Rebekah

Age at interview: 48

Brief Outline:

Rebekah developed Covid symptoms when schools shut in March 2020 and developed more severe symptoms a week later. She feels that Long Covid and other conditions associated with chronic fatigue should be treated more seriously. Rebekah was interviewed in May 2022.

Rebekah is a 48-year-old teacher living with her teenage son and daughter. Her husband died during the pandemic. Ethnicity: White British.

More about me...

Rebekah was working in a primary school when schools shut in mid-March 2020 and developed Covid symptoms approximately five days later. Originally, her symptoms were “fluey” – with a high temperature and a cough – but they worsened in the following week when Rebekah was left gasping for breath. Rebekah also began to experience heart and chest pains in May, which her GP thought was the onset of asthma; when Rebekah couldn’t climb up the stairs, she called 111 and was asked to complete a walk test for Covid, which she felt was “silly.”

Although Rebekah’s heart rate didn’t settle after the test, she didn’t want to go into hospital because she was worried about who would look after her children. Both Rebekah’s son and daughter are teenagers; her daughter was still in school when the pandemic started and began doing online learning, but her son was finishing college and started working on a 6-month government kickstart scheme. Rebekah found it hard to wake up in time to wake her son up for work. At the beginning of 2022 she was diagnosed with PoTS (postural tachycardia syndrome - an abnormal increase in heart rate that occurs after sitting up or standing), after an ECG she had in October 2021 showed an irregular and raised heartrate.

Rebekah hadn’t looked into the possibility of claiming disability benefits because she didn’t think that Long Covid would make her eligible, especially because ME isn’t recognised for it. Rebekah would like there to be more information available for people with Long Covid about claiming disability benefits, and she also feels that people need to change how they see Long Covid, ME, and chronic fatigue.

As well as financial difficulty, Rebekah has experienced emotional difficulty since her Long Covid diagnosis, finding that the frustration of not being able to do the things she used to catches up with her. Rebekah’s best friend and husband also died during the pandemic, which she feels has made having Long Covid harder mentally.

Rebekah has seen three GPs since developing Covid symptoms but feels that the last one has been the most helpful because they took Rebekah seriously about her health. Rebekah feels she has found support in a Facebook group for people with Long Covid and has stopped talking to people who try to tell her that Covid doesn’t exist. She has heard that other women her age had adverse reactions to the Covid vaccine and feels that this may have caused her PoTS to establish, although she says that she may be “looking into it too much.”

Rebekah is now only able to do the ‘basics’ such as ensuring her daughter gets off to college in the mornings.

Okay mornings from going to being able to drive my daughter to school. Getting up at quarter past seven, you know, doing an hour’s drive, that it was and coming back and just going shopping and stuff to basically being able to get up for about five or ten minutes to do some basics like feeding the animals or make sure she’s up and going to college and then going back to bed. I couldn't get up or I couldn't drive or anything now or do anything like I used to.

So, you’re not driving at all?

I will, I can drive afternoons for a short time if I needed to, which I don’t do very often. Luckily, I can walk to work. So, basically, if I’d be shopping or visiting my mum which is about 25 minutes away on a Sunday. But that’s not every weekend. Sometimes I can’t do that.

Yeah. So, your work is obviously close by to your house.

Yeah. It’s a 15-minute walk, which I can manage. But when, when I’m there I do have to sit down a lot, although it’s I run an afterschool club. I’m lucky in the fact that you know, I, I can do sit-down activities inside and then when I’m outside, I can sit when I need to and you know, just do that sort of thing.

Rebekah’s husband passed away from Covid. In the lead up to the funeral, she ‘just wanted to sleep.’

We had to sit next to his coffin all the way.

So, I basically put my head on it, leant on it and slept a little bit.

So, while this is all happening you are still dealing with your own symptoms as well.

Yeah, yeah. That was the worst bit because travelling up my son was sick everywhere, travel sickness. But yeah, I yes, it’s just, like I say, I just wanted sleep because I was too tired. I hadn’t slept the night before. I hadn’t slept all that day. I hadn’t slept for days, you know, a couple of days. I just, I couldn't do it. So, yeah, it, it did have an effect. And I basically wanted to close myself away when I got home to do absolutely nothing, physically and mentally. Just couldn't understand what had just happened.

Rebekah has taken on extra responsibilities in the school she works at to make ends meet but struggles because of her symptoms.

I have, I have a look down at that that at the minute. But I don’t know I, you know, if I need to once my daughter finishes college then, you know, the hours have to be increased. I don’t think I can physically do any more than what I’m doing. So, hopefully, they’ll be able to get some work and we’ll just have to do it like that, I think. Like I say, I’ve just started doing lunchtimes, which is very exhausting. For me.

Is there any particular reason why you haven't gone down that route of disability benefits yet?

I didn't think Long Covid would be under that. I don’t think I would—I like I say, my, my son has got ME and they won’t recognise ME in anything. I don’t know whether Long Covid is anything a bit different because obviously it’s well, you know. So, I’ll be interested to see if you know, you can give me any information on that, I don't know.