Has the Covid-19 coronavirus created a legion of fever dreamers? – Kevan Christie

The side-effects of coronavirus can be long lasting as at least one infectious disease expert and Kevan Christie have discovered.

It is possible that even mild forms of coronavirus can have long-lasting effects (Picture: Esme Allen)

To the land of nod where I spent three days this week confined to my kip suffering from a weird post-viral fatigue thing that got much worse after a round of golf.

As a health reporter you’re always likely to suffer from the odd bout of hypochondria but this general feeling of knackerdom has been marching on for four months now with no sign of abating.

Of course I think this is a result of getting ‘the Covid’ early doors and remember a couple of nights waking up and struggling for breath which used to happen if I’d hit the Marlboro Lights hard during a sesh. Smoking like a Beagle.

I should have known taking up golf again would lead to trouble and there was no way I could enjoy the stunningly beautiful back nine of Duddingston Golf Club in the shadow of Old Arthur’s Seat while breathing oot ma a**e. I stubbornly carried my clubs, refusing all offers of trolleys or buggies as I’m only 51 and heavy boned.

Mind you that’s no excuse for my performance dear readers and I apologise for letting myself, my family, my country and not least of all my playing partner – who was 20 quid out of pocket at the end of the round – down.

Like all good Dr Google devotees, I’ve done my research and this lingering lurgy seems to definitely be as the kids say ‘a thing’.

I’ve read the article by Paul Garner, professor of infectious diseases at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, where he describes the seven weeks he spent going through a “roller coaster of ill-health, extreme emotions and utter exhaustion” after mild symptoms of the virus.

Garner argues the exhaustion is not post-viral fatigue but is the long tail of the illness and warns people what they can expect. He writes about staff at work criticising him for not being clear and telling him to make up his mind about whether he was getting better or not.

A muggy head, acutely painful calf, pins and needles, upset stomach and breathlessness are just some of the symptoms he describes and he said gentle exercise or walking made him worse.

Support groups have popped up on social media as folk who are used to being fit, going to the gym and even running marathons are bewildered by this sense of never-ending tiredness. These are to be welcomed as it’s difficult to talk about this without people giving you the ‘aye right’ stare which those with ME will be all too familiar with.

Despite thousands of us catching Covid-19 without testing positive – and that definitely happened cause I’ve checked – there’s this uniquely Scottish reluctance to believe someone is ill.

The doubters still seem to think the virus is just something off the telly, that doesn’t apply to them as they head out for their shopping sans face covering.

They look at you like you’re Jack Nicholson in The Shining as you begin the tale of how your legs feel like they’ve been attacked by a nutter with a baseball bat... every day.

Until the golf I would describe my condition as being half ill – able to work but unable to break into the slightest jog without feeling breathless.

I’ve binned the need to walk 12,000 steps a day round Crossgates, Hill O’Beath, Cowdenbeath and the Fife Retail Park as it’s clearly not doing me any good and the curtains were starting to twitch anyway.

“Quick Jean, phone the polis it’s that bloke in the shorts again.”

Instead I’ll now jump in the Aurus and drive to Dobbies if it looks like the household is running short of Empire Biscuits, strawberries and Second World War films.

I’ve been treating the need for a daily nap in the afternoon as preparation for a lengthy retirement – one where I’ll sleep, in between rattling off disgruntled emails to major retailers and phoning the fish van man to ask why he’s late. “Have you got any cod roe?”

Talking of sleep, someone who could definitely benefit from a lie doon is that Kirsty Wark. The Trial of Alex Salmond was a cobbled-together disasterpiece that achieved the until-this-point seemingly impossible task of uniting the country in feeling sympathy for Alex Salmond. It should now be called the Trial of Kirsty Wark with the grande dame of BBC journalism suffering irreparable damage to an otherwise stellar career.

Had she not watched previous programmes in this field like The People versus OJ Simpson or The Trial of Christine Keeler?

If Wark had, then she would have realised that the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the whole truth plays a central part in the proceedings or in OJ’s case at least a version of it. You can’t just skip a couple of days you don’t fancy, in this case the entire Salmond defence, because it doesn’t fit in with your narrative.

Instead the viewers were treated to the usual nice shots of Edinburgh from the sky and we got to see Kirsty chatting with her media chums and telling us at one point that Salmond was “not a happy man”. You don’t say. Mind you I did enjoy the sight of Kirsty getting heavily dinghied at the end of the trial while shouting at Salmond as he emerged from the court. But the spineless beaks at the BBC should have had the guts to tell her this bizarre hatchet job wasn’t happening.

Right, I’m off to bed – have a gid weekend.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers - and consequently the revenue we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to scotsman.com and enjoy unlimited access to Scottish news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit www.scotsman.com/subscriptions now to sign up.

Our journalism costs money and we rely on advertising, print and digital revenues to help to support them. By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.

Joy Yates

Editorial Director