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Fiona Phillips details 'nasty' coronavirus symptoms after making her recovery

The GMTV host suffered with COVID-19

Sharnaz Shahid
Deputy Online Editor
April 10, 2020
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Fiona Phillips has detailed her awful experience with coronavirus, which left her with a series of "nasty side effects". In a column for The Mirror, the former GMTV host described her symptoms and touched upon the impact the virus had on her during her self-isolation. "All I can say is I felt as though I'd been clobbered in my sleep," she wrote. "However hard I tried to get myself out of bed and on with the day ahead, something was holding me back. I'd had horrible gut pain for a few days. My whole digestive tract was making a pain of itself, demanding attention and really dragging me down."

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Despite the pain she suffered, Fiona - who is married to This Morning producer Martin Frizell - insisted she fully recovered after staying in bed for three weeks. Elaborating on her symptoms, she added: "And that annoying, dry cough persisted and, even worse, was aggravating my already fiery throat. Maybe I should get some more sleep, I thought, then I'll be fine. I never give in to illness; I don't even take paracetamol for headaches or other pain relief because I believe that's what my body's immune system is for."

READ: Doctor who overcame coronavirus reveals what symptoms are really like over three-week period

fiona phillips coronavirus© Photo: Getty Images

Fiona Phillips has recovered from COVID-19

She added: "I didn't let myself go there. So I slept. It's all you can do. It's all I felt like doing. Meanwhile, my husband, who had to stay at home for fear of infecting his colleagues at ITV’s This Morning (imagine how popular I’d have been if THAT had happened!), kept me supplied with liquids."

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The TV presenter is probably best known for her work on GMTV, but in 2005 she appeared on Strictly Come Dancing alongside Brendan Cole. She was one of the first celebrities to reveal that she contracted COVID-19, telling her Twitter followers last month: "I am in bed with #coronvirusuk It's not a very pleasant bedfellow, but nothing more than sore throat, dry cough, headache & tiredness. As long as it stays that way....DON'T panic!"

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