Super-fit pharmacist is left struggling with ‘long Covid’
A PHARMACIST who used to visit the gym four times a week says long Covid has left him unable to walk for more than 15 minutes without getting tired.
Geraint Jones, 30, from Bridgend, works as a pharmacist at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital near Llantrisant.
When the coronavirus pandemic first hit Wales earlier this year he spent time working on the Covid wards to help out with any pharmacy-related work that was urgently required.
But after first experiencing symptoms of Covid-19 on Good Friday, he hasn’t been back to his normal self ever since.
Geraint said: “I just felt quite warm really. By the Sunday I couldn’t move that day. I felt totally wiped out. It was like an illness I had never experienced before.
“It was like a fluctuating pain. It was like my whole body was stinging – it was really painful.”
Later in the month Geraint felt well enough to return to work, but by July he started to feel unwell again and started experiencing stomach problems.
His symptoms have been determined to be long Covid, having acquired a formal diagnosis by a physician in London - due to no established clinics being available in Wales.
Geraint said: “I just had chronic diarrhoea – I would be on the toilet for six or seven hours a day at some points.
“That lasted for the best of 14 to 15 weeks, and there are still days where it flares.”
He initially attempted to work from home but realised he couldn’t carry on; he lost 10kg in weight and has recently been signed off work for another month.
His memory has also suffered and he can struggle to remember how to express himself, describing it as “brain fog”.
Geraint also experiences palpitations, nausea, stomach pain, and shortness of breath on a daily basis and, from fear of embarrassment, he chooses not to leave home when he’s having a bad day.
He is now part of a Welsh campaign group called Long Covid Wales who hope more research and treatment will become available to help those who are suffering with long-term symptoms.
Geraint thinks the least he owes to his patients is to tell his story to help educate others in hope that clinics will open in Wales to aid those who have experienced long Covid.
He said: “I’m usually quite fit. I would normally go to the gym four to five times a week but now if I walk for 10 to 15 minutes it really takes it out of me for the rest of the afternoon...
“I just want to be fit and well again.” Earlier this month NHS England announced it will launch a network of over 40 long Covid specialist clinics within the next few weeks.
Long Covid Wales is campaigning for such clinics to also be launched in Wales.
To find out more about the campaign you can follow the group on Twitter @LongCovidWales.