Naga Munchetty has revealed that she lives with a womb condition that has left her in near constant pain.
The presenter told listeners to her Radio 5 Live show that she has suffered with adenomyosis since the age of 16, but was diagnosed only a few months ago. Doctors had dismissed her concerns for decades, she said.
"Right now, as I sit here talking to you, I'm in pain. Constant, nagging pain," said Munchetty, 48, adding that it 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.
Adenomyosis is a condition in which cells that form the inner lining of the womb grow in the muscular wall of the womb.
Munchetty received her diagnosis after having an ultrasound, 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 to go through early menopause.
At the weekend, Munchetty went to the theatre. "My adenomyosis flared up. I could barely walk from the car to the front door. The pain was so terrible I couldn't move, turn over, sit up. I screamed non-stop for 45 minutes," she said. Her husband was so worried that he called an ambulance, although Munchetty said that her pain subsided and she did not go to hospital.
"That pain had left me powerless and, for those of you who know me, that's not something that sits well," she said.
The BBC Breakfast presenter said the condition made it challenging to do her job, as her periods are so heavy. Her last period lasted for 30 days.
Her periods first began when she was 16 and would cause her to pass out with pain. 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".
She added: "My pain now has a name, a label, a cause. Will it make a difference? I'm not so sure."
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