A Tamworth woman (18) says she was told that she was worried about her long Covid

The 18-year-old, who has been suffering from a long time with Covid for five years, says he felt “brush-off” to the NHS before turning to a private clinic for treatment.

Tilly Galloway, a native of Tamworth, has experienced heart problems, dizziness and fatigue since catching Covid-19 at the age of 12.

“My life has completely changed,” she said. “I was always running around and active, but now I can't get out of bed or get dressed.”

The NHS said staff are working hard to help patients with “new and complicated conditions” and that specialist clinics have been helping more than 100,000 since 2020.

Walking through Cannon Hill Park in Birmingham, Tilly looks like the other 18-year-old.

However, her fatigue and shortness of breath mean that she can only manage short distances once a week. Sometimes, if she wants fresh air, she uses a wheelchair.

“I really don't like it. I feel really self-conscious,” she said.

“Every time I go out there, I get gazes all the time, as if people wonder why I'm using it.”

She is one of more than 2 million people in the UK Long Covidit can also cause joint pain and brain fog.

Initially, Tilly asks for help from the NHS, where he is told that the chest pain and shortness of breath were caused by asthma and that he was given an inhaler.

This reduced her shortness of breath, but tests later showed that she was diagnosed with a long symbiotic rather than asthma.

Tilly often felt that her symptoms were not being taken seriously. “They just brushed it off,” she said.

“They all blamed their anxiety and mental health and said they needed counseling.

“It always feels like you're fighting a battle you lost.”

Often she was too sick to go to school and had to leave in her 10th year.

After an echo scan she was finally diagnosed Postural tachycardia syndrome (POTS), patients with long-term COVID patients are more likely to have a very rapid increase in their heart rate after waking up.

The NHS was also diagnosed Gastroapresisit passes slowly than where food passes through the stomach.

She was sent to the long Covid clinic in the NHS, but said she had no support from anyone other than physical and occupational therapists.

After many different tests, her pediatrician said her condition was “too complicated” and she said she didn't leave an answer for her.

This led Tilly's mother, Nicola Bouton, to join the long Covid Kids website, leading her to Dr. Ben Sinclair, a Birmingham-based GP.

After recovering from the illness himself, he founded his own private Long Covid clinic and works with the University of Exeter to collaborate on the study of this condition.

Dr. Sinclair described her condition as complicated because of “critical risk factors.”

“Her lawsuit shows that the long Covid is not driven by a single factor,” he said.

He hopes that what he learns from patients like Tilly will help him develop more guidelines for young people and children who are dealing with long covids.

“What we're finding is that some people produce too many antibodies and some produce very little at all,” he says.

“And these two groups suffer from this fatigue syndrome because their immune system is overactive or exhausted.

“There are a few drugs that can help, but research is lagging behind.”

Since visiting Dr. Sinclair, Tilly has been planning treatment plans where she must take her medication every day.

“It's not cheap,” Ms. Bouton said. “Financially, there was a great deal of tension in us as a family.”

However, she feels it's worth it to watch Tilly get stronger and take some steps towards recovery.

Meanwhile, Tilly is homeschooled and is working towards her mathematics GCSE when she feels it.

She hopes to contribute more in the future by becoming a pediatric nurse for children.

An NHS spokesman advised anyone interested in ongoing symptoms after Covid to speak with GP.

“Since 2020, our post-specialist clinics have supported over 100,000 people with the long-term physical, cognitive and psychological effects of the coronavirus,” the spokesman said.

They added that the NHS was “leading the world” by “designing and implementing new routes of care” to support affected patients.