels weak and tired much of the time. She used to have her in-laws and extended family over every month for a meal (there are lots of them). Now she feels that she cannot do that anymore. At the time of the interview, Ayesha had her middle child’s birthday coming and was enlisting the help of her sisters-in-law in order to organise and cook for the party. She had recently gone back to being able to take her children to and from nursery and take them to the park. However, she doesn’t cook as much, and she feels unable to do any exercise anymore. Her husband also gets repeated headaches now that he didn’t used to have before Covid.

Ayesha had heard about long term symptoms following Covid because her uncle had experienced something similar. She remembers hearing that he was completely weak, wasn’t able to work anymore and when he would get up from lying down his vision would go black for a few moments. Ayesha feels like she has had the same symptoms, and still has vision problems sometimes.

Ayesha has not talked to her GP about her long term symptoms, and not know that what she was experiencing was called ‘Long Covid’. She had not heard about Long Covid clinics and was going to ask her GP about them. Her husband has had both vaccines and the booster, and she is now planning to get the vaccine herself.

Ayesha used to invite her in-laws for meals regularly before she got ill with Covid but no longer feels able to host these events.

Age at interview 31

English translation

‘This is what I used to do before. Let me tell you, I used to…masha-Allah, my in-laws have quite a big family. So, I used to have dinners almost every month, invite everyone, cook food. Now I can’t even cook much, you know? I mean, I just am not able to do many of those things, calling everyone, cooking for them. And then cleaning the house and then cooking the food. And then after they leave, cleaning again, washing everything. So now that I think about it, I find it very difficult. Before, I used to think, “how could I do all that?” Now when I think about it, I feel, “no.” Now I can’t. It’s like that.

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Ayesha suffered several debilitating symptoms when she was most unwell, and she was also pregnant at the time, with two young children.

Age at interview 31

English translation

‘It happened to me last year, end of December. This is how I got Corona. Wasn’t too much, I got a fever, and that fever was such that my whole body was shaking, and I felt very cold and then during this time, my health was very bad for two days, two or three days, then it settled down a bit, then I did some light housework. Then I would also get cold sweats, and dizziness. And when I was dizzy, I’d lie down. Then I’d do a little bit of work, I’d get dizzy, I’d lie down, and I was also pregnant then…Yes, I was also pregnant, and it was too much for me. Whatever I did, I needed to lie down. I’d get dizzy, my heart rate would go up. My health was very strange at that time. It was all very difficult. Then the tiredness was very high. I felt tired all the time. I still feel tired. I get tired a lot. This was not the case before.

Yes, yes indeed. I have two more children, and looking after then them, then being pregnant, then husband, then looking after the house, there was a lot going on. Even my husband used to say, “What has happened to you? You did not used to be not like this.”’

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