Long Covid support offers light at the end of the tunnel, patient says

There "is light at the end of the tunnel" for people with long Covid on the Isle of Man, a patient with the condition has said.

Debbie Dixon from Foxdale first contracted the virus in 2022 and said she "just never felt well after that".

But she said support from Manx Care's dedicated services had given her hope she would make a full recovery.

The services, which are also offered to those with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), were rolled out a year ago.

Manx Care estimates more than 1,000 people on the island have long Covid and about 350 people have CFS, also known as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME).

The health care provider said more than 130 people had now had initial assessments with the services since the launch 12 months ago.

Ms Dixon said before she developed the condition she was very active, but after contracting the virus simple actions like making a cup of tea became "like walking through quick sand".

She said: "You don't know whether to sleep, cry, eat, you just can't do anything to make yourself feel better, they're the worst days."

After contracting Covid in January 2022, Ms Dixon lived with the illness without support for a year before the dedicated services were set up.

She said the "hardest bit" of that period was "not knowing, there was no end date, there was no resources".

"Once I got access and had a one-to-one with a professional, it's almost validation you've been sick," she said.

"They teach you how to slowly exercise and rest, they teach you that you need to stop in between things."

Chairman of ME Support IOM Juan Corlett has lived with ME for 12 years.

He said one of his biggest challenges in the past had been seeing a road to recovery, as "without good quality information available locally you're searching for answers and you're searching for hope".

While he welcomed the dedicated Manx Care services he said he was worried some groups were falling through the cracks, and a service for children was "overdue".

"Long Covid affects young people, it doesn't discriminate," he said.

Manx Care CEO Teresa Cope said the health care provider was currently working with Alder Hey to "look at what a children's service would look like" before putting together a business case for funding for it.

Work had been done with experts in the UK to form the current services for adults and it was "really important we do that around children's services as well", she added.

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