Kirsty Young has said a doctor dismissively “snorted” at her self-diagnosis of the chronic pain that had forced her to step away from her job as host of Desert Island Discs.
The BBC television and radio presenter said her concerns that she had fibromyalgia were “memorably” rejected by the doctor.
“I said: ‘I’ve read about this thing called fibromyalgia, could it be fibromyalgia?’” Young told Radio 4’s Today programme. “They actually did snort … She snorted … I said: ‘Is that not a thing?’ She said: ‘That’s not a thing, that’s where we put people when they don’t have something, just to say they’ve got something.’
“I now, of course, realise the depths of that particular medic’s ignorance on the subject,” Young added.
The BBC presenter said she spent a “long time” in pain – describing it as a “little private horror” – before being diagnosed with both fibromyalgia and rheumatoid arthritis, conditions that often go together.
Fibromyalgia syndrome is a long-term condition that causes pain all over the body, according to the NHS. Rheumatoid arthritis is described as a long-term condition that causes pain, swelling and stiffness in the joints.
“I have at my worst felt as though someone has drugged my cup of tea, almost sort of swaying with fatigue, and [I feel like] just having to just opt out of doing anything because the fatigue is almost like cement in your body,” she said.
She said that fibromyalgia causes “your pain centre [to over-interpret] things that would happen normally in your body” and also causes symptoms including brain fog and chronic fatigue.
“I wasn’t managing,” she said. “I had it for probably about a year to a year and a half, increasing, it increased over time and the migraines became more, the pain became more, the fatigue became more, so it kind of increased over time before I successfully managed [to get medical advice].”
Young described the difficulties she had managing her pain, and said when she was “finally” diagnosed, she no longer felt like “a crazy lady”.
“I think I coped chaotically and badly [before the diagnosis]. I was quite horrible to be married to,” she added, describing how the constant pain meant she had to “prioritise” work and her children over the rest of her life.
The presenter added that she is “doing OK at the moment” but that she finds it “very uncomfortable” to talk about her health because she feels “shame” when there are people going through worse conditions.
She said: “If you are in your life, and you are dealing with chronic pain, day in day out, night in night out, then that is a hell of a thing to deal with, but I am self-conscious talking to you today about it.”
