Naga Munchetty criticises medical misogyny after suffering 'extreme pain'

Watch: Naga Munchetty criticises aesculapian misogyny aft suffering 'extreme pain'

Naga Munchetty has spoken of the "extreme pain" she's endured for decades owed to a wellness condition, saying her symptom was dismissed for years.

The BBC Breakfast presenter revealed successful 2023 that she suffers from adenomyosis, a information successful which the lining of the uterus grows into the musculus partition of the womb. The information tin origin highly dense menstrual bleeding, terrible play symptom and chronic pelvic discomfort.

It took 32 years for Munchetty, present 50, to person a diagnosis.

Appearing connected Lorraine today, Munchetty explained that her caller book, It's Probably Nothing, explores aesculapian misogyny and the systemic nonaccomplishment of doctors to instrumentality women's symptoms seriously. Something that she has firsthand acquisition of.

"The publication is astir similar a handbook," she told big Christine Lampard, who was filling successful for Lorraine Kelly. "I mean, it's calved retired of the information that I've experienced aesculapian misogyny and being ignored – my symptoms person been ignored.

"But it's not astir me, you'll beryllium pleased to know. It's conscionable arsenic idiosyncratic who understands what it feels similar to beryllium told, 'No, it's nothing, it's astir apt nothing. Oh, you'll turn retired of it. Have a babe that'll hole it. It'll get amended erstwhile you get older.'

"And conscionable speaking to dozens of men and women astir their experiences of being ignored and thinking, 'There's thing here, there's thing that the aesculapian satellite is not listening to.' Be it not capable research, beryllium it not capable acquisition and not capable clip to perceive and not hearing, not proceeding erstwhile idiosyncratic says, 'I'm not coping.' So that's what this is for."

Munchetty reflected connected the trauma of her play starting and the realisation that thing wasn’t right.

"[I was] doubled implicit successful pain, throwing up, passing out, cramps, fainting implicit and implicit again, and really, truly dense periods, to the constituent wherever I was mounting an alarm astatine nighttime to alteration my play product," she says.

"[I was] sleeping connected a towel, lying connected the floor, due to the fact that if I was uncomfortable connected the floor, past possibly it could detract from the pain."

Despite the severity of her symptoms, Munchetty says doctors repeatedly dismissed her concerns, often telling her she would "grow retired of it." It wasn’t until a scan revealed a cyst connected her ovaries that doctors investigated further.

Eventually, she was diagnosed with adenomyosis, which she describes arsenic the "evil twin" of endometriosis.

Munchetty says she's acold from unsocial successful her experience. "I deliberation we each cognize women who person been told, 'It's astir apt nothing,' and who person been told 'Other women are dealing with it, it's normal, you should too,'" she continues.

"And you walk a agelong clip thinking, ‘Is it me? Am I truly weak? Am I conscionable not coping arsenic a woman? Am I not similar the different women who are each conscionable getting connected with life?' Because we don't speech astir it enough, we don't talk up astir these symptoms capable and not capable probe is enactment into them."

According to The Guardian, wellness experts are present calling for much UK objective trials to absorption connected women’s health. Alarming information reveals that women stay importantly under-represented, with a staggering 67% much male-only studies than female-only ones.

Munchetty adds: "I deliberation erstwhile you walk years and years being told it's nothing, you find precise antithetic coping mechanisms. And now, erstwhile I look backmost and I think, 'Okay, that diagnosis came, we're each trying to beryllium the champion we can,' I was prevented from being the champion I could.

"I've spoken to truthful galore women who are like, 'I'm nary longer moving due to the fact that I person specified atrocious endometriosis and symptom and it can't beryllium cured, and nary one's listening to me,' oregon 'I person specified atrocious UTIs that I cannot beryllium for much than 20 minutes, and it's been recurrent for 9 years.'"

Munchetty encourages women to propulsion for a diagnosis and attraction if they fishy thing is wrong.

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