Mary has had Covid twice. Her symptoms included feeling totally exhausted and effects on her legs. Covid affected her blood sugar levels and she has to take double the medication she had before, which she thinks may increase her tiredness. It has also affected her sleep, which contributed to her feeling depressed. She now takes medication to help her sleep. She has been surprised by how badly a virus can affect you. Mary finds it difficult that there is so little knowledge about Covid and worries about other emerging viruses.

Before catching Covid Mary was very active and could do a lot of things that she can’t do now. Her way of thinking before Covid was completely different. Now she is never sure how she will feel the next day and how Covid will affect her and her family and their future. She wonders if this is the end of her life, or if her symptoms will continue forever.

She had not realised before that Covid had such a big impact on people’s lives. Her daughter has had Covid three times. She has seen the impact on children’s education. She had to stop work for some time. She found having Covid completely different to the advice she had been giving in the school.

She has now returned to work, and is building up to part-time hours, but she still has to come home and sleep afterwards to recover. She is gradually building up to doing activities she enjoys again, is concentrating on making sure she gets good nutrition, and feels she is recovering. She is trying to move to an ‘active’ mode from a ‘passive’ mode.  She is starting to be able to go to the gym and to become more physically active.

Mary praised the health care professionals who have supported her through her illness. She has had support from her family and her union at work. It has been helpful and reassuring to know she is not the only one experiencing Long Covid, and she has been grateful for the support and encouragement she has received. She found paracetamol helped to get her pain under better control.

When people get Covid, she feels they need to be strong-minded, and believe and trust they will get better. They need to be confident that they are getting good care, and they need to eat well to boost their immunity and should consider taking multivitamins. She suggests that people get support from a health professional and warns against taking advice from other people, as everyone’s experiences and other health conditions are different. She encourages people to fight their illness and to try and maintain their positivity.