Essex mum Billie-Jo Redman on the impact of long Covid

Billie-Jo Redman, 27, suffers from fatigue, brain fog and daily waves of pins and needles due to the disease.

She has also been forced to wear a heart monitor 24-hours a day because she frequently has a high heart rate.

“My life feels like it’s over,” she said.

“The hospital just doesn’t know what to do with me.

“They can see my heart rate is way too high, but they don’t know why.

Billie-Jo with her son, Roman

“Everything has changed.

“I used to go on adventures with my son Roman, now I have days where I can’t even get him to school.

“It’s had a tragic effect on our daily lives.

“There needs to be more support for families.”

Billie-Jo’s comments come amid calls for families hit by long Covid to be given more support.

Experts have said that families of those who are still ill for weeks, or months, after infection can be “severely affected”.

A new study, published in the journal BMJ Open, examined the experiences of those who have struggled with symptoms after infection.

Researchers also quizzed family members.

They found that people’s quality of life was being impacted by the ongoing effects.

Academics from Cardiff performed an online survey of 735 people with long Covid, with an average age of 48, half of whom were from Europe.

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Four in five (81%) reported pain and discomfort and 80% reported problems performing their usual activities.

Meanwhile 69% reported symptoms of anxiety and depression while 56% said they had ongoing problems with mobility.

Those who were admitted to hospital, and people who had pre-existing health conditions prior to infections, reported more problems with mobility and usual activities.

Lead author Rubina Shah, from Cardiff University’s School of Medicine, said: “We have all seen the devastating impact long Covid can have on survivors, but we have heard very little about how it can affect the lives of their nearest and dearest.

“The impact of Covid can be profound and long lasting; there needs to be a holistic support system that is sensitive to the needs of both survivors and their families to help ease this burden.”

It comes as scientists in Oxford and Sheffield found that signs of Covid can still be spotted on the lungs nine months after infection.

Using advance imaging techniques, experts found abnormalities in the lungs of some Covid-19 patients more than three months, and in some cases, nine months, after leaving hospital, when other clinical measurements were normal.

In a paper published in the journal Radiology, experts said that hyperpolarised xenon MRI scans had shown the damage which routine CT scans and other routine tests had not detected.

Some of the patients had been told that their lungs were back to “normal”.