Long COVID: Dorset woman's year of coronavirus symptoms
Sammie McFarland still has fatigue 12 months on
Last updated 12th Mar 2021
More understanding is needed about long COVID, according to a mum from Dorchester who has the condition along with one of her children.
Sammie McFarland is now the founder of Long COVID Kids.
She started feeling ill 12 months ago with what she now realises was coronavirus. At the time she didn’t have any of the ‘classic’ symptoms. Instead she felt a little ‘less fit’ to start, but then developed a serious headache and tiredness that wouldn’t go a way.
She told Greatest Hits Radio Dorset:
“Testing wasn’t available unless you were hospitalised and that’s part of the problem now if you’re still unwell if you don’t have a test to evidence then it’s really challenging to seek support.
“I can remember thinking at the 3 month point, I need to be better by 6 months and then I got to 6 months and I thought, I’m never going to get better.
“Between 6 and 9 months I felt really low and really concerned and everything felt impossible. Around the eight and a half/ nine month mark things started to have a bit more of a glimmer of hope.
“Although I’m not yet better I now can be out of bed for periods of the day, and I can be up on my feet for periods of the day. But those first seven, eight months where I was just in bed all of the time, that was just really horrific.
“I never thought I’d get to the 12 month point and still not be better. That never entered my head.”
More help needed
While it’s been well documented among people who have the condition, there’s still relatively little support available for those who have the condition. Sammie says finding a community was key for her coming to terms with her symptoms.
She found the Long COVID adult support group on Facebook early on when it had around 5,000 members. It now has around 37,000 members.
“Finding other people that are going through the same thing as you is a huge thing when you’re very isolated and alone and it’s something that the doctors don’t have any answers for.
“It was at that point that I stopped second guessing myself and I realised that actually it was because it was new.”
Long COVID symptoms
But some work is beginning to happen to recognise Long COVID. The NHS lists symptoms of long COVID on it’s website, including:
- Extreme tiredness (fatigue)
- Shortness of breath
- Chest pain or tightness
You can read the full list of symptoms here: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/long-term-effects-of-coronavirus-long-covid/
Sammie says there needs to be more understanding though:
“I think we’re a very long way from getting an understanding, but I do think more people are engaging with the fact that an understanding is needed.
“We don’t have that clinical definition that we really need, we don’t have any treatment pathways, the clinical referral pathways are only just being set up but everyone's working really hard to try to make it happen.
“Until there are answers we need to proceed with caution and be more curious about the long lasting effect of long COVID.”
Sammie also says there needs to be more awareness about the effect Long COVID can have on children.
“Any child can get COVID and any child can get Long COVID. So we now know that children are quite often asymptomatic or atypical, so presenting with symptoms that aren’t classic to coronavirus.
“The understanding is moving forwards but there’s still a way to go.”