Davina MCall has bravely opened up about her experience of going through menopause, comparing it to 'coming off heroin'.
The TV presenter, 54, first started 'going through the motions' over ten-years ago, and says the experience is something which she will never forget as she felt the worst she ever had in her life.
During the midst of her menopause, Davina admitted that she felt like a completely different person to her once energetic and charismatic self because her life-changing symptoms made her feel 'dried up' and 'disgusting'.
At one stage, the former Big Brother presenter even toyed with the idea of quitting her job because she was struggling so much.
Ten years on, Davina has continued to shed light on the drastic nature of the menopause as she unapologetically continues to raise awareness for the once taboo health matter.
Before she realised that she was perimenopausal, Davina was riddled with fears that there was something more sinister going on with her body and mind.
“I know it sounds really naive, but I didn’t know what it was,” she told The Sun.
“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 horrendous night sweats, which she compared to battling her heroin addiction in her early 20s.
"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," she explained.
“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.’
“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 powerful Channel 4 documentaries, Davina is now spreading her message further with the launch of her new book, Menopausing.
Davina hopes to stop other women feeling confused, ashamed or afraid like she was while she was going through the menopause.
