Olympian Montell Douglas has spoken out about the agonising health condition she’s been battling for years, and even forced her to be hospitalised and unable to walk
Strictly Come Dancing star and Olympian Montell Douglas has bravely shared her harrowing experience with a severe health condition that’s plagued her since her teens.
The 39 year old, who dazzled audiences on Strictly alongside Johannes Radebe and now appears as Fire on Gladiators, has revealed her long battle with dysmenorrhoea – a condition causing excruciating period pain that once landed her in hospital, unable to walk.
Montell admitted: “I cannot remember not suffering.” In a candid chat with Metro for a Holland and Barrett campaign, she disclosed, “When mine came, I hid it for a long time because I didn’t really know what was going on and I remember being in diabolical pain from the beginning.”
Despite enduring relentless pain, Montell persevered through intense training and competitions, concealing her agony until it became unbearable. “Obviously people say that you’re going to be uncomfortable, but what I did notice was that I was severely in more pain than other people,” she recounted.
Her ordeal reached a critical point three years ago during a frightening incident at home. “I was in severe pain, doubled over, and it wouldn’t go away,” reports the Express.
“It made me really dizzy and pass out, and intermittently while I was waking up again and conscious, just in agony, I was on the phone to the hospital to try and get me an ambulance to A&E.”
She was swiftly taken to the hospital, dehydrated and in a state of distress. “That was a wake-up call. It’s not normal, I shouldn’t really be hospitalised,” she remembered.
Montell also recounted an incident from years ago when she was in such excruciating pain during a training drill that she crumpled into the foetal position between sprints.
Eventually, the athlete found a way to manage her symptoms with a contraceptive implant – a solution she says was born more out of necessity than preference. “Having that wasn’t really out of choice, it was like, ‘This is the best option and you have to do something”.
But Montell’s health struggles didn’t stop there. Her sporting career has been marred by numerous physical challenges, including six hamstring tears within two years, a herniated disc at 14, and major knee surgery that left her unable to walk for three months.
She later sustained a severe injury where her hamstring was “pulled off the bone” just seven months prior to the Winter Olympics.
And even now, as she continues to compete in the Gladiators arena, she disclosed, “I’ve ruptured all of the ligaments in my ankles, every single one has gone. The last one went in my first series of Gladiators on the first day of training.”
Despite everything, Montell has continued to persevere. Her appearance on Strictly proved to be another endurance challenge.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
