BBC Politics West on Sunday 1st May examined the problems that people with Long Covid are having in relation to employment and comparing this with ME/CFS
Among those taking part is actress Emma Samms MBE, Dr Liam Fox MP, an occupational therapist with Long Covid, Stephen Moore an employment lawyer, a government spokesman and Dr Charles Shepherd from the MEA.
Excerpts
Emma Samms: “Fatigue is not the right word for it, it's I think a real misnomer. It's a kind of system-wide, cellular it feels like a complete depletion, it's very debilitating.”
David Garmston: “And you were saying to me that after this programme, you might have to rest for some time.”
Emma Samms: “Oh yes, the technical term for the relapse is symptom exacerbation from exertion and so what happens is, that you push yourself to do something and then pay the price for it and the consequences. You get into this awful cycle of push, crash, push, crash.”
Dr Liam Fox MP: “It reminds me a great deal, as it was mentioned of ME I was a GP at the time. I think the most important thing that came to me from the film is to say to people ‘we believe you and we believe the symptoms are real'. At the time, if you remember about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome people were saying we not really sure it exists as an entity, and let me tell you I had patients and it really exists as an entity.”