BBC Breakfast’s Naga Munchetty today revealed how her agonising womb disorder was dismissed by medics for three decades. 

The condition, known medically as adenomyosis, has at times left her screaming in agony with no option but to call an ambulance. 

But Ms Munchetty, 48, who has suffered with debilitating symptoms since the age of 15, was not taken seriously growing up and was instead urged to ‘suck it up’, she told MPs today. 

Within minutes of taking a stand to talk about her experiences of reproductive health issues, she also said adenomyosis — a womb condition similar to endometriosis — has left her ‘almost paranoid about when you take a toilet break’. 

When on her period, she has also been left with little choice but to wear dark, loose clothing and has to alert the BBC Breakfast crew on air when she requires toilet breaks.  

Naga Munchetty, 48, who has suffered with debilitating symptoms since the age of 15, was not taken seriously growing up and was instead urged to ‘suck it up’, she told MPs today. Within minutes of taking stand to talk about her experiences of reproductive health issues, she also said adenomyosis — a womb condition similar to endometriosis — has left her ‘almost paranoid about when you take a toilet break’

Ms Munchetty addressed the Women and Equalities Committee today alongside broadcaster and ex-reality TV star Vicky Pattison, who shared her own experience of premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD)

Appearing before the Women and Equalities Committee as part of its inquiry into women’s reproductive health, she also revealed she ended up accessing private healthcare after failing to get the care she needed on the NHS.  

As many as one in ten women are thought to be affected by adenomyosis, but it often remains undiagnosed for years. 

Responding to a question by Tory committee chairwoman Caroline Nokes, on her experience of the condition, Ms Munchetty said: I started my period at 15. It would last for 11 or 12 days. 

‘Eight or nine of them were very heavy. I’d throw up on the first day, pass out once or twice during the cycle. I’d be wrapped around a toilet.

‘I’d still go to school. I still went to work. Whenever I went to the doctor I was told it was normal.’

Read more: Naga Munchetty’s agonising womb condition explained – and the tell-tale signs YOU might have it

Advertisement

She added she was told by doctors to ‘just to “suck it up” and “you’re normal” and “everyone goes through this”.

This was ‘especially’ prevalent in ‘male doctors who’ve never experienced a period and then by female doctors who hadn’t experienced period pain’, she said. 

‘For work, I wouldn’t sleep because I’d set an alarm at 2am to change the towel and super heavy tampon. It made relationships difficult, I’ve have had very understanding partners,’ she said. 

‘My adenomyosis wasn’t diagnosed until 47.’

Ms Noakes responded, ‘So 32 years’. Ms Munchetty replied ‘yes’.

She first revealed she was suffering from the condition in May, telling her BBC Radio 5 Live show that her husband had been forced to call an ambulance after a flare up.

‘The pain was so terrible I couldn’t move, turn over, sit up. 

‘I screamed non-stop for 45 minutes.

‘And then it happened again in the middle of the night and we had to call an ambulance because I couldn’t be moved. And I was just screaming,’ she said. 

She told the committee today: ‘Last November I had bled for 30 days non-stop. I’d bled for a total of 14 out of 15 weeks because my adenomyosis, which was undiagnosed was flaring up. 

‘I’d had extreme pain to a point where an ambulance had been called.

‘Most women know you bleed heavily on the first few days and then it eases off. But this was worrying.’

Adenomyosis is a condition in which the womb lining grows deep within the muscular wall of the womb. 

Similar to endometriosis, in which similar tissue to the lining of the womb grows outside the womb, it can cause severe symptoms, including extremely heavy and painful periods, bleeding, pain during and after sex or when going to the toilet.

Adenomyosis is commonly diagnosed in women over 40, though it also affects younger women, and often it is only discovered at routine screenings, meaning many women have it without knowing. 

It is more common among women who have given birth more times, especially if they had a caesarian section.

It’s not known exactly why adenomyosis happens. But the NHS notes it is ‘likely’ that women with adenomyosis ‘have a predisposition due to their genes, immune system and hormones’

She first revealed she was suffering from the condition in May , telling her BBC Radio 5 Live show that her husband (pictured in April 2017) had been forced to call an ambulance after a flare up. ‘The pain was so terrible I couldn’t move, turn over, sit up. I screamed non-stop for 45 minutes. ‘And then it happened again in the middle of the night and we had to call an ambulance because I couldn’t be moved. And I was just screaming,’ she said

In some cases surgery to remove the womb, a hysterectomy – which Ms Munchetty said she is resisting to avoid early menopause – is the only solution to adenomyosis, though this is not suitable for younger women who are hoping to conceive naturally. Addressing the committee today, Ms Munchetty also revealed she has never told her employer about her condition

Possible treatment options include hormonal contraceptives, painkillers and anti-inflammatories. 

But in some cases surgery to remove the womb, a hysterectomy – which Ms Munchetty said she is resisting to avoid early menopause – is the only solution, though this is not suitable for younger women who are hoping to conceive naturally.

Addressing the committee today, Ms Munchetty also revealed she has never told her employer about her condition.

‘I never said anything at school. I worried about bleeding through my uniform, it happened. I wore shorts and two pairs of tights,’ she said. 

‘I never said anything to my employers, I would be dosed up on painkillers. Sometimes still am. You learn to take two paracetamol then two neurofen. I tend to exceed what you should take.

‘You time your painkillers, you become almost paranoid about when you take the toilet break.

‘I’m on air for four hours, in the regional ops – the two or three minute break – I will make sure to flag half an hour before when I need to go.

‘No-one can be in that toilet, I will be grumpy if someone is in. I have to go. There’s an immense pressure on your bladder too, from a swollen uterus.’

She added: ‘You are paranoid about bleeding through your clothes.’

She also acknowledged she was ‘fortunate enough to be able to have private healthcare’ and said accessing it was the ‘only time I felt I could sit there and take time and force an issue, force understanding, force explanations from my gynaecologist’.

It was also the only time she could ‘not feel bad that I was taking up more than 10 minutes of my GP’s time because there was a queue of people in the waiting room’, she added. 

‘No woman says she’s in pain unless she is in real pain. No woman says she is anxious unless she is really anxious,’ she said.

‘No woman wants to appear weak or appear incapable until she really is, until she can’t cope anymore. And it shouldn’t be that way.’

But she also acknowledged it is equally ‘really easy to dismiss men as not caring’. 

After sharing her experience on her Radio 5 Live show, one listener, known only as David got in touch and said his partner has adenomyosis and endometriosis, she told the committee. 

‘He said it’s really hard on partners to have to witness their loved ones in agony and powerless to do anything about it. That was typical, I had lots of men get in touch after 5 Live.

‘They’re not given the information. They’re expected often to just sit there and be quiet while their partner or female loved one says they’re experiencing this,’ she said.

‘Because they’re not experiencing it, they’re almost not allowed to say it. 

‘What they witness, the pain, the anxiety, the sleepless nights, the stress, the physical discomfort, it’s almost like that’s not important.’ 

She added: ‘They do want to be involved. They certainly don’t have the tools or information to help.’ 

Ms Munchetty addressed the committee alongside broadcaster and ex-reality TV star Vicky Pattison, who shared her own experience of premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD). 

Ms Pattison said she was made to feel ‘stupid and ashamed’ and ‘even more invalidated’ by doctors when she visited them in pain. 

Her symptoms, including ‘crippling anxiety’, insomnia and fatigue were dismissed as pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS) by medics up and down the country, she claimed. 

PMDD is a severe form of PMS which causes anxiety, depression and, at its worst, psychosis or suicidal thoughts.

The Committee’s inquiry is examining the challenges women face when they are being diagnosed and treated for gynaecological and reproductive conditions.

It is expected to make recommendations to the Government to help reduce disparities that exist in diagnosis and treatment.