Vicky Pattison: Doctors lacked empathy when I suffered with PMDD
By Charlotte McLaughlin, PA Senior Entertainment Reporter
Vicky Pattison says male doctors lacked empathy when she sought help for premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD).
The reality star, 37, spoke about her own experiences as a report by MPs found women’s health concerns have been dismissed due to “medical misogyny”, “pervasive stigma” and a lack of education surrounding common conditions.
Pattison has previously revealed she was initially disregarded by medical professionals as having premenstrual syndrome and she only received a diagnosis of PMDD after turning to private care.
The Geordie Shore and I’m A Celebrity star, who gave evidence to the House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee which published the report, told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “My experiences when I went to discuss my symptoms were horrendous.
“For years, for five years I was dismissed, I was made to feel ashamed… for the majority of the time it was men. I think they lack an understanding and empathy towards what we’re going through as women, whether that be someone suffering with PMDD, adenomyosis, endometriosis – the list is absolutely endless.
“They are not given the correct, I think, information, education to be able to treat a woman going through what those women are.”
She says her condition causes her to suffer from “aches and pains, exhaustion, cramps” as well as mental symptoms such as “crippling anxiety, exhaustion” and “mood swings, your erratic behaviour, feelings of hopelessness, depression, a genuine belief that the world would be a better place without you in it”.
Pattison said she is in “a ridiculously privileged position”, with financial and family stability, but “there are thousands, if not millions, of people out there, women who aren’t getting the same opportunities I did and this report is a step in the right direction”.
GP surgeries have been singled out in the report, with the authors highlighting a “clear lack of awareness and understanding of women’s reproductive health conditions among primary healthcare practitioners”, particularly when those conditions occur in young women and girls.
Demi Santana Brown, from Love Is Blind UK season one, has endometriosis and she told BBC Breakfast it was “so frustrating” when she was told she had irritable bowel syndrome before receiving the right diagnosis.
When asked if the situation is improving, Brown added: “I still feel you have to advocate for yourself because I think from experiences other people have told me, they’re so quickly dismissed, so I don’t know if it is necessarily getting better.
“For me, once I got my diagnosis I kept pushing, but I was taken off the books, put back on the books.”
Giving advice to other women, she urged them to reach out to charities and find people who have been through a similar experience.
Endometriosis, which affects 1.5 million women in the UK, occurs when cells normally found in the lining of the womb grow in other parts of the body.
In response to the report, a spokesperson for NHS England said that “too often” the health service hears of “women whose health concerns have been dismissed, which is why we are taking action to improve services for women, including rolling out women’s health hubs across the country”.
They added: “The NHS is also developing a network of women’s health champions made up of senior leaders in every local care system to drive forward improvements in women’s health.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson called the situation “totally unacceptable” and said the Government is “investing an extra £26 billion in the health system” and also wants to “overhaul women’s healthcare, placing women’s equality at the heart of our agenda, and ensure women’s health is never again neglected”.