Naga Munchetty has said she “normalised throwing up and fainting” due to a chronic health condition that took decades to diagnose.
The BBC Breakfast presenter called for more research into women’s health issues as she described the “excruciating” pain she has experienced since beginning her period at the age of 15.
Despite going to the doctors on a number of occasions, she was not diagnosed until 32 years later as she was led to believe the pain she was experiencing was “normal”.
She spoke during a talk with Kirsty Lang at The Hay Festival in Wales, which The Independent has partnered with for the second year in a row.
“When I started my period at 15, I passed out, threw up, was petrified about what was happening and was told it was normal,” she said.
“Whenever I spoke to a doctor about having heavy periods, I was never asked about them. I would say they’re really heavy, I throw up, I faint, it’s really really painful. But I was just told it would get better when you get older it will get better when you have a child. There was no question of treatment.”
It wasn’t until she went to the doctor because of an ovarian cyst that she was diagnosed with adenomyosis, a condition she had never heard of before, which sees uterus lining tissue grow into the muscular wall of the uterus.
“I looked it up on the NHS England website, clicked on it, and the link took me to hysterectomy,” she said.
“So the only answer to this condition that no one's heard of this to cut a chunk out of me. And my eyes were actually being open to how little effort was being put into women’s healthcare.”
She told the talk that after years of living with the condition, she had grown to “normalise” the extreme pain.
“I would normalise throwing up. I thought that was normal,” she said.
“I’ve had to come off set to throw up because I thought I was passing out while presenting BBC Breakfast. I went to the toilet, threw up, cleaned it up. I managed to get a 10-minute break, got makeup redone covered in sweat, sat down and did the next hour and a half.
“That’s not normal.”
The journalist and broadcaster has since spoken out about the state of women’s healthcare in the UK and written a book, It’s Probably Nothing: Critical Conversations on the Women’s Health Crisis (and How to Thrive Despite It).
Hay Festival, which is spread over 11 days, is set in Hay-on-Wye, the idyllic and picturesque “Town of Books”. The lineup includes Mary Trump, Michael Sheen, Jameela Jamil, and more.
The Independent has partnered with the festival once again to host a series of morning panels titled The News Review, where our journalists will explore current affairs with leading figures from politics, science, the arts and comedy every morning.
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