Lena Dunham is almost as famous for being an open book about her health as she is for her work in Hollywood. The Girls creators revealed Friday that she battled coronavirus in March, and is still feeling the after-effects of the disease.
She shared on Instagram: “It started with achy joints, then the pain was joined by a crushing fatigue. Then a fever of 102. Suddenly my body simply revolted.”
The New York native added: “The fact is, the Coronavirus kills people, But it will also alter the bodies and lived experiences of so many who are infected, in ways that could never be predicted.” She also suffered a cough and a loss of taste and smell.
“It felt like I was a complex machine that had been unplugged and then had my wires rerouted into the wrong inputs,” Dunham said.
Dunham, who also suffers from the chronic condition Ehler-Danlos, said that she was able to avoid the hospital, and although she tested negative for the virus a month after her diagnosis, her symptoms persist.
She said: “I feel blessed to have entered this experience as a 'sick' person; otherwise, I don't know how I would have tolerated crossing that threshold from well to unwell…. This is the biggest deal in our country, and in the world right now. When you take the appropriate measures to protect yourself and your neighbors, you save them a world of pain. You save them a journey that nobody deserves to take, with a million outcomes we don't yet understand, and a million people with varying resources and varying levels of support who are not ready for this tidal wave to take them.”