Doctors gaslit me into thinking I wasn't ill – experts failed me & now I may never be a mother, reveals Vicky Pattison
And now she's tackling a cause that is close to her heart.
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In an exclusive chat with The Sun — which comes as she presents Vicky Pattison Investigates: Medical Misogyny today on Good Morning Britain — the former I'm A Celebrity winner tells us why the UK healthcare system is failing women, including herself.
Vicky, 37, says: 'Women are so often the punching bags.
'At the moment, the healthcare system is telling women that their pain, suffering and debilitating conditions do not matter.'
Shocking statistics revealed today by GMB show three in five women have experienced reproductive health issues, yet a third have had to wait over a year for a diagnosis.
Meanwhile, over half of them received a misdiagnosis, and 51 per cent said they had felt dismissed by a medical professional.
It's a feeling that Vicky knows all too well as it took five years of being made to feel like she was overreacting before she was finally diagnosed with Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder.
In the meantime, she was suffering from anxiety, depressive moods, rage, crippling cramps, and a feeling of hopelessness.
Her GP told her it was nothing unusual — she was just a bit more 'sensitive' than the average woman.
'When I hit my 30s, my period symptoms started becoming increasingly heightened,' she says.
'In some of my more intense and darker moments, I had suicidal thoughts.
I'm A Celeb winner set to join Strictly after wowing bosses while supporting pal in audience last year
'I knew what I was experiencing couldn't be right — it was just so debilitating.
'But for five years, I was repeatedly dismissed by my doctors.
"I was told everything from, 'This is just PMS, everyone experiences it, other women can just handle it better' to, 'This is psychological — you need antidepressants.'
'I was told by one doctor, 'Maybe it'll be better if you lose weight.''
Her voice breaks when she reflects on the battle she still faces.
Vicky says: 'Every month, you lose yourself — and as I've gotten older, it's gotten worse.
"It used to last a few days, but now it's seven to ten days before my period.
'I'm anxious, I'm emotional, I'm exhausted, and I'm completely unrecognisable from the woman I am the rest of the time.
'The things that bring me joy don't bring me joy.'
It was only three years ago, after hitting countless dead ends, that she went to a private doctor — a step she knows many women can't take.
'SPICY MOMENTS'
'I broke down when she said I had PMDD,' Vicky says. 'I'd had five years of being gaslit.'
Yet sadly for Vicky and so many other women, diagnosis is just the first step.
She is still on the quest to find treatment that works.
She explains: 'I've read all the blogs, I follow all the accounts, I've got some great premenstrual supplements that I swear by.
'But even if you exercise, your diet is good and you're doing all those things you know help, you can't control the uncontrollable and the PMDD symptoms will rage.
'The only thing that helps me is communicating.
"Whether it's to my agent, to the people I work with, or to my family, I say: 'I know what's about to happen.
"There will be some spicy moments where I'm raging. Please know that's not me.''
So much of her personal healing has come from her husband of almost a year, Ercan Ramadan, 31.
The pair had only just started dating around seven years ago when Vicky's PMDD first emerged.
She recalls: 'It did initially put a huge strain on our relationship.
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'Now I help him understand.
"I'll go to him: 'I think I'm coming into my spicy week' — where you can't remember names, you can't remember where you're supposed to be, you're practically narcoleptic.
'He'll just handle me with kid gloves. I am very lucky that I have a man who understands.
'I know everyone's not in that position, but they can't give you empathy if they don't understand, so do try to explain it.'
Vicky's now written to Health Secretary Wes Streeting to deliver news of GMB's findings.
She wants to see education on women's health improve in schools, get GPs more informed and give greater support to women in the workplace when they are in pain.
Vicky says: 'I know Wes Streeting is a busy man, and I don't think for one second he's going to see a letter from Vicky Pattison and think, 'Ooh I should make time for her.'
'But it's not about ignoring me. It's about what ignoring me says to women in Britain.
"You are saying to half the population that our pain, our suffering, our quality of life doesn't matter. That is inexcusable.'
Appearing alongside Vicky on GMB today are three women who have also been fobbed off by the healthcare system.
I think people wrote me off a long time ago, but I'm really grateful that I parlayed a stint on reality TV to where I am now
Vicky Pattison
Kelly Swingler, 44, from Cambridgeshire, waited 34 years for a diagnosis of adenomyosis, and it took two years for Rachael Twimasi-Corson, 35, from London, to get a call from a mental health nurse after identifying her PMDD symptoms through social media.
Meanwhile, Manika Kaur, 27, from Newcastle, received an endometriosis diagnosis after ten years of debilitating pain.
Vicky adds: 'I'm hoping that the Government realises this can't be ignored anymore.'
As for her personal journey, PMDD is still a battle — and it's one affecting her plans to become a mum after freezing her eggs in 2023 and making embryos with Ercan.
She wells up as she says: 'I am a woman of a certain age who would love to have kids.
"But my fear is that my condition will make it very difficult to be the mum that I want to be.
"You want to be this lovely, patient mother, but I do worry what I'll be like with PMDD — because you're short-tempered, you're exhausted."
Yet having opened up in previous years about her body image issues, her struggles with alcohol and finding herself in toxic relationships, she is used to showing her vulnerable side.
She says: 'I think people wrote me off a long time ago, but I'm really grateful that I parlayed a stint on reality TV to where I am now, and that I'm able to use my platform to champion issues that are so important to me.
'I'm going to be a thorn in the side of people making decisions, because I believe it's important.
'I hope they're ready, because I'm fired up.'
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