Aria Bendix, a 27-year-old science journalist, developed excruciating rib-cage pain as she entered her second week of coronavirus symptoms.

Aria Bendix/Business Insider

In an essay she wrote for Business Insider, Bendix said her mild coronavirus symptoms morphed into more serious ones a week into feeling ill.

Bendix said she initially just had body aches, but 24 hours later she also started to have chills.

"It felt as if I had run a marathon, then been hit by a car. I decided to self-isolate inside my apartment," Bendix wrote.

A few days passed, and Bendix said her aches started to dissipate. She assumed she was on the road to recovery. But then the rib-cage pain started.

"There was a pressure, too — as if someone were squeezing my lungs like an accordion. My breathing felt heavy," Bendix wrote.

After a trip to the emergency room, doctors said they were unable to test Bendix, but that her symptoms signaled she had COVID-19.

Back at home, Bendix said she had a week of sleepless nights and days when breathing was difficult. It wasn't until that week was over that she started to feel normal again.

"That was about the same time I developed a sore throat. For roughly 24 hours, I struggled to swallow food or liquid," Bendix wrote. "By day 14 of my symptoms — the day I was supposed to no longer be contagious — the aches returned. I felt as if I was back to square one, but at least I could breathe."

On April 5, the day Bendix published her essay, she said she started to finally feel more like herself but still had lingering symptoms like a sore throat and fatigue.