Bucks mother shares worries about Long Covid ahead of Parliament debate
The mother of five says her children are still recovering months on
A debate will take place in Parliament today on the issue of Long Covid but some say not enough is being done for children.
On Buckinghamshire mum says the long term symptoms of coronavirus in children are not being looked at properly.
Pediatricians have warned that hundreds of children are suffering from long covid, with experts unsure where to refer them.
The warnings come ahead of today's debate, which will see MPs discuss the issue of long Covid in Parliament.
There has been increasing talk of the condition in adults, with the NHS launching 60 long Covid clinics around the country to help treat the effects.
Charlie a Buckinghamshire mum and Colonic Hydrotherapist says some health professionals don't know about these centres and pediatricians are unsure of how to respond when test results show nothing is wrong.
Her family got sick in April, and since then her and her children have suffered a range of long term issues.
After being dismissed by some medical professionals, Charlie began keeping track of the main issues her children are now dealing with.
- Mimi, aged 5, poorly at the time, several ear infections, regular complaints of stomach aches, regularly exhausted, lost weight, hospitalised twice
- Emmett, aged 8, not poorly at the time but had not had shingles and chicken pox multiple times in 10 months
- Indiana, aged 10, poorly at the time with gastric symptoms, some wheezing and now needs an inhaler, has developed food allergies and has heart pains
- Beck 12, not poorly at the time, but has developed symptoms affecting his feed
- Nico, aged 15, gastric symptoms at the time and has regularly had rashes, hives, food allergies and chest pains since then
Charlie says her Mimi has had 4 ear infections since April, and recently a pediatrician tried to discharge her despite not having concluded why she was still ill:
"I spoke to a pediatrician on Monday, and I asked specifically about Long Covid and Long Covid Centres.
"They hadn't even heard of them, or weren't aware of any.
"Not one paediatrician has acknowledged the fact is could be Long Covid that the children have.
"It was bad enough being ill myself, but to watch my children go through this... And to be constantly told there is nothing wrong.
"As their mum to not be listened to? My husband is a pharmacist as well. Why would they not listen to a child's parents."
She is part of a support group that has more the 33,000 members, all reporting long-running and often debilitating symptoms months after having Covid-19.
Out of the 7 members of her family, she is the only person that has Long Covid referenced on her medical records currently, but even then it is only seen as a possibility and no referral has been made to a specialist centre.
Head of Paediatrics at Cambridge University Professor David Rowitch says it’s still true that kids generally have been much less severely affected by coronavirus.
But he says Long Covid in a small number of them is a growing concern:
“These are syndromes that typically will get better over time, but they can also benefit from intervention.
"So there is a real need in my view, in the view of the Royal College of Paediatrics, to properly document the occurrence of long covid in children to provide a rationale for providing those services in the NHS.”
For Charlie, she says it's not about getting answers now she just wants the risk to be understood:
"Stop saying that Covid doesn't make children sick. Or that children don't get ill from having Covid.
"Because I have watched my children suffer for months after having it.
"I don't know what it will take to make them realise...
"I get that they don't have the answers and they don't know how to treat it at the moment, but to completely dismiss it especially for children is heartbreaking."