Thread by @ABrokenBattery

Thread of quotes from Respiratory Consultant Dr Paul Whitaker #C4Dispatches episode on #LongCovid :

"The definition of long Covid is people having symptoms going on beyond 12 weeks. The number of people who have had Covid in the UK makes this an almost overwhelming problem."

"We do chest x-rays, CT scans and full lung function tests. Some people have evidence of scarring, some people have evidence of an inability to absorb oxygen properly. But most people have normal tests."

"For these people it really comes down to fatigue, to muscle strength and also to what the physiotherapists call dysfunctional breathing, so after Covid people breathe a little bit differently."

"When you look back to how we did things six to eight months ago it was quite different. I mean initially then there was a lot more emphasis on physical rehabilitation programmes, almost kind of a regimented approach to try and get people better and this didn’t work."

"I guess one breakthrough is, we don’t push people too hard, we do things really in their own time, time itself has just allowed them to recover."

"A lot of my knowledge about long Covid has come from the patients, as they’ve tried different rehab techniques and so actually to get their feedback on a weekly basis is really useful."

"So we are learning all the time and following these patients over the long term but it is frightening what’s been happening with people."

"Some patients are recovering very quickly but some patients are developing a condition that is akin to chronic fatigue syndrome. And this is where the experience of people who have been dealing with chronic fatigue for decades is really important."

"One thing we know is, we don’t push people too hard. We are concentrating a lot more on the psychology and the mental recovery of patients."

"To manage long Covid properly is a very expensive problem and this is going to run into hundreds of millions a year. "

"What we’re hoping for is with the government and NHS England’s ongoing review of the problem that more investment is made so that these patients can access care quickly and they’re not waiting four or five or six months to see people who can help them."

bradfordhospitals.nhs.uk/2021/03/15/cha…