I get migraines and I’m so tired all the time. My Covid symptoms just carried on
– Young Long Covid sufferer Elizabeth Jelley
The scale of the health issues linked to Long Covid in children and young people remains unclear as scientists and doctors wait for better data but it is already clear young people are suffering longlasting, debilitating symptoms months after the virus.
Amanda Jelley’s daughter Elizabeth, 15, caught Covid 15 months ago but still suffers severe fatigue, muscle pain, migraines and other symptoms. Amanda, who lives in Huntly, Aberdeenshire, said: “In December 2019 Elizabeth was winning medals for skiing in a schools competition. She was a really active child. Now she can barely walk a mile a day. It has been a huge shock for her.
“She hasn’t seen her friends since last year. She can go months in the house without seeing anyone. She keeps in touch online but she doesn’t feel well enough to see people, which is really hard.”
Elizabeth said: “I never got ill before. But the symptoms of Covid have just carried on. I’ve been so tired and some days my brain won’t compute anything. I have been having migraines at least once a week.
“I can’t stay awake long enough to catch up on school work. I can’t afford to miss any more
because I have exams next year.”
Her mum, 51, is a trained nurse but can’t work because a neurological condition left her registered blind. Her husband, Graham, works in Saudi Arabia but has been unable to travel home regularly due to the pandemic.
She said: “It’s really hard and there is just no help. The GP was supportive in theory but there is not a lot he can do. We were referred to a paediatrician who openly admitted they know nothing about Long Covid.
“We had to do the research and I put my foot down and she has now been referred to a chronic fatigue clinic.
“We’ve also had her at a private paediatrician in England. We couldn’t get the NHS to approve the tests so we had to get on a train to London and pay for tests, which cost us about £700. It’s ludicrous.”
Fardos Macmillan’s six-year-old son Harley has had symptoms of Covid since he caught it at school in Inverness in March this year.
She said: “Three weeks after he tested positive he had to be taken to hospital by ambulance to Raigmore Hospital because he was in respiratory distress. He also had a temperature.
“My son is asthmatic so they have bumped up his medication since but the doctors said he had inflammation in his lungs caused by Covid. They said give it 12 weeks and if he’s not getting better, he’s got Long Covid.
“It’s been six months and he’s still getting fevers, he’s absolutely exhausted all the time and his chest regularly flares up and he struggles to breathe.
“The asthma nurse has been supportive and the GP has referred him to a respiratory physio, which has helped.
“But I’m terrified about him being back in school because he might catch Covid again, which could set him back further.”