My friend recovered from a particularly difficult bout of Covid. It’s been a few months now, she still feels unwell. The doctors say she is perfectly fine. How can I help her.
My friend recovered from a particularly difficult bout of Covid. It’s been a few months now, she still feels unwell. The doctors say she is perfectly fine. How can I help her.
Perhaps she’s not ready to be challenged yet as she is still recovering from some of the scarey emotions she may have gone through.
In which case it may help to continue staying with what she is feeling. This could mean a lot of listening (to her experiences) empathy and understanding.
Thanks Tara .. shall go with your suggestion of a cup of tea & lots of listening … and no advice on how to bounce back. 😊
Listen her out, if need probably many times around the same topics. COVID has weird ways to playing out emotionally and physically. Give it some time and if this prolongs, I would suggest you egg her on to seek help from a qualified mental health professional.
Have a conversation where you listen to her. I know many people who have recovered from Covid and the doctors have given them a clean bill of health, but they have felt lingering issues – exhaustion, blurry vision, mental fuzziness.
We still don’t know much about this disease and its after effects that vary from person to person.
If you think of known diseases like Malaria, Dengue, Chikungunya – some patients have been known to have lingering symptoms of fatigue, joint pain etc that last for years after, while others feel back to 100% post recovery.
Your friend could still be affected by what she went through physically, emotionally or psychologically. Ask her why she feels unwell and just listen. Its not up to us to fix everyone around us, sometimes just non-judgemental, non-result oriented listening can help
Acceptance of current state is very important. Accepting that being unwell is part of life ..
What next could be . Giving full time tender care. Spending time doing things that they enjoy . Could be playing music, humour, inviting their favourite people , old friends to visit them . Bring small changes in the diet if there is lack of appetite and give them a lot of morning and evening Sun .. hugg gently and stay. That will reassure.
Hey Sonalee,
I’m late to this question, so hopefully your friend is on her way to better health. But Long-Covid is absolutely a thing – it’s not just in her mind. A significant number of recovered patients report on-going health issues which are sometimes not even clinically obvious.
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/the-tragedy-of-the-post-covid-long-haulers-2020101521173
There are some good support groups online that might help your friend (or anyone else who’s going through this). And as others have already pointed out, empathy and support, and a friendly cuppa! 🙂
Hope this helps!
Thanks Gita… luckily she is in a better place… but I know someone else who needs some support. I shall definitely check it out.