Nadia Sawalha has revealed that she thought she was suffering from ‘womb cancer’ in the midst of her menopause.
The Loose Women panelist, 56, has been incredibly vocal about her menopause journey in recent months after she finally discovered what was going on with her body.
During a heated discussion about the women’s health subject on Thursday’s instalment of the ITV panel show, Nadia spoke passionately about why girls should be taught about menopause from an early age in school.
The TV personality admitted that she had ‘no idea’ what was happening to her while she was on her journey through the next stage of her womanhood, and due to a lack of information about her severe symptoms, Nadia felt as though she was suffering from either Alzheimer's or cancer.
“My menopause was all very crazy for me at the beginning,” she told.
“I didn’t know it was the menopause. I thought I had Alzheimer’s, I thought I had womb cancer. I thought I had absolutely everything because of all these symptoms.
“But the one thing I never thought about was the menopause because it was never mentioned – as far as I can remember – at school.”
Nadia went on to urge female viewers to do their research on the matter and the unusual symptoms that come with the next milestone in a woman’s life.
The TV star made a point of listing out the symptoms which included, hair loss, anxiety, depression, body odour, itching, burning mouth syndrome, and weight gain.
Nadia previously opened up on the bout of depression she went through during the menopause and how it made her husband fearful for the future of their marriage.
During this difficult period, Nadia’s memory also became so bad that she feared she was getting early onset Alzheimer's.
Speaking to Platinum magazine last year, she admitted that her marriage with husband Mark Adderley took a toll.
“It was horrible. My husband said that it was the only time he ever thought, for maybe a few minutes, about whether our marriage would survive,” she told.
“I think the most frightening thing for me was that my memory just became so bad. I thought I was getting early onset Alzheimer's, but it was the change in hormones.
“Because of my experience, we ended up talking about menopause on Loose Women, which I'm really proud of, because at the time nobody was having that conversation.”
Nadia said while being able to say something nice about yourself, to yourself, can be 'challenging', it's what got her through the tough times.
