‘I feel old before my time’
CASE STUDY
Scott Dixon’s story will be one familiar to many so-called Covid long-haulers who continue to feel the after-effects of a disease which has ripped through the world and killed hundreds of thousands.
Mr Dixon, 49, lives in Edinburgh and is still feeling the impact of Covid-19 after falling ill early on in the pandemic in March.
Describing his initial experience with the disease, he said: “My experience of Covid-19 started with a strange itch on my wrist. I didn’t think anything of it and then I slowly began to develop flu-like symptoms.
“I woke up the next day with an excruciating headache across the top of my head. It was debilitating, and the fatigue meant I spent 20 hours a day in bed.”
Mr Dixon was eventually forced to rush himself to hospital and then spent a handful of nights in the Covid wards of the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.
He said: “Some of the noises that came from the bed next to me were like a scalded cat which you could hear around the ward and beyond, it was like being in a horror movie film set at times.
“It was a harrowing experience that will never leave me. It is the distress and the anxiety from other patients that will never leave me.”
For most people who suffer from Covid-19, this would have been the worst of the experience, but Mr Dixon is still suffering from weakness and post-viral fatigue.
Previously a fit and healthy man who comfortably walked eight miles a day around the streets of Edinburgh, Mr Dixon says the experience has been difficult for his mental health and said he felt abandoned by the NHS following his brief hospital stay.
However, six months on from his hospitalisation, he now struggles to walk just half a mile to the Cameron Toll shopping centre near his home.
“If I hit a slight incline I start to struggle,” Mr Dixon said. “I have general weakness as well. I was struggling mentally and physically and was just left to my own devices to deal with it.”
He added: “I have post-viral fatigue and muscle weakness. In the early stages I was struggling with shortness of breath and in the first few weeks I was spending 16 or 20 hours a day in bed. I had to completely rely on my neighbour to get me groceries.”
The symptoms have gradually improved, but the impact has still been severe on Mr Dixon.
He said: “I feel old before my time. It is like being disabled but you are not.
“I can only walk slowly like a pensioner and you have just got to manage your own expectations and meet your recovery in the middle because you are not as fit as you once were and you can only walk so far without struggling through.”
For Mr Dixon, the battle for medical support was as much of a struggle as the physical symptoms.
“The hospital contacted me after eight weeks for a checkup and sent me for an X-ray and blood test and everything has come back all clear.”
He added: “It is a bit of a taboo to say the NHS could have done better, but there are definitely aspects that could have been managed better. I am over the worst of it now, and there are much worse cases than me.”