Theme and subtheme | Exemplary quotes |
---|---|
Persistent symptoms | |
Respiratory symptoms | “When I take a long walk, I become short of breath” (A072, male, 63 years). “For me, aside from this breathing, which I didn’t have before …” (A029, male, 55 years) “I would go to the toilet, come back, and immediately feel I couldn’t breathe.” “I can climb the stairs now, but not without getting winded.” “I also have this cough, which is quite bothersome during the day.” (A033, male, 51 years) “I’m always breathless.” (A056, female, 47 years) “When I walk at a brisk pace, faster than necessary, I always get short of breath.” (A048, female, 31 years) “I feel the breathlessness here.” (A064, male, 61 years) “Maybe I get a little short of breath when I’m doing very physical tasks; I have to stop a minute.” (A075, female, 81 years) |
Fatigue, tiredness, exhaustion | “I was really tired, exhausted, I just couldn’t do anything.” “I still get tired pretty quickly.” “I still have this sense of fatigue whenever I do anything.” (A034, male, 59 years) “I felt tired.” (A039, male, 64 years) “I don’t get winded anymore, but I’m still tired.” (A033, male, 52 years) “It’s obvious, everything is harder for me.” (A031, female, 80 years) “Anyway, there’s this constant fatigue.” (A049, female, 40 years) “Everything is harder than it used to be.” (A069, female, 49 years) “This fatigue is a bit hard.” “It takes more effort for me to do certain things” (A010, female, 58 years) “Well, exhaustion sometimes …” (A069, female, 49 years) “I’m always really tired” (A036, female, 77 years) “It also means that when I finally get to where I’m going, I don’t enjoy it because I’m so totally exhausted that I can’t” (A060, male, 73 years) “I had a bit of trouble with my legs” (A043, male, 62 years) |
Strength | “I don’t have any strength.” (A031, female, 80 years) “I never recovered my strength.” (A060, male, 73 years) “My legs shook.” (A033, male, 51 years) |
Muscle and joint pain | “My legs hurt so much it feels like someone is hammering them.” “My back started to hurt.” (A066, female, 56 years) “I spent a month at home with pain in my legs.” (A023, male, 66 years) “I have problems because of the pain in my arms and shoulders.” (A026, female, aged 59) “I still have a backache.” (A048, female, 32 years) |
Hypogeusia and Hyposmia | “My sense of smell and taste have changed.” (A037, male, 65 years) “I can’t smell anything.” (A039, male, 64 years) “Everything tastes different, less intense. Even smells, certain smells, are different.” (A049, female, 40 years) “Sometimes my sense of taste changes a little.” (A058, male, 54 years) “The symptom I still have is this loss of smell; I smell things, but they smell different.” (A078, female, 54 years) “The only thing I still have is that I can’t taste food well; everything tastes bitter, tasteless.” (A013, female, 80 years) |
Paresthesia | “I still have this problem with two fingers, which I can’t feel; I have tingling 24 h a day.” (A013, male, 49 years) “I feel even my nerves have been affected.” (A033, male,.52 years) |
Hair loss | “The only thing that’s a problem now is my hair; I’m losing a lot of hair.” (A043, female, 62 years) “I lost my hair, and that was really hard for me.” (A077, male, 64 years) “And I’m losing my hair.” (A78, female, 54 years) |
Hand tremors | “My hands shook.” (A012, male, 71 years) |
Vision loss | “My eyesight has got worse.” (A012, male, 71 years) “My eyesight has got a bit worse.” (A021, female, 61 years) |
Feelings of isolation | |
Lockdown | “When I was discharged in early April, I couldn’t even go to the cemetery because they were all closed.” (A044, female, 62 years) “At that time, you didn’t even see anyone …” “Everyone had to deal with this hardship; you couldn’t go out, you couldn’t see your family …” (A022, female, 81 years) “In that period, what came to mind was not having seen my family for at least 20 days.” (A037, male, 65 years) |
Quarantine | “If I could have hugged them, I would have hugged all of them.” (A007, male, 70 years) “I was alone in a room, I didn’t see anyone.” (A008, male, 64 years) “Maybe because of my long quarantine … I was isolated in a room for almost a month …” (A014, female, 49 years) “I had to do 14 more days of isolation.” (A013, female, 80 years) “In those moments of hardship, I thought about the fact that I hadn’t seen my family for at least 20 days.” (A037, male, 65 years) |
Fear and stigma | |
Fear of the experience | “I still feel a little afraid when I talk about it.” (A010, female, 58 years) “I always get chills, goose bumps.” (A029, male, 55 years) “I didn’t even want to watch the TV programs that talked about the number of deaths, new cases …” (A026, female, 59 years) “I can’t watch TV; it’s all they talk about.” (A060, male, 73 years) |
Fear of the unnamable | “When you’re in the hospital and everyone only talked about bad things …” (A029, male, 55 years) “This thing... the more time passes, the more I realize ...” (A044, female, 62 years) “I always get chills … goose bumps … just thinking about it” (A029, male, 55 years) |
Fear of infecting others | “But, as I told you, I already suspected that maybe I wasn’t well even before.” (A036, female, 77) “I’m afraid to be physically close to anyone.” (A049, female, 40 years) “Let’s just say that now I avoid going to dinners, I don’t go.” (A054, male, 53 years) “When I get out of here, I want to make sure I don’t carry the virus.” (A040, male, 78 years) |
Other people’s fear of getting infected, stigma | “Get better, completely better, that way we can all rest easy.” (A029, male, 55 years) “But they ask you questions to find out if maybe they missed a symptom they had because they’re afraid.” (A037, male, 65 years) “Everyone is suspicious. Basically, everyone is afraid.” (A017, female, 71 years) |
Fear of getting sick again | “I’m a bit terrified about getting sick again.” (A021, female, 61 years) “We have to be very careful.” (A022, female, 81 years) “How will I deal with the flu one day?” (A026, female, 59 years) “I’m afraid to be around people.”, “I’m afraid to catch it again … I’m afraid to go out, to see people.” (A049, female, 40 years) “Let’s just say that now I avoid going to dinners, I don’t go.” (A054, male, 53 years) “Everyone is diffident, everyone is afraid, we don’t go out; if we want a pizza, we eat it at home.” (A017, female,71 years) |
Emotional distress | |
Depression | “Then there’s this sort of depression; I don’t want to call it depression, but a lack of interest in anything, from morning to night.” (A060, male, 73 years) |
Anxiety | “I even had an anxiety attack that kept me up the whole night.” (A026, female, 59 years) “I’ve been a little anxious and depressed.” (A037, male, 65 years) “My symptoms are mostly psychological, like anxiety.” (A032, male, 67 years) “This thing caused me anxiety and panic attacks, it was bad for me.” (A033, male, 52 years) “All this anxiety and paranoia” (A066, female, 56 years) |
Worry | “I worry a little more than I used to.” (A058, male, 54 years) |
Fatalistic attitude | |
“Goodnight” | “I tell you, I always try to think positive, in the sense that I live my life. Every morning I wake up, I say to myself, “Today I woke up, which is a lot.” Some things in life just happen, you don’t go looking for them; they just happen and that’s it, buonanotte” (A010, male, 71 years) “If tomorrow they tell me I have to die, well, buonanotte” (A007, male 70 years) |
Return to (adapted) life course | |
Not like before | “I tell you, I always try to think positive, in the sense that I live my life. Every morning I wake up I say to myself, “Today I woke up, which is a lot.” Some things in life just happen, you don’t go looking for them; they just happen and that’s it, buonanotte” (A010, male, 71 years) “Making breakfast seemed like a challenge, you take out the biscuits, you make the coffee, you get out the milk, I said, “Oh for heaven’s sake!” (A026, female, 59 years) |
Like before but not exactly | “Everything is back to normal. I’m calm, that is ... sometimes I have a fit of irritation for some reason, but overall, I’m fine, yeah.” (A013, female, 80 years) Now, I do everything. If I have to climb the stairs, no, but I’d like to. Yes, I do almost everything.” (A024, female, 69 years). |
Adaptation | “Well, you know, well, my life, if I have to go out, do the shopping, I have a lot of friends … life goes on, unfortunately”, “You know, well, that’s how things are.” (A022, female, 81 years) “Let’s say … ok, it’s over. You keep going.” – (A023 male, 66 years) “I’d be happy just to do something … about these breathing problems.” (A033 male, 51 years) “Anyway, what I say to my friends, to the people who know me, is that I feel lucky because, overall, I’m ok.” (A036, female, 77 years) “Psychologically, I feel better than before because I didn’t use to appreciate some things, now I do, more. The sense changed a little, I want more to live, I’m happy, basically. I can’t say anything else.” (A052, male, 65 years) “Now when I talk about it, I’m a little afraid, but it all worked out well, quote-unquote well.” (A010, female, 58 years) |