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Charlotte Hoyle says the life she has dreamed of has been ‘lost'(Image: Charlotte Hoyle)<\/p>\n‘I can’t turn to science for help, I can’t turn to my doctor, I pay hundreds of pounds for supplements and private appointments for therapy to get help’<\/p>\n
06:07, 26 Apr 2025Updated 06:47, 26 Apr 2025<\/p>\n
Charlotte Hoyle says the life she has dreamed of has been ‘lost'(Image: Charlotte Hoyle)<\/p>\n
A young woman who has been left bedbound with a full-time carer after a bad bout of Covid said the government has left patients to \u2018rot\u2019 since the pandemic ended.<\/p>\n
Charlotte Hoyle said the life she dreamed of has been \u2018lost\u2019 after the virus left her with debilitating symptoms including memory loss, extreme fatigue and muscle aches. More than three years on, she is furious as she claims long Covid clinics are \u2018are even being shut down now\u2019.<\/p>\n
The 34-year-old, who was a second-year psychology student when she fell ill, now has a full-time carer and can only leave bed to bathe and use the toilet.<\/p>\n
She claims she endured a year-long wait for an initial diagnosis of fibromyalgia and she is still undergoing tests to establish if she has chronic fatigue syndrome. She believes both were triggered by Covid-19<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI was a full-time psychology student at the University of Huddersfield when this all started,\u201d she said. \u201cI was happy, and I was enjoying life on my new career path.<\/p>\n \u201cI loved doing yoga, singing, spending time with family. Prior to Covid I was ambitious and health-conscious.\u201d<\/p>\n Charlotte, from Rochdale<\/a>, initially contracted the virus in December 2022. But by February 2023, she said she developed debilitating symptoms which felt like a \u2018mix between extreme flu and an extreme hangover\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cI had the virus previously \u2013 but this time it felt different,\u201d she added. \u201cMy heart rate was extremely high, and I struggled to breathe.<\/p>\n \u201cI went to my GP, but I had to wait five months before being referred to a long Covid clinic. The clinic then referred me to a specialist for further investigation, but it took another six months to see them.\u201d<\/p>\n During this time, in early 2023, Charlotte said she developed around 30 \u2018debilitating health conditions,\u2019 which ranged from early-onset dementia, extreme fatigue and severe body aches.<\/p>\n She was officially diagnosed with fibromyalgia in October 2024 and is awaiting a diagnosis of chronic fatigue syndrome. Charlotte puts them both down to long Covid.<\/p>\n Long Covid describes ongoing symptoms of Covid-19, or new symptoms that develop after a Covid-19 infection. In March 2023, an estimated 1.9 million people in the UK reported that they were experiencing long Covid, representing 2.9 per cent of the population. Of these, 1.3 million had symptoms that had lasted for more than a year and 762,000 had symptoms lasting for more than two years, according to research published in October by Parliament.<\/p>\n \u201cI am now housebound because of my health problems,\u201d she explained. \u201cMy quality of life is now that of a cancer patient, if not worse.<\/p>\n \u201cI sleep 12-13 hours per night, but it is unrefreshed sleep. I wake up feeling like I haven\u2019t slept, with an extreme migraine, dizziness, low blood pressure.<\/p>\n \u201cBasically, I am able to get up to go to the toilet and then back into bed.\u201d<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/0_HVR_MEN_090425_charlotte_long_covidJPG.jpg\")
(Image: Charlotte Hoyle)<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/0_HVR_MEN_090425_charlotte_long_covid_03JPG.jpg\")
(Image: Charlotte Hoyle)<\/p>\n