BBC Breakfast's Naga Munchetty discusses decades-long health battle
BBC Breakfast presenter Naga Munchetty has openly discussed the debilitating condition she's been dealing with since adolescence: adenomyosis.
Speaking to The Independent, she revealed that despite years of "crippling pain", doctors were only able to diagnose her eight months ago after bleeding "for 30 days on the trot".
Adenomyosis takes place in the womb, with its symptoms including heavy periods, pelvic pain and bloating.
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"I went through this for 32 years before being diagnosed. Even then, there is no like cure, there is no treatment," Munchetty said.
Recalling the origins of her suffering, the former Strictly Come Dancing contestant was left "doubled over" in a shopping centre's toilet at the age of 16, as her period began.
"I was very ill. I threw up. I had started my period. It was very heavy. I was in extreme pain, crying, doubled over, feeling faint. And that became my routine every time I had my period," she said.
This condition has also caused issues in the workplace, with Munchetty very recently leaving the BBC Breakfast studio due to faintness.
"I just said, 'I have to leave' and I went to the loo and I thought I was going to pass out, but I threw up and then just came back," she remembered. "I just felt I wasn't in the room because I just couldn't concentrate. And then you get annoyed with yourself for not doing your job to the best of your ability."
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Despite "writing around and screaming in pain" just this month from its effects, the TV star admitted to questioning herself over the years.
She said: "You've got pain and it's just like, 'Oh, you are just unlucky, some women have really heavy periods'. Or you feel like, 'Well, everyone else is having periods and they're fine. Why am I being so weak? Why am I being such a baby about it? It's just part of being a woman'.
"It's almost like you end up gaslighting yourself."
An estimated one in 10 women live with adenomyosis.
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