We all know Carol Vorderman as the Countdown legend who’s spent decades on our screens, but what you might not know is – despite looking the picture of health at 65 – she suffers from rheumatoid arthritis. At its worst, it left her ‘crying in pain every single day.’ Today, she’s in a much better place, but it took a lot of trial and error for Carol to find the medication and work-life balance which works for her. 10 months after the sudden onset of her arthritis in 2024, Carol says she finally felt she was back to her regular level energy levels. Now, to keep track of how her body is doing, she praises one simple exercise routine.
‘It’s nothing magical, but I live in a townhouse, so from the bottom to the top is nearly, I’d say, 60 to 70 steps. I go up and down those,’ she says. ‘That’s the best monitor for me.’ And it’s a technique Carol would recommend to others: ‘Even if people live in a flat, they can go up and down the main staircase. People come across stairs in their day. You have to keep moving.’ Carol also credits regular walking with her continued health and fitness.
JD Williams
While her rheumatoid arthritis initially upended her life and health, she now also sees it as an ‘intervention into workaholism. I was addicted to work and therefore I didn’t see my friends as much but now, since the summer, I have the most incredible social life again. I have at least three socials a week.’
Today, Carol is feeling like herself again, but she says it took her eight months of ‘trying different drugs through the NHS,’ to find the right medication for her. Carol says she feels ‘very lucky’ and ‘grateful’ to the ‘incredible’ team at The Bristol Infirmary, who she worked with. At first, Carol was prescribed steroids which she says helped, ‘but they’re only temporary and have side effects, so I wanted to get off them as soon as possible.’
It was a long process, but Carol now takes a low dose of methotrexate and a fortnightly injection of biologics to manage her condition, alongside regular movement, a better-balanced workload and more time with friends.
Having once had to ‘just lie on the sofa some days, for days at a time,’ Carol now says, ‘I feel fantastic.’
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