Alyssa Milano Reveals Harrowing COVID-19 Experience: ‘I Thought I Was Dying’
Alyssa Milano is still on the mend months after contracting COVID-19.
The actress and activist revealed her bout with the novel coronavirus in a lengthy and detailed Instagram message on Wednesday, telling fans that she has yet to feel fully recovered.
Alyssa shared a photo of herself using a breathing apparatus in April and wrote in her caption that she’d already been battling the illness for two weeks at that point and feared for her life at her lowest moments.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CDhQ43NgP02/
“I had never been this kind of sick. Everything hurt. Loss of smell. It felt like an elephant was sitting on my chest. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t keep food in me. I lost 9 pounds in 2 weeks. I was confused. Low grade fever. And the headaches were horrible. I basically had every Covid symptom,” she wrote.
The “Who’s The Boss?” alum went on to recount the frustrations she had with obtaining an accurate diagnosis, explaining that she received two negative test results in March despite suffering numerous symptoms. Alyssa said the experience led her to question the country’s testing efficacy, calling the system “flawed” and clarifying that she came forward with her story now because she’d finally gotten long-awaited confirmation.
“After living the last 4 months with lingering symptoms like, vertigo, stomach abnormalities, irregular periods, heart palpitations, shortness of breath, zero short term memory, and general malaise, I went and got an antibody test from a blood draw (not the finger prick) from a lab. I am POSITIVE for covid antibodies. I had Covid19,” she wrote.
Celebrities Who Died From Coronavirus Complications
View GalleryAlyssa concluded her post with an announcement that she plans to donate plasma in the hopes of helping future COVID patients and pleaded fans to maintain quarantine guidelines as the pandemic continues.
“Please take care of yourselves. Please wash your hands and wear a mask and social distance. I don’t want anyone to feel the way I felt,” she wrote.
As of Wednesday, the New York Times’ coronavirus database reported more than 158,000 COVID-19 deaths and at least 4.8 million cases nationwide.