'I'm mourning my old life due to long Covid'

A woman from East Sussex who is living with long Covid says she is "mourning her old life".

Amber Richards, from Brighton, caught the coronavirus disease in March 2020 but said she never properly recovered and was diagnosed with long Covid in November 2021.

Ms Richards used to love going out walking, to festivals, clubbing and going to the theatre, but now sleeps for 14 to 18 hours a day.

"Looking at my old life and looking at old photos and videos, it's like I'm looking at someone else's life," the 50-year-old said.

According to the NHS, the most common symptoms of long Covid include extreme tiredness, problems with memory and concentration, dizziness and joint pain.

Ms Richards said she has to carefully choose what she does, as small activities can exhaust her and it can take her hours to make a simple meal.

"Showering, bathing, washing, laundry, just make me so tired," she said.

"I can't even concentrate on the telly for very long.

"Just going to the doctors the other day, I literally came home and fell asleep for five hours."

Ms Richards receives both NHS and private treatment to try to ease her symptoms, which include burning rashes and extreme pain.

Ms Richards said her condition had left her struggling financially as she had been medically retired from her job as a civil servant working in local courts.

She rents her flat from a friend but finds food very expensive and she'd like to afford more adaptations, such as a seat for the shower, to help her live an independent life.

"I never thought I'd be here now," she said.

"I'm embarrassed and humiliated by the fact I can't work."

In March last year the Office for National Statistics said that an estimated two million people in England and Scotland were experiencing self-reported long Covid.

Prof David Strain, a long Covid expert at the University of Exeter Medical School, said: "Because we don't fully know what causes long Covid, it makes it very difficult to know what the right treatment is.

"Many people with long Covid have different symptoms and those different symptoms often require different treatments."

Ms Richards said she tried to stay positive and believed "things could be a lot worse".

"I just try and count my lucky stars I'm still here," she added.

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