Gwyneth Paltrow has revealed she had Covid-19 and is still dealing with long-term symptoms. Photo / Gwyneth Paltrow, Instagram
US star Gwyneth Paltrow has revealed she had coronavirus and is still suffering long-term side effects.
In a recent blog post on her Goop website, the actor and lifestyle guru revealed that she tested positive to Covid-19 "early on".
"It left me with some (long-term) fatigue and brain fog," she wrote.
Paltrow also claimed that she had tests done in January that "showed really high levels of inflammation in my body".
While she didn't go into too much detail in her post, experts have pinpointed fatigue to be one of the most common, lingering symptoms after the virus has left someone's body.
Last September, more than 100 Aussie coronavirus patients took part in groundbreaking research into the pandemic's long-term effects at Sydney's St Vincent's Hospital.
And the symptoms Paltrow has described are also what Professor Greg Dore, one of the study's lead researchers, discovered in his findings.
"Most people are describing ongoing fatigue, reduced exercise tolerance … chest heaviness, some difficulty breathing, and also sort of a brain fog or some issues around attention concentration," he told Channel 9 in September.
"People that weren't hospitalised can still have problems breathing. Even for young people infected, the significant post-Covid illnesses we're seeing should be a bit of a wake-up."
Dore said it was "concerning" that many coronavirus patients "didn't get over it".
"The initial acute illness might have resolved somewhat, but then the symptoms continued and, in some respects, did become more constant and more debilitating," he told the programme.
"[They're saying] 'when am I going to get better? When am I going to get back to my life that I had sort of pre-Covid?'"
As for the inflammation mentions, this long-term Covid symptom has caused medical professionals some concern, particularly when it comes to the heart and the brain, according to a cardiology study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Published in July last year, it found that of the 100 people who had recovered from Covid-19 within the past two to three months, 60 per cent had "ongoing myocardial inflammation".
Additionally, a June study published in the journal Radiology found that 68 per cent of severe Covid patients had "increased markers of inflammation" in their brains.
To help with her "healing", Paltrow said she has adopted a flexible keto and plant-based diet.
"So I've been cooking a lot, and some of it is really delicious: I made scallops with crispy capers and sage the other day, asparagus with bacon vinaigrette, and some little artichokes with stuffed herbs and garlic," Paltrow explained in her post.
At 59, the Kiwi actor hopes to help shift the discourse around women's health.