Former Ironman champion brought low by ‘long Covid’ describes the symptoms and what it’s like to suffer

Former UK Ironman champ and medical doctor Tamsin Lewis is still beating back debilitating symptoms almost a year after contracting Covid-19

For the former elite athlete, a 1km amble now feels like a 10km sprint and she still suffers muscle and joint aches, heart palpitations and fever

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Tamsin Lewis, a doctor and former pro-triathlete, fell sick in March with the coronavirus and is still experiencing symptoms 11 months on. Photo: courtesy of Tamsin Lewis

Published: 4:45am, 11 Feb 2021Updated: 8:04am, 11 Feb 2021

On the face of it, Tamsin Lewis was unstoppable. A medical doctor, a founder of a wellness and longevity platform, a former pro triathlete, and the Ironman UK Champion 2014 - all achieved before her 40th birthday - she seemed one of the strongest people you could meet.

But in March 2020, the British mother contracted a severe case of coronavirus. While she initially improved and returned to exercise, she soon relapsed. “It was like coronavirus was slow-burning in my body,” she says.

Now, 11 months on, she still suffers symptoms, including muscle and joint aches, heart palpitations, and recurring flare-ups of fever and chest pain.

“For a long time I have had a sense of ‘air hunger’, that I couldn’t really take a full breath,” Lewis explains. “I feel like my heart can’t relax, and therefore, really fill properly.” She also has recurring episodes of “brain fog” in which she can’t think straight.

Her resting heart rate went from 37 beats per minute pre-Covid-19 to 85 in the weeks that followed. While it is now under control with medication, she can no longer exercise with any intensity. Like many “long Covid” sufferers, she has dysautonomia, the feeling she is about to faint when she stands up because of a change in heart rate and blood pressure. For the former elite athlete, it is demoralising that a 1km (0.6 mile) amble now feels like a 10km sprint.

Lewis doing a cardiac stress echocardiogram in July. She believes her case has been so severe as a result of her high-stress lifestyle, which affects immune function. Photo: Courtesy of Tamsin Lewis

“I have residual PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder] symptoms now, of not being able to breathe and drenched in sweat. As an athlete I am used to regulating my physiology - Covid-19 threw a bomb through my nervous system,” she says.