Lena Dunham had a terrible case of coronavirus: I had never felt this way
Lena Dunham has not been completely quiet this year, but she has been quieter than usual. Sure, she told an unhinged story about how Brad Pitt loves her. Sure, she said vague words about Black Lives Matter. Sure, she completely lied about doing poppers and eating a cheesecake. But all in all, Lena has spent much of 2020 away from the cameras and away from drama. I thought that perhaps Lena had grown up a tad and decided to take it down several notches on her own. Nope. Turns out, Lena actually had the coronavirus and (obviously) she was not asymptomatic. She was apparently sick as a dog for months.
Add Lena Dunham to the growing list of celebrities who have contracted COVID-19. The Girls creator and star shared on Instagram that she contracted the virus in mid-March. Her “Covid Story,” as she called it, detailed her experience as someone who suffers from a host of chronic illnesses. Dunham claimed her symptoms early in the disease included “crushing fatigue,” as well as achy joints and a high fever.
“Seeing the carelessness with which so many in the United States are treating social distancing … I feel compelled to be honest about the impact this illness has had on me, in the hopes that personal stories allow us to see the humanity in what can feel like abstract situations,” she wrote. “Suddenly my body simply … revolted. The nerves in my feet burned and muscles wouldn’t seem to do their job. My hands were numb. I couldn’t tolerate loud noises. I couldn’t sleep but I couldn’t wake up. I lost my sense of taste and smell. A hacking cough, like a metronome keeping time. Inability to breathe after simple tasks like getting a glass of water. Random red rashes. A pounding headache right between my eyes. It felt like I was a complex machine that had been unplugged and then had my wires rerouted into the wrong inputs. This went on for 21 days … that blended together like a rave gone wrong.”
Dunham self-isolated and doted on attention from her doctor. After a month, she tested negative, but still has lingering symptoms of the virus, including arthritis, swollen hands and feet, and a constant migraine.
“Even as a chronically ill person, I had never felt this way,” she wrote. “To be clear, I did NOT have these particular issues before I got sick with this virus and doctors don’t yet know enough to tell me why exactly my body responded this way or what my recovery will look like. I know I am lucky; I have amazing friends and family, exceptional healthcare and a flexible job where I can ask for the support I need to perform. … BUT not everybody has such luck, and I am posting this because of those people. I wish I could hug them all.”
I’ve read the first-person essays and tweet-threads and heard the first-person accounts of what the virus is like in its most extreme cases and Lena’s symptoms sound dead-on, especially the gasping for breath, the fog, the loss of smell and taste and the fact that it doesn’t actually go away after a month, that there are still weird and horrible symptoms for weeks and months after the first wave of the virus is gone. Anyway, I feel sorry for Lena, just as I feel sorry for everyone who has had the virus or is still dealing with symptoms. That being said, it does not surprise me in the least that Lena’s first-person narrative makes it sound like she’s had the worst case ever. That is, as they say, entirely on-brand.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, IG.
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