‘I took my ventilator camping in the Sahara’: how to enjoy life with a long-term illness

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Long Covid is thought to affect one in five people with the virus. What can others who have experienced chronic illness teach them about coping – and living well?

In April this year, Lucille Whiting and her family were among the thousands who fell ill with Covid-19. “We had been isolating when my son was rushed to A&E with an allergic reaction. We must have picked up the virus there,” she explains. “I tested positive and then one by one my family went down with it.” After a brief stint in hospital, Whiting has had symptoms ever since. “I had the gastric version of the illness and have been wiped out with nausea, sickness and fatigue. It’s only just starting to subside.”

Research shows that a fifth of people with Covid experience debilitating symptoms – including breathlessness, chest pain, coughing, fatigue, digestive problems and joint pain – five weeks after being infected. One in 10 still report problems after 12 weeks. This prolonged illness often comes as a shock to previously healthy people but for Whiting, feeling unwell wasn’t new. “I was diagnosed with a bladder condition called ulcerative interstitial cystitis two years ago after almost 20 years of ill-health,” she says. Though the condition leaves her in severe pain, Whiting believes it made long Covid easier to cope with, and that other “long-haulers” could learn from the experiences of chronically ill people. “I’d already developed mechanisms for living with long-term illness, and while it’s been challenging, it’s something I’ve learned to live with to enjoy my life.”

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