Ellesmere-based councillor opens up about battle with ‘long Covid’

A SHROPSHIRE councillor has opened up about her battle with “long Covid”, warning the virus is ‘nothing like the flu’.

Ann Hartley, Shropshire councillor for Ellesmere Rural division, began showing symptoms of Covid-19 a day before the UK entered its first lockdown in March.

For more than a month, Ann struggled with fatigue, achy joints, and a loss of taste and smell.

But as she began feeling marginally better towards the end of April, Ann appeared to continue showing symptoms and still felt ill.

The councillor says symptoms lasted for seven months, including a sore throat, fatigue and a sore chest.

After discussing with her GP, Ann, like many, felt she was dealing with Long-Covid.

She described the initial symptoms as ‘unlike anything she had ever had before’.

“The first issue I had was a really, really indescribably bad sore throat,” she said.

“That worked its way down my windpipe and into my lungs, and from there so many other [symptoms].

“A massive, massive fatigue – I just couldn’t keep awake at all. I was literally having to struggle upstairs, or in the end I didn’t bother to come downstairs.

“I just have never felt anything like it before.”

Despite more severe initial symptoms starting to get better, Ann was still struggling to sleep, despite being tired.

She also had a sore chest, windpipe and it sometimes felt sore to talk. She said she reached a point where she felt she was not getting better at all.

“It wasn’t like when I’ve had flu previously or a really bad cold where you do get better gradually,” she said.

“I just sort of reached a point where I just wasn’t getting better at all.

“And also it comes in waves – it’s such a horrible feeling because one day you wake up and you’re feeling a bit brighter, and then it hits you in the middle of the night.”

Ann was directed to a Facebook page with people also battling Long-Covid, and has reflected on her time with the symptoms since March.

She said: “I’ve had a sore throat for seven months I would say, continually.

“It’s just been a complete blur to be perfectly honest with you. I just haven’t functioned properly.

“As I say some days you feel worse than others and everybody describes this sort of brain fog, you feel as if everything is foggy and it doesn’t clear.

“It’s very difficult to describe and all the symptoms are so diverse.

“A lot of the people on the Facebook page are young fit people – there are firefighters, marathon runners, iron men and a lot of medical staff.

“The general feeling is that you do recover – it’s a bit like glandular fever or chronic fatigue syndrome.

“It burns itself out but nobody knows why you’re left with these strange symptoms and are terribly short of breath all the time.”

She is now urging people in the county to act responsibly and continue doing their bit to prevent the spread of the virus.

She added: “I’ve had really bad flu, proper flu and you can’t get out of bed and you feel so ill.

“This is just completely different, there’s no rhyme or reason to it at all.

“As I have experienced this, and I am aware of the implications, I really urge the people of Shropshire to take this virus seriously.”

“At the moment we’re all so, so vulnerable and we can help ourselves and I really do urge everybody to be very, very cautious.

“We’re an elderly population, our demography is very much elderly people in Shropshire.

“They are the most vulnerable and I really think that everybody has to act responsibly.”