Private long covid clinic in London, same-day GP.

The common symptom clusters

• Fatigue — the most common, and unlike ordinary tiredness in that rest does not restore it
• Breathlessness and reduced exercise tolerance
• Cognitive difficulty — brain fog, word-finding problems, poor memory and concentration
• Palpitations and dizziness on standing, sometimes from a condition called PoTS
• Pain — muscle, joint, chest, headache
• Sleep disturbance, altered taste or smell, gut symptoms, rashes
• Anxiety and low mood — consequences as much as contributors

Pacing

• Find your baseline — the level of activity you can do on a bad day without triggering a crash. Start below it.
• Break activities into short blocks with planned rest between, and rest before you feel you need to.
• Count cognitive and emotional effort as activity, not just physical. Screens, conversation and stress all consume the same budget.
• Increase only when you have been stable for a fortnight, and only by a small amount.
• Plan for events — bank rest before, and after.
• Keep a simple diary of activity and symptoms to find your patterns.

What should be excluded

Long COVID is a diagnosis made after other explanations have been considered. Reasonable baseline investigation includes a full blood count, ferritin, B12, folate, thyroid function, kidney and liver function, glucose or HbA1c, calcium, CRP, coeliac screening and vitamin D. Heart, lung or clotting investigation is added where symptoms point that way. Finding treatable anaemia, thyroid disease or diabetes is common and worth doing.

What helps

Work and benefits

Long COVID may meet the definition of a disability under the Equality Act 2010, which means reasonable adjustments can be requested — reduced or flexible hours, working from home, rest breaks, changed duties. A phased return is usually more successful than a full one. We can provide fit notes with specific recommendations rather than simply signing you off.