‘THEY’VE NO IDEA WHAT’S WRONG’

SUZANNE Rolf says she was ‘a normal, fit, active mum’ before she caught Covid. Today, almost a year on, she has been left battling a raft of mysterious symptoms, including crushing fatigue, breathlessness and a racing pulse – and doctors seem unable to find the cause.

Suzanne tested positive last June. She was 37 weeks pregnant with her second child. ‘I hadn’t been vaccinated, as they’d only just said it was safe for pregnant women,’ recalls the accountant from Warrington, 34, pictured above before the pandemic struck, with her daughter, now three.

‘I was being careful, but I caught it anyway.’

Having suffered ‘a few cold symptoms’, she recovered and went to hospital to have her son, who is now nine months old, by caesarean section.

‘During the operation my blood pressure dropped really low,’ Suzanne says. ‘I have been really poorly ever since.

‘Every time I stand up, my heart races and I feel dreadful.

At first, I could barely hold my son, I was so exhausted.’

Suzanne was told she had postural tachycardia syndrome, or PoTS, a term for an abnormally increased heart rate, but no cause has been found. ‘I’ve had tests and they tell me my heart’s normal. I’m under the care of a long Covid clinic, but they’ve no idea what’s wrong.’

She longs to discover whether heart problems are causing her symptoms, and to find some treatment. ‘It’s hard to stay optimistic,’ she says.