After almost two years, 41-year-old Sofiyah Ghany is finally starting to regain her quality of life as she continues to suffer from long covid.
Since December 2022, she has been experiencing numerous symptoms, has not been able to work, is constantly tired and has spent most of her money on doctors’ visits and medication.
The Centers for Disease Control defines long covid as a chronic condition that occurs after covid19 infection and lasts for at least three months.
Relating her journey to Newsday, Ghany said it started in 2021.
That year she took the required two doses of the AstraZeneca covid19 vaccine and later had her first covid19 infection in June.
She said she experienced some symptoms but recovered easily. Her second infection of covid19 was in December of that year and it too was “manageable.”
At the time she had been a teacher at a private school for five years, and she taught online and in person throughout 2022.
But in December 2022, she was infected for the third time and she got a lung infection.
She was treated for the infection but found she had an ongoing cough and was congested all the time. She had to visit the hospital a few times to be put on a nebuliser so she could breathe. She recalled she was getting sick every few weeks.
Eventually, her general practitioner sent her to see a lung specialist who gave her a lung function test. She was diagnosed with acute asthma and long covid.
She had to use a steroid inhaler daily to treat lung inflammation and a rescue inhaler for shortness of breath because even when she was sitting down or standing in the shower, all of a sudden, she would not be able to breathe properly.
Ghany recalled she used to ride her bicycle to Chagaramas and back at least three times a week and regularly exercised. But at that point she could not even walk or even stand for ten minutes.
[caption id="attachment_1126687" align="alignnone" width="1024"] After 18 months, Sofiyah Ghany is finally improving from her bout of long covid. - Janelle De Souza[/caption]
She also had migraines; mild fevers; post-exertional malaise, which is a worsening of symptoms that occurred after minimal physical or mental activity; light-headedness and dizzy spells; tiredness and weakness; difficulty focussing and forgetfulness; as well as blurry vision and mini blackouts.
She visited about nine or ten doctors, including several specialists, based on her symptoms.
“In this country, people don’t believe long covid is a thing that really exists. The approach the doctors have treated me with was treating the symptoms instead of diagnosing the long covid and treating the cause.”
She was unable to work from December 2022 to December 2023 because of the ongoing symptoms including chronic fatigue and tinnitus, and exercising was out of the question.
“I remember being in school and just not being able to teach those children effectively because I would get headaches and was just feeling so tired. So I resigned from my teaching job and, for 2023, I was not able to work.
“Due
