VICKY Pattison told how she felt “stupid and ashamed” after desperately trying to get doctors to take her seriously when she complained about suffering from an extreme period disorder.
I’m A Celebrity star Vicky spoke to MPs at the Women and Equalities Committee in parliament today about her experiences, which saw her finally diagnosed with pre-menstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) earlier this year.
The condition left her suffering from “crippling anxiety” but Vicky said she was repeatedly given the brush off by medics.
Vicky is not alone in suffering with PMDD, with around 800,000 women living with the condition.
It causes anxiety, depression and in the worst case can lead sufferers to experience suicidal thoughts.
During her appearance in front of a panel of MPs in Westminster this afternoon, Vicky, 35, spoke movingly about how the condition had affected her – admitting it often left her crippled with pain for up to ten days.
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Vicky said: “I can go to gym, eat right, work hard and nurture my relationships and then no matter how hard I try, after two and a half weeks, there is nothing I can do.
“I am short tempered beyond belief, I am irritable. For ten days of the month, I don't recognise myself.”
Recalling visits for the doctor, Vicky said: “I was always told exactly the same thing: ‘This is PMS. This is what women go through. Every other woman in the world is dealing with this’.”
The response, Vicky said, left her feeling “even more invalidated” and said she was even offered antidepressants, which is commonly mistaken for PMDD.
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She added: “PMDD is predominantly a mental health struggle rather than physical.
“The cost for me had always come at the quality of my life.
“Ten days where you can't get off the sofa, you can't bring yourself to talk to anybody, you feel like the world would be a better place without you in it.”
Vicky said she was speaking out in a bid to try and raise awareness around the condition and said there would be many women who, just like her, have been unable to get help from their GP.
Speaking about going private, Vicky said: “I felt like for the first time somebody actually listened and took it seriously.
“I felt like I was wasting the NHS's time. That's how I got to. And when I eventually was paying to see somebody, I felt like I had more of a right to sit there and speak.
“And that's mental. Like, that's not right, you know, so no, I felt stupid and ashamed and like I was wasting everybody's time and I felt weak.”
She added: “GPs, anyone within the NHS, any medical professionals at all, they just need to start to take women seriously when they say something's wrong.
“I know loads of brilliant women and I don't feel like we're the weaker sex at all.
“I feel like we're brilliant. I feel like we're strong and powerful and we put up with a lot more than blokes do most of the time.
“If we have got ourselves up and gone into a doctor's, a hospital, whatever, to say something's wrong, I feel like the least people can do is listen to her and believe that there is something wrong.”
Vicky was joined on the panel by BBC broadcaster Naga Munchetty – who like Vicky had her womb disorder misdiagnosed.
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Naga suffered for three decades a condition called adenomyosis, which left her screaming in agony.
Both spoke at the committee which is looking at the challenges faced by women when they are being diagnosed with gynaecological conditions.
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