Lifestyle‘I’ve been confined to my bed for two years - I nearly wrote goodbye letters to my kids’

Kirsty Huxter, 46, was healthy and energetic before she got Covid and was left bedbound for two yearsGet daily celeb exclusives and behind the scenes house tours direct to your inboxMore Newsletters SubscribePlease enter a valid emailSomething went wrong, please try again later.More NewslettersWe use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. More infoThank you for subscribing!We have more newslettersShow me See OurPrivacy Notice See OurPrivacy Notice×Group 28 Get daily celeb exclusives and behind the scenes house tours direct to your inboxInvalid emailSomething went wrong, please try again later.Sign UpNo thanks, closeWe use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. More info×Group 28Thank you for subscribing!We have more newslettersShow MeNo thanks, closeSee our
Privacy NoticeBefore Covid struck, Kirsty Huxter was the picture of health, juggling her part-time role as a youth charity manager, penning books, volunteering at her church, and managing a bustling household. But in December 2022, Kirsty tested positive for Covid-19 and initially, her symptoms were so mild she barely noticed them, with just a headache and some fatigue. “There were barely any symptoms it was only because my husband, David, had a headache that I took a test,” she recalls. “Otherwise, I would have just thought I was a bit tired.” Despite testing positive, Kirsty felt well enough to return to work just four days later. However, it wasn’t long before she started feeling unusually lethargic.

‘I noticed that after putting the bins out one night I felt absolutely exhausted – my muscles were burning’

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“I walked to work for a couple of days in the week and I was out of breath, I was getting tired by late afternoon so I just tried to rest more,” she explains. While many people report tiredness post-Covid, Kirsty’s persistent fatigue raised red flags for her when it didn’t subside after several weeks. It began to severely impact her everyday activities. “I started to do click and collect instead of going to the supermarket because I didn’t think I could walk around for 45 minutes and I worked from home a few days a week. At this point, I was getting tired but otherwise felt fine,” she shares. Just a month on, in the grim chill of February 2023, she found herself bedridden for days, grappling with feeling “really bad”. She reflects on that time: “That was my first indicator that this would not just disappear,” adding starkly, “I continued for a few months pacing myself, barely leaving the house, just working from home, but still doing housework. I noticed that after putting the bins out one night I felt absolutely exhausted my muscles were burning.” As the UK has navigated through the tides of the pandemic with vaccines, raised safety consciousness, and measures to dampen infections, infection rates obligingly dipped but have worryingly nudged up again recently. The resurgence brings with it an uptick in reports of enduring post-viral impacts. Revealing statistics unfolded in March 2023 when research associated with efforts by MPs noted an alarming figure, around 1.9 million Brits were wrestling with self-reported long Covid symptoms, translating to around 2.9% of the entire population. Within these daunting figures, a staggering 1.3 million individuals had been battling symptoms stretching over a year, and 762,000 were ensnared in this struggle for upwards of two years. Echoes of alarm came from the World Health Organisation, hinting at perceptible murmurs of a summer wave in 2024, mirroring patterns last seen back in 2021 when the continent’s football extravaganza, the Euros, last occurred.

Kirsty, who has been battling long Covid for almost two years, with her husband David

Sign up to OK!’s daily newsletter to get updates sent to your inbox for free Kirsty, a doting mum to Rachel, 20, Leah, 17, and Elijah, 14. recounts a brief spell of respite five months subsequent to her initial positive Covid test, where she felt “pretty good for a few days” and ventured out more. Yet this stint of normality was abruptly severed one evening as she “crashed and was never the same again”. “The fatigue became debilitating, I had new symptoms like high heart rate, pressure in my head and gut issues,” she recalls. “I couldn’t stand up for very long I felt like I was being pushed down to the ground.” Kirsty’s health scare intensified last June when she woke up at 4am with a racing heart that wouldn’t slow. Home alone and terrified, she had to call an ambulance, confessing, “I was scared to move in case I had a heart attack”. Despite the severity of her situation, after being rushed to hospital, she was merely sent home with the reassurance that she was “young and healthy”. But Kirsty’s health only worsened; by August 2023, she became “completely bedbound and only able to stand to get to the toilet”, surviving on meals in bed and suffering from “unrefreshing” sleep, often staring at the ceiling for hours on end. Her condition even affected her daily pleasures and responsibilities, as she admits, “I was struggling to read books as they gave me a headache and the words went fuzzy on the page,” and watching TV for just half an hour would leave her spent. The change was tough on her family too, with her children having to step up for simple tasks such as bringing her food and water, reflecting on the distressing transformation from a once active mum to someone who had become reliant on others. Through it all, Kirsty knew she could no longer manage her role at the youth charity, conceding, “I could also only watch TV for about 30 minutes at a time as it exhausted me. It can’t have been easy for my kids to watch their previously healthy mum become so radically different. I’d rely on them to help with basic tasks, like bringing me food and water. My role as manager of the youth charity had to go as I’m not capable of doing that.”

There are more than 200 symptoms associated with long Covid
(Image: Getty Images)

Kirsty reflected on her darkest moments: “Thoughts drifted in and out of my head,” she recounts. “I didn’t think about my life or what I used to be able to do or what I couldn’t do because that felt overwhelming. It was frightening and confusing. I thought a lot about death was this the end? Should I start writing letters for my children in case this was it?”. Last September brought a new challenge for Kirsty as she experienced severe breathing troubles, prompting another emergency call. “I couldn’t breathe and I felt like I was being poisoned, so they referred me to the long Covid clinic. I lost a stone in a week because of my gut issues and when I told a paramedic this, she replied, ‘Well, at least you’re slim.’ We even bought a cheap wheelchair online when I realised there was no way I could walk anywhere any more.” Dr Mark Faghy, a professor of clinical exercise science with a focus on lengthy Covid research from the University of Derby, demystifies long Covid, explaining, “It is a multisystem pathological condition that follows an infection with Covid-19. Some people see continuing symptoms from the acute infection and others recover and then experience the development of symptoms in the weeks or months post-infection. Long Covid is what we call a post-viral condition and, to date, there are more than 200 symptoms.” Kirsty has been on a tough journey with long Covid, trying various treatments until she discovered Nurosym, a device that sends electrical signals to the nervous system. “I was desperate to try anything at this point and after a week of using Nurosym I definitely felt better it was only a slight improvement, but it meant so much,” she shared. Despite some improvements, Kirsty is still dealing with the unpredictable nature of long Covid symptoms. “They come and go and sometimes new symptoms will appear, but there’s never a reason why a symptom will get worse or better,” she explained. The list of challenges she faces includes extreme fatigue, poor sleep, anxiety, brain fog, tingling, tremors, muscle pain, headaches, nausea, and gut issues, with some symptoms persisting while others fluctuate. Two years into her health struggle, Kirsty’s recovery is gradual. She describes her limited capabilities: “I can walk, have a bath, pour a bowl of cereal and look at my phone or computer for short spells of time, but it’s a world away from ‘normal’ life,” she says. Her daily activities are dictated by her energy levels, with something as simple as a doctor’s appointment taking up all her energy for the day. Kirsty has opened up about putting her life on hold, sharing that she’s not making any future plans as her dream of becoming an author feels completely frozen. She admits, “My dream of being an author is not just on ice, it’s in the freezer. I don’t know what capacity I will regain, cognitively or physically, so I’m making no plans at all.” While there’s hope for those with long Covid, recovery times are uncertain. Dr Faghy explains, “There’s no timeline of how long this can take,” highlighting the harsh reality that some people are still struggling years after their initial infection. “It is almost five years since the start of the pandemic and some people have not recovered from their first infection of Covid-19 and they might not make a full recovery.” Signs and symptoms of Long Covid “There are more than 200 symptoms, which include extreme fatigue, palpitations, breathlessness and brain fog among many others,” says Dr Faghy. “The impact it has upon people’s ability to lead ‘normal’ lives is quite profound and many are unable to continue with their activities, look after their families or go to work. “Symptoms can be debilitating and relapse with little warning but especially following physical, emotional and cognitive tasks. The most commonly reported include fatigue, brain fog, aches and pains in the limbs, as well as dizziness, insomnia and headaches. “In the absence of a definitive tool or test to diagnose long Covid, people should look out for changes in their abilities to undertake and complete their routine tasks. If anyone is worried, they should speak to their GP.”Story SavedYou can find this story in My Bookmarks.Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right.Follow OK! MagazineFacebookTwitterCommentMore OnReal LifeHealth

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