Long Covid: Why this woman is not recovering months after falling ill

Today, Sarah Wood, of Skerne Park, Darlington, has long-lasting symptoms of coronavirus and suffers from post-traumatic stress.

Miss Wood, like many other patients, has a case of 'long Covid' - the effects of which the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change warn could turn out to be a bigger public health problem than excess deaths. 

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Long Covid is not just the time it takes for people to recover from intensive care, but include mild to severe persistent symptoms as well as mental health problems like depression and anxiety.

Those suffering from long Covid have reported breathlessness, chronic fatigue and brain fog – months after initially falling ill with the virus.

Miss Wood, 34, who has diabetes, still has breathing problems, a cough and is "constantly exhausted". She had no idea symptoms could last this long.

Miss Wood with her partner and daughter before falling ill

Since coming out of intensive care, she has been prescribed an inhaler and insulin, despite previously only needing tablets for her diabetes.

She said: "My main thing is that I have really bad PTSD and I'm always on edge, my anxiety is much worse.

"I can remember a lot of what I heard when I was in a coma. I'm seeing a counsellor now and she is one of the nurses that was around when I was in the coma, so when she first called I recognised her voice but didn't know why."

After a week in on a ventilator in April, Miss Wood was stable and becoming responsive as the hospital lowered the paralysis medication and sedatives with a plan to wake her and remove the ventilator pipe from her throat.

However, the throat was inflamed and had signs of infection, complicating the process and resulting in Miss Wood being induced into a coma once again. She says she can remember this happening.

Miss Wood said: "I cannot physically wear a face mask because it feels like I'm being suffocated. I have very vivid flashbacks of them waking me up to take the tube out. They are random and can end in a panic attack."

Sarah Wood in hospital being treated for covid

There could be as many as 60,000 people in the UK who have long Covid.

It is not known how long symptoms can last. 

Despite this, Miss Wood was discharged from respiratory consultation after an x-ray with positive results. The discharge has caused more anxiety for her, as uncertainty around symptoms and the winter months sets in.

She said: "No one knows what will happen come winter. I don't know how I will react to a cold or flu. But no one really knows either, and I know I'm lucky to have a counsellor."

The authors of a paper, titled Long Covid: Reviewing The Science And Assessing The Risk, say they believe awareness campaigns “would help drive compliance with containment measures such as the use of masks”.

Tim Spector, professor of genetic epidemiology at King’s College London who wrote the report's forward, conducted his own study using an app to track symptoms. 

He said: "A great many people didn’t get better after two weeks as expected.

“We kept following them and found out that a significant number still had problems after months.

“This is the other side of Covid: the long-haulers that could turn out to be a bigger public health problem than excess deaths from Covid-19, which mainly affect the susceptible elderly.”

Around 10 per cent of those taking part in the King’s College survey had symptoms of long Covid for a month, with between 1.5 per cent and 2 per cent still experiencing such symptoms after three months.

The news comes as the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) and the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (Sign) have said that guidance is being drawn up for the care for people who suffer long-term complications.

However, it is not just Covid patients who are suffering. Miss Wood says her five-year-old daughter now has separation anxiety. 

She said: "She couldn't speak to me for a month. First it was because I was in the hospital and then my throat was recovering.

"Whenever she is not with me she panics, thinking that I will go back to hospital. It's heartbreaking to watch."

Her partner, Christopher McCurdy, is also anxious about getting the virus and giving it back to Miss Wood or their daughter.

Miss Wood, who has recently enrolled in college in efforts to "try and get on with life", said: "It is certainly not something I can't put in the back of my mind.

"People don't understand it is until they have it. Well some people do get mild symptoms but it really is deadly - I nearly died."