However, my muscle strength is still very weak and doing mild exercise such as jogging, or even walking while talking, can make me short of breath. The coughing has stopped, which is the greatest relief, and it’s no longer a struggle to breathe. Nearly two months on, I’m slowly recovering. Luckily, I never had to go onto a ventilator, but I developed severe fibrotic organising pneumonia and the respiratory consultant said I may end up with some permanent scarring. It’s the scariest moment because your body just won’t let you stop coughing not even for two seconds and when you then can’t catch your breath, you feel like you are going to suffocate and you just have to have faith that it will stop in the end. I would start a coughing fit and it would become uncontrollable, sometimes lasting for two to three minutes. I ended up in hospital twice after catching COVID. He said:īefore I caught COVID, I was quite active as I travelled the world as a wildlife television producer. Matthew Gordon, 44, from Bristol, was hospitalised with COVID-19 in January 2020.

the best strategies for developing treatments.Įarly evidence indicates that lung damage occurs in approximately 20% of patients discharged from hospital, but the effects on people who experience Long-COVID in the community are currently unclear.

whether post-COVID-19 lung damage will improve or worsen over time.

Now, this study, called the UK Interstitial Lung Disease Long-COVID19 (UKILD-Long COVID) study, will investigate: This inflammation and scarring of the lungs is called ‘interstitial lung disease’. The scarring causes stiffness in the lungs, which can make it difficult to breathe and get oxygen to the bloodstream, resulting in long-term breathlessness and difficulty managing daily tasks. In severe cases, the lungs may become scarred. The inflammation may improve over time, but in some people it persists. Many people recovering from COVID-19 suffer from long-term symptoms of lung damage, including breathlessness, coughing, fatigue and limited ability to exercise.ĬOVID-19 can lead to inflammation in the lungs due to the infection and the immune system’s reaction to it. The study, launched with £2 million of funding from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), aims to develop treatment strategies and prevent disability. A new national study will investigate the long-term effects of lung inflammation and scarring from COVID-19.

Coronavirus after effects