BBC Breakfast star Naga Munchetty has opened up about the excruciatingly painful condition she’s been living with for 30 years and the reason she’s decided not to have kids
Naga Munchetty has opened up about her decision to get surgically sterilised.
The 50-year-old BBC Breakfast host has first revealed her diagnosis of adenomyosis back in May 2023 and has been open about the agonising health issue. The crippling womb condition has caused her chronic pain for over 30 years and she was initially dismissed by doctors before finally getting a diagnosis in September 2022.
The presenter has now written a book – It’s Probably Nothing – to raise awareness about the importance of women being heard in medical settings. She has also discussed why she doesn’t want to have children with her husband.
Naga spoke to Saga Magazine and admitted they don’t want to have kids as “parenthood is expensive” and “exhausting” and a lifelong commitment. The broadcaster explained her decision was “hard” for her mum at first as it meant she won’t have any grandchildren, but luckily Naga’s mum has been very supportive about it.
“We liked the life we had and we wanted to pursue that life,” Naga said. “Parenthood is expensive, it’s exhausting and a commitment for life – my mum will say, ‘You’re still my baby and I worry about you.’ But I remember people saying, ‘That’s so wicked! How can you deny your parents grandchildren?’
“It was hard for Mum, but she understands now. She says, ‘Naga, it would have been wonderful to have grandchildren, but equally, it’s wonderful seeing what you’re doing and who you’ve become.’ Isn’t that what we want for our children?”
Naga married her husband, ITV broadcasting consultant James Hagger, in 2004. The couple live in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire.
The Radio 5 presenter also opened up about how she manages the crippling pain caused by her adenomyosis while hosting BBC Breakfast. She said she’s prepared to ‘dose herself up’ with painkillers so that it doesn’t affect her work.
“People see me as a trusted source of information,” she said. “No one’s interested if I’m feeling unwell. In our industry, you don’t want to seem weak and you don’t want concessions because there’s competition all around and you’re always trying to be the best you can.
“So I will not let it affect my work. I’m stubborn as hell.” She added: “I dose myself up with painkillers if need be and don’t compromise being good at my job.”
Naga got her adenomyosis diagnosis after suffering a particularly bad bout of chronic pain following a night out three years ago. “By the time I got to the front door I was bent double” she told Saga Magazine. “My husband had to help me upstairs. I felt dizzy, with excruciating, stabbing pain in my abdomen.
“I got into bed but couldn’t physically turn myself over, because I was crippled from the pain. My husband was having to turn me as I screamed. The sheets were soaked in sweat, I was crying, which I rarely do. I was taking every kind of painkiller, but they didn’t touch the sides.”
She explained to the 999 operator she’d never experienced pain like it but was told: “Well, next time take two paracetamol”. The broadcaster said she was “so exhausted and depleted and without hope” that she simply thanked the operator and now regrets not challenging their response more.
She said she’s really upset that the operator thought such a response was okay given that she was “yelling and crying”. Naga decided to turn down a hysterectomy – which involves removing the womb – as a potential treatment option for the condition.
The presenter said she didn’t want a major operation and to be off work for eight weeks and go into early menopause. She added: “Just because a woman’s a certain age, you can’t say, ‘Oh, you don’t need that bit of your body any more.'”
Adenomyosis is a condition where the lining of the womb grows within the muscular wall of the womb too. It is not life-threatening but can cause severe symptoms, including excruciating pain, painful periods, a bloated tummy and pain during intercourse.
Discussing the symptoms on her Radio 5 show, she previously said: “Right now as I sit here talking to you: I am in pain. Constant, nagging pain. In my uterus. Around my pelvis. Sometimes it runs down my thighs. And I’ll have some level of pain for the entire show and for the rest of the day until I go to sleep.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
