Davina McCall says soggy prison of menopause is similar to coming off heroin
TV presenter Davina McCall has previously spoken about her experience going through menopause and in a recent interview has compared it to "coming off heroin".
The former Big Brother host and ITV's The Masked Dancer judge, 54, has said her menopausal symptoms have been going on for 10 years and that the experience is something which she will never forget saying it's the worst she's ever felt in her life.
At it's worst, Davina has admitted she felt like a completely different person and that her life-changing symptoms made her feel "dried up" and "disgusting".
Davina has done great work shedding light on the drastic nature of the menopause, notably in her two Channel 4 documentaries: Davina McCall: Sex, Myths and the Menopause, and Sex, Mind and the Menopause in which she unapologetically speaks about her experience with the once taboo issue.
Davina told The Sun that before she realised that she was perimenopausal, she was terrified there was something more sinister going on with her body and mind.
At one point she even thought she might have a brain tumour, her symptoms were so pronounced.
She said: “I know it sounds really naive, but I didn’t know what it was."
Davina added: “I was 44, but looking back, there might have been symptoms before that. Maybe a bit of low-level anxiety. If you gave me any live TV job, I’d think: ‘I’ve done this 1,000 times before. I know what I’m doing.'
“But then suddenly it was: ‘Wow, I’m a bit nervous,’ and this feeling of: ‘I just don’t feel like myself at the moment.’”
Davina also suffered with terrible night sweats during menopause, which were also an unpleasant feature of the heroin addiction she battled in her early 20s.
The star said: "One of the greatest things about getting clean off heroin was that I never woke up in wet sheets again. It didn’t matter how bad life got, it was never as bad as when I was taking heroin.
“It’s a soggy, sweaty prison. You’re in a constant state of either: ‘I’ve got to try and find it,’ or: ‘I’m weaning myself off it and I feel terrible."
The presenter continued: “When I stopped, I remember waking up in dry sheets for a week in a row and just thinking: ‘This is the best feeling in the world.’
“For me still, 30 years on, I wake up with my head on a crisp, clean, dry pillow, and it’s great."
Following on from her two Channel 4 documentaries, Davina is now preparing to launch her new book, Menopausing and hopes to stop other women feeling confused, ashamed or afraid like she was while she was going through the menopause.
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