Womb condition leaves me in agony, says Munchetty
BBC presenter reveals she was left screaming in pain with adenomyosis decades before she was diagnosed
NAGA MUNCHETTY has revealed that she lives with a condition that causes her almost constant pain.
The presenter said on her BBC Radio 5 Live show that she has suffered from the womb disorder adenomyosis for decades and was only diagnosed a few months ago after a scan. Doctors had dismissed her concerns, she said.
“Now, as I sit here talking to you, I’m in pain. Constant, nagging pain,” said the 48-year-old, adding that the discomfort leaves her “weak, sad and angry”.
“Every so often the pain changes. It becomes a stabbing pain, a pain that takes my breath away and I can do nothing but sit with it for a minute or curl up to cope,” she said. “I have something called adenomyosis. You probably haven’t heard of it. I hadn’t either, until I was told eight months ago I have it.
“A life of being told, ‘It’s just one of those things.’ A lifetime of changing my behaviour, adapting my plans, changing my life to cope with the pain.”
Adenomyosis is a condition in which cells that form the inner lining of the womb grow into its muscular wall.
The diagnosis was made after an ultrasound scan, but there is little she can do to manage her symptoms. She was offered a hysterectomy in her late 30s but turned it down because she did not want an early menopause. Once, she said: “My adenomyosis flared up [and] he pain was so terrible I couldn’t move. I screamed non-stop for 45 minutes,” she said. Her husband, James Haggar, was so worried that he called an ambulance, but the pain subsided and she did not go to hospital.
The BBC Breakfast presenter said the condition made it challenging to do her job, as her periods were so heavy. Her most recent one lasted for 30 days.
Her periods, which began when she was 16, caused her to faint from the pain. “Every time my period came I’d pass out. I’d be sick. I’d be doubled over the toilet in pain.” Painkillers did not dull the agony, she explained, likening the sensation to “being stabbed in the abdomen”. She managed the condition by taking the contraceptive pill but came off that as she approached 40.
Munchetty said she was speaking out to raise awareness of the condition “because I know I’m one of many, many women who are suffering”.
“It’s not something I’m comfortable doing, talking about myself. But there are other women with similar stories.”
Listeners who contacted the show to share their own experiences said they were grateful that she had talked about the condition, she added.