{"id":17847,"date":"2025-07-23T12:24:16","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T12:24:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/17847\/"},"modified":"2025-07-23T12:24:16","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T12:24:16","slug":"vicky-pattison-felt-gaslit-by-doctors-over-debilitating-health-issue-that-took-5-years-to-diagnose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/17847\/","title":{"rendered":"Vicky Pattison felt ‘gaslit’ by doctors over ‘debilitating’ health issue that took 5 years to diagnose"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 37-year-old reality star has told how she she was repeatedly told by medical experts that she wasn’t ill\"VickyVicky Pattison(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Vicky Pattison says she has been “gaslit by doctors” who failed to diagnose her with Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD).<\/p>\n

The 37-year-old reality star believes that the UK’s healthcare <\/a>system is failing women as she was repeatedly told by medical experts that she wasn’t ill, even though she experienced “suicidal thoughts” and several other symptoms.<\/p>\n

In an interview with The Sun <\/a>newspaper, Vicky said: “Women are so often the punching bags. At the moment, the healthcare system is telling women that their pain, suffering and debilitating conditions do not matter.”<\/p>\n

It took Vicky five years to be diagnosed with PMDD and the star explained that she only found out after visiting a private doctor – something that very few people have the chance to do.<\/p>\n

The former Geordie Shore star recalled: “When I hit my 30s, my period symptoms started becoming increasingly heightened. In some of my more intense and darker moments, I had suicidal thoughts.<\/p>\n

“I knew what I was experiencing couldn’t be right – it was just so debilitating. But for five years, I was repeatedly dismissed by my doctors.<\/p>\n

“I was told everything from, ‘This is just PMS, everyone experiences it, other women just handle it better’ to, ‘This is psychological – you need antidepressants.’<\/p>\n

Vicky regularly shows fans her reality of living with PMDD(Image: Vicky Pattison Instagram)<\/p>\n

“I was told by one doctor, ‘Maybe it’ll be better if you lose weight.'” Vicky added: “I broke down when she said I had PMDD. I’d had five years of being gaslit.”<\/p>\n

The I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! 2015 winner has been grateful for the support of her husband Ercan Ramadan, who handles her with “kid gloves” when her “spicy week” happens.<\/p>\n

Vicky explained: “It did initially put a huge strain on our relationship. Now I help him understand. I’ll go to him: ‘I think I’m coming into my spicy week’ – where you can’t remember names, you can’t remember where you’re supposed to be, you’re practically narcoleptic.<\/p>\n

“He’ll just handle me with kid gloves. I am very lucky that I have a man who understands. I know everyone’s not in that position, but they can give you empathy if they don’t understand, so do try to explain it.”<\/p>\n

Vicky also admits that she is still trying to figure out a treatment that works for her condition. She said: “I\u2019ve read all the blogs, I follow all the accounts, I\u2019ve got some great premenstrual supplements that I swear by.<\/p>\n

“But even if you exercise, your diet is good and you\u2019re doing all those things you know help, you can\u2019t control the uncontrollable and the PMDD symptoms will rage.<\/p>\n

“The only thing that helps me is communicating. Whether it\u2019s to my agent, to the people I work with, or to my family, I say: ‘I know what\u2019s about to happen.’ There will be some spicy moments where I\u2019m raging. Please know that\u2019s not me.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 37-year-old reality star has told how she she was repeatedly told by medical experts that she wasn’t…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17848,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[102,2960,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-17847","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-healthcare","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17847\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}