The pandemic is continuing to have its impact on young people - the disruption of education, the cost of living crisis, the negative impact on young people’s mental health and the formation of new health conditions which are not talked about such as long COVID. A young person shares their experiences from the aftermath of a global health crisis…
I'm Eden, 20, from Northern Ireland and I am currently doing a lot of social activism work before starting my social work degree in September 2024. I do a lot of work with The Mix in a variety of different roles.
What is long COVID?
Around 2 million people in the UK are living with long Covid with around 90,000 approximately being children and young people.
It’s quite a complicated condition to explain but in short, it’s people who have been infected with COVID or have had side effects from the vaccine that haven’t recovered after a long period of time.
Long covid has a whole range of different symptoms and each person experiences it differently.
Some of the most common symptoms include:
- Chronic fatigue
- Muscle pain
- Cognitive difficulties
- Breathlessness
- Heart palpitations
- Muscle weakness
It’s a highly fluctuating condition with symptoms coming and going overtime and ranging in severity. The condition can affect every aspect of an individual's life causing physical, mental, emotional and social challenges, and can be really difficult to manage.
What day to day challenges do you face as a result of having long COVID?
Prior to getting Covid, I was an extremely active young person who was really outgoing and sociable. I was about to start my university degree, enjoyed meeting up with my friends and trained in taekwondo 4 times a week. I competed and coached taekwondo and did seminars that lasted 6 hours long.
Currently chronic fatigue, muscle and joint pain are some of the main problems for me. I spend a lot of time doing things from bed and am asleep most nights very early. My whole routine is very different from what I was used to before. I now can't walk for more than 2 metres without getting significantly out of breath and have a racing heart rate.
I get really light headed after doing any type of exercise such as going up the stairs or standing for a long period of time. I've had to drop out of university and a lot of my freedoms and independence have been taken away from me. Life has changed significantly and I now have to go at a much slower pace.
How can long COVID impact your mental health?
Long COVID has quite an impact on your mental health. There’s the fear of the unknown in the future, and there’s a lot of stigma and stereotypes around long COVID, especially with young people.
The medical professionals are still learning about the condition and your symptoms can sometimes be misdiagnosed. There’s also pressure from friends and family to act like yourself and just get on with things. This can really have a negative impact on your mental health and well-being, as well as even escalating your physical symptoms more as you might not want to reach out for support from medical professionals due to the fear and stigma of not being believed or taken seriously.
You can feel very isolated and you can really miss and grieve what you used to be able to do what you enjoyed. Sometimes it might feel that everyone is ‘getting on with their lives’ and moving on without you. You can feel extremely left out and struggle with self identity.
What helped you to cope with these challenges?
What has really helped me cope with challenges has been learning when to say no, and prioritise my own health and wellbeing. It's not always easy but it's something that you have to learn to prevent further impact.
Friends and family support is also really important and has really helped me. I've made a lot of new friends through volunteering all across the UK and although I have never met them in person it feels like I know them very well. Connecting with other young people and people who have long COVID is also really important as you can feel that they understand you and can support you through the tough days.
I've also started journaling and writing poetry and am getting some of this published. It's a real creative outlet for me and allows me to express my emotions and what I'm going through without having to verbalise as this can be difficult. From someone who really used to enjoy exercise and trained in taekwondo 4 times a week this is something I miss a lot and struggle with, however making sure that I'm doing some stretching everyday helps me feel like I’m keeping active and doing something that will benefit in the long term and hopefully aid recovery.
What tips/advice would you give to someone who is impacted by long COVID?
Long COVID can be extremely isolating and physically and mentally demanding so taking each day and each week (even each hour) at your own pace is important.
Pacing is extremely important although it is not always easy. You have to plan out each activity every day, no matter how small it maybe. For example, washing your hair can be really exhausting, so having rest time afterwards, even for 2-3 hours, might be needed.
It’s important to prioritise what you need to get done each day and setting boundaries for yourself is necessary to prevent more detriment to your health. Long COVID has really taught me how to say no and prioritise my own health and well-being.
Also allow yourself to feel rubbish. It's OK to stop. It's OK to cancel a meeting or a few. To just say no. There will be good and bad days but allowing yourself the opportunity to prioritise yourself is key.
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