Jess Casey: My long Covid hell

Like many other healthy and mentally agile people, Jess Casey was totally unprepared for the pain, brain fog, exhaustion, and low mood that have accompanied her bout with long Covid

Irish Examiner Education Correspondent Jess Casey describes her experience of long Covid. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

Sorry I haven’t been responding to your emails, calls, or texts. I’ve been dealing with long Covid, and it’s been grim.

The day before I returned to work in January after my dose of Christmas Covid, I walked up the hill near my house. In isolation, I’d looked up at it as I stuck my head out the bedroom window gasping for air, telling myself I’d climb it when I was better. At the top, I thought smugly to myself: “I am cured.” I even took a photo of myself up there and sent it to my fiancée. Two days later, I was back in bed overcome with exhaustion.