A New South Wales doctor has issued a stern warning about COVID-19 after suffering severe long-term effects even after recovering.
New Zealand-born Dr Warren Lee, 50, was sent home from his work in Sydney after getting a sore throat in early April before testing positive for COVID-19. Within the day, he says he had a fever, cough, back and neck pain, headache, and nausea.
He says in a video posted on Facebook he started to feel better after five days but that was far from the end. Two days later, he started to feel short of breath.
Dr Lee was also unable to finish a sentence without coughing, he says.
"I don't have any risk factors - I am reasonably young," said Dr Lee, who was an avid road bike racer before contracting COVID-19. "I like to think I am reasonably fit."
After recovering, Dr Lee said he went for a bike ride to his local hairdresser. That's when the real trouble began.
He said in the Facebook video after sitting on a bench outside the barber, his chest started bouncing around.
After realising his heartbeat was irregular, he went to see a cardiologist, he said.
"I was told not to do any exercise and I was wearing a cardiac monitor."
He said six weeks after recovering, he had an epileptic seizure and was in the hospital for four days.
Dr Lee was diagnosed with new-onset epilepsy - something he'd never suffered from before.
Although he's back at work, he said he can no longer drive a car or ride a bike, and is now on medication.
"I had a scan of my heart - and it shows I got a scar right down the middle of my heart called a Myocarditis which is part of the virus, so I'm not allowed to exercise either."
Dr Lee is now talking about his agonising experience to warn others.
"I think social distancing is the only thing we have," he said. "Nothing else works - we don't have medication for this.
"If you get the virus the chances are you'll probably be fine. You might be okay but there is every chance you might not be and that has a massive impact on your lifestyle."
There were 10 new cases of COVID-19 announced in NSW on Sunday, including an employee from a Sydney hospital. The state has 275 active infections.
