The Express by Naomi Adedokun, 06 July 2020.
CORONAVIRUS sufferers may be experiencing a “post-COVID syndrome” according to expert Dr Charles Shepherd who warned that even “fit young adults” were being subjected to debilitating fatigue for months.
Thousands of Britons have reported a failure to recover from coronavirus infections despite surviving the virus.
Dr Charles Shepherd, a Medical Adviser for the ME Association, proposed the idea of a “post-COVID syndrome”.
The expert joined a BBC Radio 5 Live discussion in which callers who revealed they had been ill for up to four months.
Dr Charles Shepherd is interviewed from 18.30 minutes into the broadcast.
Dr Shepherd said: “Most people thought this was just another infection which you got over.
“Then we found out there were people going into hospital who were seriously ill.
“But there's this huge group in the middle who've been self-managed, who are fit, young adults who've never had any problems with their health before, and they're just not getting over it.
“I think there are two groups here with probably what's best described as post-COVID syndromes.”
He continued: “We've got the group who have got symptoms relating to COVID and the complications that it's caused with breathing and the respiratory system.
“We've just heard from someone who sounds as though they probably had neurological involvement with this as well.
“Then there's the other group who are fitting much more into the picture that we're used to dealing with an illness to ME.
“Getting a post-viral syndrome, which is very much like ME, with unrefreshing sleep, brain fog, fatigue, dizziness.”
Sheffield Hallam University's Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre (AWRC) announced a new unit will set up to rehabilitate patients still experiencing the after-effects of COVID-19.
AWRC director Professor Robert Copeland said: “There is already a huge effort underway regionally and nationally to support and help rehabilitate people who have been affected directly or indirectly by Covid-19 – with services facing a significant increase in demand.
“We want to support that effort. The AWRC is uniquely placed to support existing services by providing the evidence of what works – and what doesn’t – so that the rehabilitation of people affected by Covid-19, goes beyond the recovery of physical function but instead optimises wellbeing and enhances quality of life.”
The ME Association Range of Covid-19 Leaflets
The following leaflets and letter have been written by Dr Charles Shepherd (Hon. Medical Adviser) and Ann Innes (Welfare Rights Adviser).
They should provide you with essential information and links to external resources during this pandemic and national lockdown.
You can download each one (or all of them) by clicking the images below, or you will find them in the ME Association Website Shop.
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| The General Leaflet | Vulnerable Status Letter | Covid-19 and PVFS |
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| Reducing Risk Infection | Changes to Benefits | Employment |
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