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Andrew, 28: Even our sex life was affected
I was abroad in Paris. It wasn't pleasant and I was breaking out in sweats, regularly feeling very hot. I had a terrible cough for around four weeks.
At the time, there was no test. I was told I could go abroad as I hadn't come from an affected area. I took a swab test which was deemed at the time to be 40% accurate... This said my body had developed T-cells to something but it was a negative test for Covid-19 at that moment.
Tired all the time
It’s now October and since then, I've felt totally fatigued and not quite been myself. It's hard to describe but I feel tired a lot of the time. Although I keep running to keep my fitness topped up.
I worry a lot more about my current situation, how it might pan out. I worry about a second lockdown and if my partner and I will be okay through this. I like to see people, spend time with people and socialise so this has been hard. Friends are important to me, just as much as family.
I've taken one risk - for football
My partner worries internally whereas I talk quite often. It's rare for me to bottle things up so much but recently even I feel like that!
I've taken one risk, going out in my local city for the football but generally speaking, I think lots of families are still having people around at houses still. So I think what's the point in the measures if some families really can't go without seeing each other physically?
I’d say that if you're worried about your health, physical or mental, go see a GP. Don't sit in silence letting thoughts build up in your head. You could even try meditation as this really helped me get through the first lockdown.
Focus on the positives and talk
If your relationship has taken a bit of a hit in the bedroom like mine has, don't let this worry you too much. Sex isn't everything despite many of us having that primitive drive to have sex. In times like these, revisit the things you and your partner like to do together and focus on those positives and try and talk.
If you're in a place where you're both arguing, give one another some space in another room - I personally like the bathroom as it's a peaceful room in our house and I can just chill out properly.
No matter how tough things feel, hang on for the person you will be in the future. Things will eventually pass and there is a time for everything, I think.
| This article reflects the experience and the views of the individual. It is not health information from the Men's Health Forum under the terms of the NHS England Information Standard. |
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The Men’s Health Forum need your support It’s tough for men to ask for help but if you don’t ask when you need it, things generally only get worse. So we’re asking. In the UK, one man in five dies before the age of 65. If we had health policies and services that better reflected the needs of the whole population, it might not be like that. But it is. Policies and services and indeed men have been like this for a long time and they don’t change overnight just because we want them to. It’s true that the UK’s men don’t have it bad compared to some other groups. We’re not asking you to ‘feel sorry’ for men or put them first. We’re talking here about something more complicated, something that falls outside the traditional charity fund-raising model of ‘doing something for those less fortunate than ourselves’. That model raises money but it seldom changes much. We’re talking about changing the way we look at the world. There is nothing inevitable about premature male death. Services accessible to all, a population better informed. These would benefit everyone - rich and poor, young and old, male and female - and that’s what we’re campaigning for. We’re not asking you to look at images of pity, we’re just asking you to look around at the society you live in, at the men you know and at the families with sons, fathers and grandads missing. Here’s our fund-raising page - please chip in if you can.
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