How many children do you know have long Covid

[Baileysforchristmas]

Just wondering how many people on here have experience of children with long Covid?

None.

That only person I know who has had covid is a teacher at DD’s school. No positive cases amongst my family, friends or colleagues at all. We have been very lucky.

I know one sixteen year old with long covid. It is awful. She was a healthy girl before getting covid.

I know about 15 children personally that have had COVID. All very mild. No lasting effects.

None!

Children do not need this vaccine and should never be given this vaccine!

One 12 year old boy, a year on still struggling to get back to sport and gets very breathless etc.

Also know a formerly very fit woman in her 30s who still has long covid after almost 15 months, it completely flattened her.

Most kids I know who've had covid have had it very mildly/asymptomatically, thankfully.

What worries me about this thread is the minimising though, the whole 'long covid' in quotes with cynical emojis and scathing comparisons to post viral fatigue etc. It's now well documented that covid is having long term effects on the heart, lungs and brain. I think if you do have it it must be really difficult when so many are trying to minimise it. A bit like all those ME sufferers so used to people saying they're just a bit tired and should pull their socks up. There is just no empathy.

I think it's fine to say both that long covid is rare and also that it can be very serious and debilitating. Why minimise it so much?

[quote Ladylokidoki]@Abraxan I feel that the 'it 4 weeks' does make people think its nothing.

Its been 15 months and I am still so ill, so often. I have daysvwhere I am feeling fine then the next I can even barely get showered. Even a 5 min walk to the school gates is too much some days and it's like I jogged a marathon.[/quote]
I'm sorry you are struggling so much and for so long.

Luckily my symptoms (mainly breathlessness etc) are much less severe, much more mild but lingering on, 8 months on. They're impacting my other health condition (increased fatigue, additional joint pain and aches, etc) to an extent hence some of it needing to be checked on by my consultant. It's hard to know which is which now and whether my medication will need changing, and so on.

My continued issues with high blood pressure aren't long covid as such, but a complication from when I had covid itself. Sadly it seems that, and the resulting extra medication, will be with me for life.

There is a link between covid and Type 1 diabetes in children being investigated.

I think it's fine to say both that long covid is rare and also that it can be very serious and debilitating. Why minimise it so much?
Under the current definition it's not very rare though, 1 million according to the screenshot screen posts back. I think it's important to know the numbers for people for which it is serious and debilitating. I am not attempting to minimise it for those who are affected.

'screen' should read 'a few'

Thank you.

Thata the problem. I have no idea if there's other things at play. I was very ill when I had it. Other health issues.

The worst is that I used to be really fit.

I am sure it will improve though, fingers crossed. Hope it improves for you too.

None.
But I know an 80 yr old who claim s she has long covid. She can only walk 5km a day now.

None

I’m a teacher. I know several kids who have had COVID, none of them have been severely ill and none have had long COVID. Many were asymptomatic. However, I also know some of their family members who have had it severely, and know a lady my age (mid thirties) struggling with long COVID. My own father nearly ended up on a ventilator last Christmas. I do think it’s generally much harder on adults, although I still do worry about my daughter.

None.

Also no adults.

I know one who's 13 & is still really ill. Very sad

3 teenagers. One was very lucky to live and he caught it right at the start in April last year. He's been tube fed since but is being weaned off and hopefully that will be removed soon.

DS1 (then 9) was floored by some kind of virus and had post-viral fatigue Dec '19 to Mar '20. No idea what it was. Gave up contacting the GP after failing to get through 35+ times.

The difficulty with Long Covid is that there is Long Covid, Long Covid and Long Covid. It does need investigating and treating particularly at the severe end. At the milder end post-viral fatigues have always existed. Also lockdowns take their toll and can cause loss of fitness and take their toll on mental health too. There is a point where those symptoms are fairly indistingushable.
Where I roll my eyes is when certain posters pull out "but Long Covid" as a trump card when they've exhausted other issues suchas NHS capacity or death rates aren't scary enough.

If post-viral conditions can be better understoodband treated, that would be good for society.

Obviously we won't know for many months how many (adults or children) will develop Long Covid from the Delta variant. Everyone is a guinea pig.

I just hope for anyone that gets it, they don't have their symptoms dismissed. I hope too they will have access to the relevant specialist scans. As opposed to the standard scans that seem to be missing serious issues including clots in the lungs. (The case I'm thinking of is a adult and I very much hope it's less serious issues for children.)

I don't know why some people are so ready to assume it's the same as post viral syndrome. Covid is a novel virus - one that's potentially genetically modified in a lab. (It's also now thought to be a vascular rather than respiratory disease.).

At this early stage we cannot possibly know what kind of damage it might potentially do long term.

Hopefully the 15 paediatric clinics being set up across the country to meet the need, will provide excellent and specialist care, including any new treatments for the poor kids suffering from Long Covid.

Two and it sounds horrible.

Tbh we'll only know the full extent of Long Covid - both in terms of how many suffering, and actual health issues caused - in a few years time.

Until then everyone is a guinea pig.

No one (children or adults) with long covid and no kids that even were that ill with it. No worse than a common cold but the majority has no symptoms at all.

Via my DD we know over 30 teens who have had Covid, most thankfully mild, though one lost her grandmother to Covid in the following month. 3 were very ill, but only 1 needed hospital, one was struggling with long Covid symptoms for about 5 months, one is still very ill, exhausted, breathless etc about a year later. We know very few younger kids now & non we do know have had Covid

I had Covid myself right at the beginning. It was so mild that I didn't really believe I had it, it was like a normal flu, with a really bad headache & lost taste & smell. My chest was fine.

Later antibody tests showed that I'd definitely had it & I started getting worsening gastric symptoms & nausea that over several months ended up as vomiting most stuff, unable to take supplements that usually help other health stuff.

I was lucky that I was already under the upper gastro team, so they got me in quickly for a scan & it turned out to be pancreatitis, which has caused me havoc for over a year. Thankfully digestive enzymes help & there's some things I need to avoid such as lemon, grapefruit etc.

I thought this was bad luck, but it turns out the Long Covid Pancreatitis it a thing & it knocked me for 6, way more than Covid itself seemed to

Those of you with, or with kids with post Covid gastric symptoms, I'd suggest looking up Long Covid Pancreatitis & if the symptoms fit, speak to your doctor for an upper gastric referral

None. I had covid in March 2020. My kids had colds. I have altered sense of taste and smell. They have nothing. I don’t know of any of their friends or school friends having long covid.

Two children out of seven who def had Covid.

@Tealightsandd

Tbh we'll only know the full extent of Long Covid - both in terms of how many suffering, and actual health issues caused - in a few years time.

Until then everyone is a guinea pig.

This is an important point.