Actress Lena Dunham has opened up about suffering from fibromyalgia, a disorder associated with widespread pain throughout the body that impacts mostly women.
Dunham, 32, shared a candid Instagram post on Saturday.
“This is a post about chronic pain. I have it. I bet a lot of you do too. Some of us talk about it. Others are afraid to, as it could cost them their jobs or their relationships or their sense of control in a chaotic world. In this way it’s very analogous to sexual trauma,” she wrote.
“There is also (as Lady Gaga so wisely shared this week) a proven connection between chronic pain and trauma. Therefore, a lot of people — a lot of women — find their pain is activated by weeks like this one,” she added.
She revealed that her symptoms were triggered a day after Dr Christine Blasey Ford testified against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
“On the day after Dr Ford’s testimony I awoke with a start at 3am. It felt like every cell in my neck was singing. My ankles and wrists were weak and my fingers didn’t do their assigned job. I felt like I was suspended in gel, and when I meditated a line of pain zipped from my neck to my foot. I’m sorry if I don’t answer your text or email, or if I can’t show up the way someone else would. I appear to be totally able bodied but it’s complex, and I am just trying to do everything required to maintain a life of joy and service,” Dunham said.
Dunham said that her “work costs everything I have”.
“This is fibromyalgia. It’s little understood and so even though I have a lot of knowledge and support it’s hard to shake the feeling I am crazy. But I’m not (at least not this way!) and you’re not. Your pain, whatever shape it takes, is yours and so it is real. I believe you when you say you hurt. I have learned time and time again how important it is to believe,” she said.
