Hello everyone my name is Kimberley. living in London but originally from Cumbria.
i first contracted covid in January 2021 as I was working in cardiology at the time and training at the gym five times a week as mixed martial arts to cage fight. unfortunately, I contracted covid a few days before I was due to receive the vaccination.
At first I thought it was a mild case. How wrong I was. After a few weeks my symptoms seemed to be getting worse. I experienced chest pains, breathlessness (walking up the stairs was a struggle, consistent headaches, muscle pain. I have also found since getting long covid I almost constantly get infections from uti’s to pleurisy.
i was signed off work and referred to long covid clinic and covid rehab for NHS workers but of which offered advise but acknowledged that there was little help the could offer. I left this role due to bullying manager who did believe covid was real despite being an nhs manager.
since then i unfortunately have remained unwell though slowly slowly getting better thanks to an amazing family and love of the best dog in the world
Hello Kimberley!
Thank you so much for posting this. It is so lovely to hear from you.
Firstly that is so cool that you trained in mixed martial arts for cage fighting, what a fantastic sport to be involved in!
I am so sorry to hear that you have been struggling with long covid symptoms for so long. Your story seems very similar to mine in the fact that you thought it was a mild case and then your symptoms started to get worse. I found that new, weird symptoms started to appear after a few weeks and more just kept coming as time went on, which was quite scary! All those symptoms are very similar to mine too, the headaches, breathlessness, chest pain and muscle pain are all awful in their own right, let alone all together, so it is far from ideal. That is very interesting that you are prone to infections now, I have found this too. I guess the body is just at a low point and so things we would have usually been able to fight off, get to us. Which is really not what we need after everything else going on.
Sorry to hear that the long covid clinic couldn’t offer you much help. I found that when I went to mine I knew more about it all through researching online and from this community- I came away from it feeling quite defeated.
I am so pleased to hear that you are starting to feel a little better, even if it is very slow. I am finding this too. I am grateful for even the smallest of improvements (even if they may not last long!), long covid really forces you to be grateful for the smallest of things!
That is lovely to hear that you have a supportive family. All this really makes you very grateful for your loved ones. Ahh, what is your dogs name? And what breed? ☺️I thought I had the best dog in the world, but I guess our dogs can share that title together? 🤣
Sending so much love Kimberley, thank you again for sharing your story. I really hope you start to get some relief from it all soon. We will get through this…eventually! ❤️