Gwyneth Paltrow says turning to booze during wildfires worsened menopause symptoms
'Iron Man' star Gwyneth Paltrow has candidly revealed how her menopause symptoms were impacted by the LA wildfires.
Gwyneth Paltrow admits her menopause symptoms got worse after turning to alcohol during the Los Angeles wildfires.
The 52-year-old actress has candidly opened up about her health as she admitted she was drinking "every night" in the wake of the devastating fires earlier this year.
Speaking on her own 'Goop' podcast, she said: "I'm really in the thick of it right now, so I'm all over the place.
"But I noticed my symptoms are, like, pretty well under control unless, you know, in January when the fires were happening in LA I've, like, used alcohol for its purpose."
The wildfires broke out across Southern California early in January, and Gwyneth was drinking "every night".
She recalled: "I think I drank every night. I was medicating. Normally, now at this point, I don't drink a lot at all.
Maybe I'll have one drink a week... [My symptoms] were completely out of control. It was the first time I really noticed, like, causation in that way."
The 'Iron Man' star noted that she has been struggling with insomnia, which wasn't an issue for her before menopause.
She said: "I've always been a real sleeper... [But after menopause], I went through a particularly bad time with it.
"There were nights where my anxiety - like, I just thought it meant, 'Oh, you're not gonna be able to sleep because you don't have enough progesterone or whatever.'
"I would just wake up [and] I would get crushed with anxiety, which I've never had in my life.
"And I would lie in bed thinking about every mistake I've ever made, every person's feelings I ever hurt, like, every bad, you know - And I would be up, like, for six hours."
Gwyneth is hoping she is "coming out the other side" of her struggles, while her podcast guest Dr. Mary Clare Haver noted that "In perimenopause, we call it the zone of hormonal chaos", which can last for years.
The actress added: "I feel like I've been in it for years."
