Samir
Samir caught Covid from school and brought the virus home. He displayed multiple symptoms of Covid including fever, headache, dizziness, and bodily pain. Samir says that for the past month and a half to two months his “symptoms have changed and stayed consistent.” Whenever he stands up, sits upright, or walks Samir’s entire body feels immense pain, especially in his chest. His chest hurts at all times, though not as bad as when he’s standing up. His knees and his head also sometimes hurt. He reports also recently becoming a lot more sensitive to vibrations, especially loud noises – whenever he hears a loud noise his head and chest will start hurting unless he manages to block it out or it stops. Other kinds of vibration hurt his chest more – such as when he coughs, burps, or sneezes. Samir now has a wheelchair to help him get around and his bed has very recently has been moved downstairs. Samir was interviewed in May 2022.
Samir was 11 years old when he caught Covid. He lives at home with his parents and older brother and sister. Ethnicity: Slovak/Algerian.
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Samir got Covid in September 2021. Since then, he spends most of his time resting – reading, going on the computer, or watching television. After lunch he does “the same thing for a while, sometimes having a nap. Then I have dinner. Then I do the same thing again, then go to bed.” He says sometimes he has lessons from school, other meetings with doctors, or studies (sometimes online, sometimes at the hospital). He also sometimes has physiotherapy either while staying in bed or practicing walking.
Samir says he cannot really go out anywhere because he can’t walk that well and it’s hard to get the wheelchair out. Also “the ground is very bumpy which causes lots of vibrations,” and vibrations have been causing him pain these past couple of months. Sometimes he has to go to the hospital by car and even those vibrations “make it unbearable.”
Samir had around a 50% attendance record at school since getting Covid last September, but more recently he has not been attending school at all. His school is an hour’s travel time away, which makes it hard to get to, especially when he is feeling unwell. He used to travel to school by bus, then he was driven there and back by car for a while, but now he is not going to class at all.
Samir experiences brain fog, which makes him unable to “concentrate on a lesson for too long.” He says that before getting Covid, he used to be able to focus on tasks. He says that his schoolteachers have been supportive of him. However, he hasn’t really been able to see his friends, and they have been unable to visit him either because they live a distance away.
Samir feels a lot of pain and is very sensitive to vibration.
Samir feels a lot of pain and is very sensitive to vibration.
I showed many symptoms of Long Cov... of Covid, my symptoms included fevers, headaches, dizziness, and bodily pain. For the past month... for the past I think month and a half, or a couple of months, my symptoms have changed and stayed consistent. But whenever I stand up, or sit upright, or walk, I... my entire body begins to feel immense pain, especially in my chest. My chest also hurts at all times, though not as bad when I'm standing up. My knees and head also sometimes hurt. I also become a lot more sensitive to vibration, especially noises: whenever I hear a loud noise, my head and my chest will start hurting unless I manage to block it out or it stops. Other vibrations hurt my chest more. Anytime I cough, or burb, or yawn, or sneeze, the vibration also cause my chest to hurt.
Because I've been struggling to walk, I have now got a wheelchair to help me when I'm downstairs—and I moved semi... semi-permanently downstairs. My bed is downstairs, and I stay here all day, and this has only been for the past couple of days.
Samir felt that the doctors at the Long Covid clinic were most helpful because they were ‘specialised.’
Samir felt that the doctors at the Long Covid clinic were most helpful because they were ‘specialised.’
I've only had two doctors, I think. One is [doctor] from the hospital closest, and there’s also a small team at Long Covid clinic, which have been helping me. I think the team has been helping more because they're specialised in helping with Long Covid.
And how have they been helping you?
They’ve...some have given me some physiotherapy...they gave me some... was it them who gave me the medicine? Yeah, they gave me some medicine and taught me some physiotherapy to do with my feet, and they've been monitoring me [sighs].