Energetic 46-year-old barely able to talk now
ONE Birmingham woman who is now suffering the effects of long Covid is Shannon Workman, who is often left exhausted by conversations and relies on speech cards in shops more than a year after catching the virus.
Ms Workman, an animal-lover and keen fundraiser, said she was “always on the go” before falling ill last spring. She never dreamt that what she originally thought might be a 24-hour bug would mean symptoms that lasted first for weeks and then months. She has been having speech therapy since the summer and has to do daily vocal exercises, as speaking continues to prove immensely draining and difficult.
Describing the experience as frustrating and often lonely, Ms Workman said she sometimes felt as if she’d been “locked inside” herself.
“I never thought it would be this long – ever,” said the 46-year-old. “I was known for being on the go. People always used to say it’s exhausting just watching me. I like to try everything once at least – so I would do things like zipwires, charity 5ks, I’d walked on fire, walked on glass. Just any event where I can volunteer.”
It was March 17, 2020 – a few days before the first lockdown – when she started to suffer the first signs of a fever and chills.
She went to bed “feeling rough” but felt fine the following day and suspected a mild infection.
But by the weekend she started to feel unwell again and completely lost her sense of taste and smell.
The personal assistant – who has been signed-off work since the end of last May – said she had often tended to lose her voice after cold or flu infections and originally assumed she was suffering similar effects.
Initially she was using two inhalers, anti-histamines and antibiotics for what was thought to be a secondary bacterial infection.
But as the hoarseness, speech and throat issues dragged on for “weeks and weeks” she began to suspect it was something more. “I think it was around June when I started to think ‘what if it’s not just me’.”
The following month, as Covid restrictions significantly eased, she had the first of three nasal endoscopys – with a camera inserted up the nose and down the throat – to rule out cancer.
She also paid for a private antibody test which finally confirmed that she had had Covid-19.
From August she started speech therapy and has been given daily exercises to help with her recovery.
She has also received three months of physiotherapy on her shoulders and lower back to relieve issues which were caused by many months of severe coughing.
And inevitably her experience impacts on day-to-day life, with things that most people take for granted – like going to buy groceries – posing new challenges.
“If I go to the shops, with wearing a mask as well – which I do, because that’s important – I cannot be heard or understood at all.
‘‘I have made myself speech cards to just say ‘I have speech difficulties right now’ and I either put on the card what I need or have a pen and paper.
“But it’s just very frustrating for both sides, as they cannot hear me.”
Phone calls are said to be “very difficult”, and on a number of occasions the other person has not been able to understand at all.
She has to try and limit the number of conversations to help with her recovery – particularly difficult with a “stay at home” order having only been removed recently.
She added: “It’s still here a year later and I still don’t know when it’s going to go away. It’s the unknown that’s scary.”