Doctors gaslit me into thinking I wasn't ill – experts failed me & now I may never be a mother, reveals Vicky Pattison
And now she's tackling a cause that is close to her heart.
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Vicky Pattison says the UK healthcare system is failing women, including herself
Credit: Shutterstock Editorial
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It was when Vicky started dating her husband Ercan Ramadan seven years ago that her PMDD first emerged
Credit: instagram
In an exclusive chat with The Sun — which comes as she presents Vicky Pattison Investigates: Medical Misogyny today on Good Morning Britain — the former I'm A Celebrity winner tells us why the UK healthcare system is failing women, including herself.
Vicky, 37, says: 'Women are so often the punching bags.
'At the moment,
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Shocking statistics revealed today by GMB show three in five women have experienced reproductive health issues, yet a third have had to wait over a year for a diagnosis.
Meanwhile, over half of them received a misdiagnosis, and 51 per cent said they had felt dismissed by a medical professional.
It's a feeling that Vicky knows all too well as it took five years of being made to feel like she was overreacting before she was finally diagnosed with
In the meantime, she was suffering from
Her GP told her it was nothing unusual — she was just a bit more 'sensitive' than the average woman.
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'When I hit my 30s, my period symptoms started becoming increasingly heightened,' she says.
'In some of my more intense and darker moments, I had suicidal thoughts.
I'm A Celeb winner set to join Strictly after wowing bosses while supporting pal in audience last year
'I knew what I was experiencing couldn't be right — it was just so debilitating.
'But for five years, I was
"I was told everything from, 'This is just PMS, everyone experiences it, other women can just handle it better' to, 'This is psychological — you need antidepressants.'
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'I was told by one doctor, 'Maybe it'll be better if you lose weight.''
Her voice breaks when she reflects on the battle she still faces.
Vicky says: 'Every month, you lose yourself — and as I've gotten older, it's gotten worse.
"It used to last a few days, but now it's seven to ten days before my period.
'I'm anxious, I'm emotional, I'm exhausted, and I'm completely unrecognisable from the woman I am the rest of the time.
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'The things that bring me joy don't bring me joy.'
It was only three years ago, after hitting countless dead ends, that she went to a private doctor — a step she knows many women can't take.
'SPICY MOMENTS'
'I broke down when she said I had PMDD,' Vicky says. 'I'd had five years of being gaslit.'
Yet sadly for Vicky and so many other women, diagnosis is just the first step.
She is still on the quest to find treatment that works.
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She explains: 'I've read all the blogs, I follow all the accounts, I've got some great premenstrual supplements that I swear by.
'But even if you exercise, your diet is good and you're doing all those things you know help, you can't control the uncontrollable and the PMDD symptoms will rage.
'The only thing that helps me is communicating.
"Whether it's to my agent, to the people I work with, or to my family, I say: 'I know what's about to happen.
"There will be some spicy moments where I'm raging. Please know that's not me.''
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So much of her personal healing has come from her husband of almost a year,
The pair had only just started dating around seven years ago when Vicky's PMDD first emerged.
She recalls: 'It did initially put a huge strain on our relationship.
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Vicky's now written to Health Secretary Wes Streeting to deliver news of GMB's findings
Credit: Getty
'Now I help him understand.
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"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.
'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't give you empathy if they don't understand, so do try to explain it.'
Vicky's now written to
She wants to see education on women's health improve in schools, get GPs more informed and give greater support to women in the workplace when they are in pain.
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Vicky says: 'I know Wes Streeting is a busy man, and I don't think for one second he's going to see a letter from Vicky Pattison and think, 'Ooh I should make time for her.'
'But it's not about ignoring me. It's about what ignoring me says to women in Britain.
"You are saying to half the population that our pain, our suffering, our quality of life doesn't matter. That is inexcusable.'
Appearing alongside Vicky on GMB today are three women who have also been fobbed off by the healthcare system.
I think people wrote me off a long time ago, but I'm really grateful that I parlayed a stint on reality TV to where I am now
Vicky Pattison
Kelly Swingler, 44, from
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Meanwhile, Manika Kaur, 27, from Newcastle, received an endometriosis diagnosis after ten years of debilitating pain.
Vicky adds: 'I'm hoping that the Government realises this can't be ignored anymore.'
As for her personal journey, PMDD is still a battle — and it's one affecting her plans to become a mum after
She wells up as she says: 'I am a woman of a certain age who would love to have kids.
"But my fear is that my condition will make it very difficult to be the mum that I want to be.
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"You want to be this lovely, patient mother, but I do worry what I'll be like with PMDD — because you're short-tempered, you're exhausted."
Yet having opened up in previous years about her body image issues, her struggles with alcohol and finding herself in toxic relationships, she is used to showing her vulnerable side.
She says: 'I think people wrote me off a long time ago, but I'm really grateful that I parlayed a stint on reality TV to where I am now, and that I'm able to use my platform to champion issues that are so important to me.
'I'm going to be a thorn in the side of people making decisions, because I believe it's important.
'I hope they're ready, because I'm fired up.'
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Tune in to Good Morning Britain on ITV1 and ITVX from 6am today for its exclusive investigation into medical misogyny with Vicky Pattison.
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Advertisement 9 Letby tried to get an inquiry into the circumstances around the baby deaths suspended 9 The killer nurse has twice failed to appeal her convictions Credit: SWNS 9 A court sketch of Letby during her trial at Manchester Crown Court last year Credit: PA She was scanned at COCH as it was "more convenient" for her, but was then referred to LWH by her consultant for a second scan - though they were happy to care for her at COCH long-term, adding: "They could refer back to LWH if there were any problems along the way." The mum went on say: "At LWH I was told that one of the triplets was a little smaller than the other two, and as all three triplets were sharing one placenta. Advertisement "I was given the option of having the smaller triplet's heartbeat stopped to give the two others a better chance of survival. We decided against this and to let things be." She added: "I did not actually expect our babies to be born at COCH, I was explicitly told throughout my pregnancy that they would be born there only if there was a nurse and a bed for each baby. "I was told that for this reason, it was very unlikely that I would actually have them at the COCH. I was warned by consultants that it was likely that we would have to travel to another hospital. "We were told that this could be Birmingham or London, but we had to be ready to go anywhere." However, the mum said it was only when she went into labour that she was told she would be giving birth at COCH, being assured "there were enough nurses and beds" to deliver her babies. Advertisement She said consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist Jim McCormack assured her she would be able to look around the hospital's neonatal unit, but "in the event" this was "put off and I was not given the opportunity to look around and see the unit". "We were told that the probability of us being there would be low. "That said, we had not experienced a Neonatal Unit before so we had nothing to compare it with anyway. The charges Letby has been convicted of in full Child A, allegation of murder. The Crown said Letby injected air intravenously into the bloodstream of the baby boy. COUNT 1 GUILTY . Child B, allegation of attempted murder. The Crown said Letby attempted to murder the baby girl, the twin sister of Child A, by injecting air into her bloodstream. COUNT 2 GUILTY . Child C, allegation of murder. Prosecutors said Letby forced air down a feeding tube and into the stomach of the baby boy. COUNT 3 GUILTY . Child D, allegation of murder. The Crown said air was injected intravenously into the baby girl. COUNT 4 GUILTY . Child E, allegation of murder. The Crown said Letby murdered the twin baby boy with an injection of air into the bloodstream and also deliberately caused bleeding to the infant. COUNT 5 GUILTY . Child F, allegation of attempted murder. Letby was said by prosecutors to have poisoned the twin brother of Child E with insulin. COUNT 6 GUILTY . Child I, allegation of murder. The prosecution said Letby killed the baby girl at the fourth attempt and had given her air and overfed her with milk. COUNT 12 GUILTY. Child K, allegation of attempted murder. The prosecution said Letby compromised the baby girl as she deliberately dislodged a breathing tube. COUNT 14 JURY COULD NOT REACH VERDICT AT ORIGINAL TRIAL, NOW GUILTY AFTER RETRIAL Child L, allegation of attempted murder. The Crown said the nurse poisoned the twin baby boy with insulin. COUNT 15 GUILTY. Child M, allegation of attempted murder. Prosecutors said Letby injected air into the bloodstream of Child L's twin brother. COUNT 16 GUILTY. Child N, three allegations of attempted murder. The Crown said Letby inflicted trauma in the baby boy's throat and also injected him with air in the bloodstream. COUNT 17 GUILTY, COUNT 18 JURY COULD NOT REACH VERDICT, COUNT 19 JURY COULD NOT REACH VERDICT. Child O, allegation of murder. Prosecutors say Letby attacked the triplet boy by injecting him with air, overfeeding him with milk and inflicting trauma to his liver with "severe force". COUNT 20 GUILTY. Child P, allegation of murder. Prosecutors said the nurse targeted the triplet brother of Child O by overfeeding him with milk, injecting air and dislodging his breathing tube. COUNT 21 GUILTY. Child Q, allegation of attempted murder. The Crown said Letby injected the baby boy with liquid, and possibly air, down his feeding tube. COUNT 22 JURY COULD NOT REACH VERDICT "I was given to understand throughout my pregnancy that on delivery the babies would need to go to the Neonatal Unit as a precaution due to the risk factors that come with a triplet pregnancy and them having to be born at 34 weeks." When she started having contractions at home she was rushed to COCH but described how, despite her condition, she had to walk from the observation room to the labour ward to theatre to undergo a cesarean section - even asked to climb into bed herself. Advertisement The mum added it was "very disappointing" that Dr McCormack, who had performed all of her scans, was on holiday and unable to deliver her babies. She was awake during the delivery, which she described as feeling "very rushed", and at one stage, after being cut open, she could feel pain. She described how "blood and fluid splattered up" onto the screen, the wall behind her and "onto my face". At one stage, she said it was hurting but was told "I don't think that is hurting, it's pulling". Later in her statement, the mum described doctors initially had "no concerns" about the babies, despite being so premature, and recalls Letby looking after two of them and showing her partner how to feed all three triplets. Advertisement "She told us how lucky we were and that their weights were great," she added. Letby also showed the mum how to "express milk", and added her babies were separated as there was a shortage of beds in the neonatal unit. While staying in the maternity ward, the mum was told by a doctor Child O needed breathing support and she was taken to neonatal unit to see him. "We were confronted with a scene of complete chaos. It was madness," she said. "Nurses were running around left and right grabbing medicines and IVs. 9 Lady Justice Thirlwall, who led an inquiry into possible failings at Countess of Chester last year Credit: PA 9 Letby during her police interview in 2018 Credit: Derbyshire Constabulary Advertisement 9 Prof Richard Gill is convinced Letby is innocent "As soon as I went in, I knew it was an issue with one of the boys. When Doctor U saw what was going on, it was obvious he didn't have any idea what was happening and I could see in his face that he was panicked and shocked." She added: "It was clear Child O's collapse was a complete shock to them." The mum said Letby was on the ward at the time and was handing doctors medicine. Child O died later that evening, and his brother Child P, died the following afternoon. During Letby's trial, it was heard the father of the triplets "begged" doctors to transfer his surviving son to LWH and they eventually agreed, and his health quickly recovered. Advertisement Earlier this year, an international panel of neonatologists and paediatric specialists Their evidence has been passed to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which investigates potential miscarriages of justice, and Letby's legal team hopes her case will be referred back to the Court of Appeal. Neena Modi, Professor of neonatal medicine at Imperial College London, was part of the panel and told The Guardian in February Chester's neonatal unit was 'not staffed or equipped to deal with the most seriously ill babies'. She went on to say: 'What transpired was that the consultants and other neonatal staff were faced with having to provide care for complex neonatal cases outside their experience. I watched arrogant Lucy Letby as she simmered in the dock & saw chilling evidence that proves she IS an evil baby killer By Nigel Bunyan IN the eyes of the law she's a cold-blooded serial killer who murdered seven babies and tried to kill seven others at the hospital where she worked during a year-long reign of terror. But doubts over The killer nurse, 35, is serving 15 whole-life orders in prison for the murder of seven babies between 2015 and 2016 at Countess of Chester hospital. She was also Last week Reform leader Nigel Farage said there were 'serious questions' about the case which have left him with a 'horrible feeling' Letby might have been a 'very convenient scapegoat' and should be retried. Meanwhile Conservative MP David Davis is convinced her conviction is a 'clear miscarriage of justice'. But earlier this month it emerged Letby Nigel Bunyan has been a journalist for more than four decades and covered the trials of GP Harold Shipman, the child killers of James Bulger, and the He attended Lucy Letby's main trial and the retrial that followed. As her case attracts more scrutiny than ever before, here Nigel details why he believes "beyond doubt" that she IS guilty, and that justice prevailed. .. IN the make-believe, boxset world of Netflix, Disney+ and the like, Lucy Letby just HAS to be innocent! A prominent Tory MP has said so. So too has Letby's shiny new defence barrister and a group of international experts who've rallied, unbidden, to her cause, without having been anywhere near either trial. The only catch is that in the real world – the one not liberally sprinkled with fairy dust theories of perceived innocence – Letby is the real deal. She actually IS a nailed-on serial killer of tiny, defenceless babies. After attending her trial - and the retrial that followed it - I have no doubt whatsoever of her guilt. She is serving a whole life term for seven murders and seven attempted murders after being found guilty not just by one jury – but by TWO. Sadly, serial killers don't come with an identifying mark on their foreheads. And they don't always confess. But I watched every moment of her evidence at Manchester Crown Court, looking for some spark of authenticity, of humanity; something to make me doubt the prosecution case. I looked in vain. All I could see was a defendant standing behind a blank, unyielding wall of denials. She was a woman shielding herself with simmering resentment, sullen in the dock and equally so when giving evidence. Dr By the time Letby was called to give evidence we'd already seen the now-infamous Post-it notes she scribbled in the bedroom of her house around the corner from the Countess of Chester hospital where she committed her crimes. 'I am evil. I did this,' she'd written. 'I killed them on purpose because I'm not good enough to care for them (and) I am a horrible person.' Her supporters looked to other lines that could be interpreted as indicators of innocence. 'I haven't done anything wrong,' for example. And, 'Why me?' For all that the evidence against Letby was largely – and inevitably - circumstantial, taken as a whole it was totally convincing on all but a few of the charges. It's one thing to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, but in her case that happened far too many times. Her colleagues who saw her as a friend didn't want to 'think the unthinkable' - that she was the enemy within - but eventually they had no option. It wasn't just the statistical oddities about her presence; it was an innate feeling of unease among those who had once trusted her without question. Far too many babies were collapsing on the unit for there to be any other explanation than sabotage by a member of staff. And there were no other suspects. For me, the case finally fell into place as I spent long nights compiling a 17,000-word timeline. Suddenly, for all the woolliness of the case as it unfolded in court, I could see how Letby had moved so deftly in the shadows, aided by her colleagues' understandable reluctance to believe ill of her. Many of them counted her as a friend, and when she broke down in apparent distress over the infants dying on her watch, they instinctively reached out in support. Letby's cynical manipulation is typified by the very first of her killings: one day volunteering to take group selfies during a colleague's hen-do in York, the next injecting Baby A with air 90 minutes after coming back on duty in Chester. Before the jury reached their verdict I knew what it should be. And the court of social media who protest her innocence may have taken a different view if they had seen all the evidence, as I have. During the trial a chilling image was shown to the jury: the X-ray of one of the dead babies, showing a line of what could only be air running parallel to his spine. And the only explanation for that air was for it to have been forced into the infant's system. Which is how Lucy Letby achieved something that the reviewing paediatrician Sandie Bohin had never previously seen in neonates – she made some of them scream. Had the prosecution found the courage to release that image some doubters may be silenced. But the CPS refused, saying it formed part of an individual's medical records. Medical expertise Much has been made of the international panel of medical experts drawn together by Letby's new barrister, Mark McDonald. But it is hugely significant that Ben Myers, the lawyer who led her defence in both trials, made the very deliberate decision NOT to call ANY of the medical experts he had briefed on the case. In fact, the only defence witness aside from Letby was Lorenzo Mansutti, a plumber, who spoke briefly about drainage problems at the Countess. Myers' reasoning was clearly tactical, perhaps made because he doubted the ability of those potential witnesses to counter the allegations that Letby harmed babies mostly with injections of air or insulin. Any future appeal is likely to fall short unless McDonald can come up with a satisfactory answer to Myers' decision. Ultimately the jury was swayed by the assertion of Nick Johnson KC, the lead prosecutor, that Letby had been caught out by 'a constellation of coincidences' that had no other plausible explanation. For all the protests to the contrary, I don't believe for one second that Letby was set up as a scapegoat. She was simply found out by colleagues who finally realised she was the killer in their midst. Almost two years on, we now have the prospect of Letby facing a third trial. On top of that three members of the leadership team at the Countess were arrested last week on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter and may yet face trial themselves. And then there is the Thirlwall Inquiry into the killer's activities and the conduct of NHS personnel at the time. It's due to report next year. So all in all, overwhelmingly bad news for those wearing yellow butterfly emblems in support of their fake heroine. Genuine miscarriages of justice do occur. Of course they do. But they're extremely rare. Years ago, for example, I wrote about Stefan Kiszko, who was exonerated over a murder he couldn't possibly have committed. But Letby? I just don't see it. More than that, I abhor the white noise repeatedly being drummed up in her name - often by people who should know better - while Letby herself remains silent; brooding in HMP Prison Bronzefield, Surrey. For me, as for the families, hers is a name that speaks only of sickening cruelty and betrayal. As one of the mums said recently: 'You don't want to see her face, you don't want to hear her name, you don't want to hear people shouting that she's innocent. "She's not innocent, she was found guilty in a court of law." 'Their contemporaneous notes in the babies' case records reveal errors in the recognition of problems and their management.' Advertisement Around the time of the Letby crimes, Prof Gill told The Sun some mothers going through high-risk pregnancies would have also been part of clinical audits and trials at various hospitals, including testing the now-standard usage of laser treatment 'to fix the blood flow' in a uterus carrying multiple babies at risk of TTTS. In LWH's Quality Report 2015-2016, it states: "During 2015-16 Liverpool Women's NHS Foundation Trust participated in 100% of national clinical audits and 100% of national confidential enquiries of the national clinical audits and national confidential enquiries which it was eligible to participate in." It added: 'The total monetary value of the income in 2015-16 conditional upon achieving quality improvement and innovation goals was £1,977,598. The monetary total for the associated payment in 2014-15 was £1,955,007.' It is unclear if any of the triplets, or Letby's other victims, saw their treatment directly impacted due to any kind of clinical audit or procedures, which would include the much-publicised National Maternity and Perinatal Audit. But it's possible that, any one of these may have impacted how many high risk pregnancies were dealt with at Liverpool, claims Prof Gill. Advertisement In June 2015, the same month as the first deaths in Letby's rampage, MBRRACE-UK, the national body which collects data on perinatal mortality, showed LWH had made significant strides in reducing stillbirth and neonatal mortality rates. Specifically, their stillbirth rate was rated 10% below the national average. Prof Gill went on to say: 'If you have twins or triplets who have a very poor outlook then you might prefer that they died somewhere else. 'Now that's a very serious allegation, I don't think that. I mention it, and one might think that. 'I would rather think that out of some rules in their protocol that they were reserving beds for patients they could treat because that would give them good results. Advertisement 'As a consequence, more babies got treated elsewhere than usual. I'm sure there is an honest explanation for that. But it is really weird.' He added: 'My feeling is this would all need to be looked into if Lucy Letby is ever exonerated and there is an inquiry into what went wrong.' A spokesperson at the Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said: 'Due to the Thirlwall Inquiry and the ongoing police investigations, it would not be appropriate to comment further at this time.' NHS England did not wish to comment when approached. The Sun has also contacted Liverpool Womens NHS Foundation Trust but had not received a response before publication. Advertisement Do you know more? Email
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- Extra.ie
Guinness in a handbag? US influencer's stunt has the internet foaming over
When American influencer Emma Topp landed in Ireland, she probably expected to cause a stir with her accent, not her accessories. But after posting a now-viral video of herself strutting through Galway's cobbled streets with a glass purse filled to the brim with Guinness, she's managed to split the internet faster than a rugby lad from D4 can split the G. In the clip, which has garnered a whopping 684K views online, Emma is seen treating the iconic stout less like a drink and more like a fashion statement, swinging her sudsy handbag past shopfronts, buskers, and baffled locals. When American influencer Emma Topp landed in Ireland, she probably expected to cause a stir with her accent, not her accessories. Pic: Instagram/Emma Topp 'It's like a pint, only 2.5x better,' she captioned the video, revealing bartenders had no issue pouring a pint into the untraditional vessel. 'Turns out pubs in Galway WILL fill a purse with Guinness (it's BYOP tho, oops) and you'll have the time of your life meeting new people,' she added, as staff in The Dáil Bar in Galway's Latin Quarter humoured the Boston-based creator. The purse held the equivalent of two and a half pints of the beloved beverage, with Emma quickly noting how heavy it had become. @efultimatebreak it's like a pint, but 2.5x better 🍻 turns out pubs in Galway WILL fill a purse with Guinness (it is BYOP tho, so come prepared) #galway #guinness #ireland #purse ♬ original sound – EF Ultimate Break It seems Emma's antics caused quite the stir online, with social media users deeply divided over her liquid-luggage endeavour. For some, it was peak comedy, but for others, the sight of Ireland's most beloved pint sloshing around inside a novelty handbag felt like an outright abomination. 'Lovely day for a gurse,' one user joked, while another added: 'LONG LIVE THE GURSE.' 'As an Irishman who likes his Guinness, I was a bit horrified watching this initially but this was actually class,' another added. So, was it harmless fun or a fashion faux pas worthy of exile from the pub? Let us know where you stand on the Great Guinness Purse Debate.
