'Totally Knocked Us Down': Addiction Specialists Share Battle With Coronavirus
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) -- In the recovery world, Tim Ryan and Jennifer Gimenez are well known for battling giants, like drug and alcohol addiction. But COVID-19 was one enemy they weren't prepared to fight.
"It's so painful, I cried..." Gimenez said.
The couple says they've been battling the virus for two weeks. They think they contracted it in a grocery store — the only place they've visited in the past four months.
MORE: Orange County COVID-19 Cases Surpass 30,000 As Officials Report 20 New Deaths
"We work with people struggling with substance abuse and mental health and trauma," Ryan said. "We speak all over the country...[yet,] this has totally knocked us down."
Isolated at home, both said they experienced chills, nausea, headaches, digestion problems, extreme fatigue, and brain fog. Gimenez said she thought after over two weeks in bed that she'd feel better.
Now, she's worried.
"Right now it's not the fear of dying from COVID," she said. "It's living like this forever. That's what scares me more than anything."
The couple said, although they've followed quarantine and mask mandates over the past four months, they weren't sure if coronavirus was real. Since contracting it for themselves, they're warning others who might have been wondering the same.
"Even being around your friends, don't take the mask down," Gimenez said. "Just cause you know somebody and you're friends with them...you just never know who is gonna have it right now."
