Strictly Come Dancing star Vicky Pattison has opened up about her secret health battle with premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) as part of a Good Morning Britain investigation into medical misogyny in the NHS. The 37-year-old discussed her meeting with Health Secretary Wes Streeting, where she vowed to hold him accountable for improving women's reproductive healthcare.
Pattison shared her own five-year struggle to be taken seriously by doctors, saying: “My experiences when I went to discuss my symptoms were horrendous. For years, for five years, I was dismissed, I was made to feel ashamed… for the majority of the time it was men.” She added that male doctors often lack “understanding and empathy towards what we’re going through as women.”
The GMB investigation found that 60% of women have reproductive health conditions, and 51% of women surveyed felt dismissed by healthcare professionals. Pattison said she felt “listened to, understood, and heard” by Streeting, who disclosed that a family member had also experienced medical misogyny.
PMDD is described by the NHS as “a severe and chronic condition caused by an abnormal reaction in the brain to the natural hormonal changes of oestrogen and progesterone during the menstrual cycle.” Symptoms can be debilitating, and the condition often goes undiagnosed for years.
Following her appearance, Pattison received an outpouring of support on social media. One follower wrote: “Thank you for using your platform to give everyone struggling a voice,” while another added: “From the PMDD community, thank you a million times over for being a voice for us all.”
