As previously reported, Maynard James Keenan (Tool, A Perfect Circle, Puscifer) recently revealed that he was diagnosed with COVID-19 in February. Now, during a recent appearance on “The Joe Rogan Experience,” the frontman discussed his battle with the disease even further.

Keenan said the following [transcribed by The PRP]:

“I didn’t have a bad [case], yes and no. So it was one of those, you know I’m in Australia. We went out to dinner… and immediately food didn’t taste right, but this is now, this is all hindsight, right I didn’t know at the time. We didn’t know that these are the things you’re looking for, like immediately.

So nobody knew what to tell you. I immediately was sick, then I had to get on an international flight the next morning, fly to New Zealand on… I’m a super spreader [jokingly replying to Rogan], I brought it [to New Zealand], it was in me. And I put it in you.

So we got there, I was like four days in the hotel. Cuz we have four days off before the shows. So I was just drinking water, hot showers, taking care of myself, hot tea, just trying to get through it and it sucked. But you didn’t know yet that like what, how bad this thing could have been. if I’d have known how bad it could have been I would have been freaking out.”

[I] isolated pretty well like I you know I was, I grabbed the masks before I even got on the plane, because I just instinctually like just having, you know friends that are that are, you know, going to Taiwan and going to Japan like you just see the mask, like, Okay, I’m probably just gonna wear the mask anywhere on the plane.”

He continued when asked if all this happened before people were more aware of COVID-19:

“No, it was happening. I asked the doctor when I got to New Zealand ‘do you think this is COVID?’ He’s like, ‘did you have a fever?’ I’m like I don’t remember if I had a fever, well then ‘you didn’t have COVID.’ Okay.

So I got through that. I was able to do the [Tool] show I didn’t have to close my throat down enough [that[ I would have to cancel.”

“Then the next show was going to be in the Northwest…” [Rogan asks how hard it was to sing] “It was not, it was not fun. We had to kind of adjust to set around a little bit, don’t put the hard ones in. I got to Hawaii to go train with Luis.

And some of the guys there, Chad was a Muay Thai instructor. And I’m starting to do the Muay Thai I’m like, ‘dude, this hurts’ like, I’ve never, my hands have never hurt this bad. I thought maybe I sprained them because right after I recovered in New Zealand. I went and trained in New Zealand, thinking, I’m just gonna fucking gut it out, you know, I’m gonna walk it off, rub some dirt on it and I felt okay then.

But when I finally got to Maui, I’m like, this is not right. This hurts I can’t fucking do this. I thought well maybe I sprained my wrist, so months go by that they’re not healing, I’m going through harvest [at his winery] at this point and like nothing’s [changing] they’re not healing.

But I finally went to a doctor, an arthritis doctor, and he was like ‘okay so walk me through when you first saw…’ And I started walking him through everything he goes, ‘you had COVID.’ And what what are some of the side effects that you find are the are that inflammation.

So whatever I guess so it’s some kind of a rheumatoid response. That alone would be well maybe, I’m just 56 and I have arthritis, but my blood work was completely clean everywhere else no other issues anywhere else in my body but just the wrists, explaining that, but I still have the cough.

So whatever cough I had whatever cough I got in New Zealand, like every other day, I’ll have a coughing fit for, you know, for 10 minutes, coughing up stuff, so I have lung damage from from it still.”

He also talked about the disease having an impact on his martial art training:

“Yeah… my motivation is diminished because I’m like trying to do stuff and my hands hurt. Not anymore [though] not that I’m on medication.”

Rogan then made a joke saying Keenan was on meth, before the singer revealed that he has been taking a chemotherapy agent/immune system suppressant called Methotrexate:

“[It’s] is not fun to be on. But my wrists have cleared up… I’m back to, you know, doing stuff.”

He continued when Rogan asked if he has tried CBD:

“The Methotrexate goes for about, it’s like a you know I did, I’ve done it for now 10 weeks. I have another five weeks supposedly I’m gonna do, but I’m going to continue the CBD after that.”

Later in the chat, Keenan also discussed COVID-19 conspiracy theorists:

“I’m still feeling residual effects of that. I feel like there’s a bunch of people that that—maybe I didn’t almost die—I have friends who almost died. Yeah, it was close. So then you have people going… apparently I’m being paid to say this [that he contracted COVID-19]. Eat a dick dude.”