It was worst pain of my life, says Kate Lawler after hospital dash on holiday in Greece uncovered health trauma
FOR five years, Kate Lawler battled debilitating stomach pain.
But doctors repeatedly told the TV personality, 45, 'everything is fine', so she assumed it was nothing to worry about.
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It wasn't until she was rushed to hospital while on holiday in Greece that she began to suspect something serious might be wrong.
But even then, it took numerous scans back home in the UK and several misdiagnoses for her to discover the truth.
Kate, who won Big Brother in 2002, tells Sun on Sunday Health: 'My symptoms started in December 2017.
'The abdominal pain was worse than any pain I've ever had.
'It was crippling - sometimes too unbearable to even get out of bed - and it felt even worse during menstruation and sexual intercourse.
'It was a sharp, stabbing pain that would last from 10 seconds to several hours.
'Then we were on holiday in 2018 and I thought I had a serious hernia or something was wrong with me, to the point that I went to hospital.
'But doctors thought I was just going mad. They just said, 'You're fine,' and left it at that.
'I was made to believe it was simply caused by my hormones, or ovulation.'
The mum-of-one, from London, visited her GP twice and was told it might be a hernia, and she believed it could also be endometriosis, but she wasn't offered a referral.
The 5 causes of pain in the pelvis all women should know
Desperate for answers, she visited a private gynaecologist in November 2021.
'She did internal scans and all the tests and said, 'Absolutely everything is fine',' Kate says.
'All she could tell me was that everything was clear, which was a relief.
'But also, when you're told everything looks normal but you're still experiencing intense pain, you then start to think, 'Am I making this up in my head?'
'I didn't want to be a burden and keep going to the doctors, but I was so desperate to get it sorted.
'In the end I literally felt like I was going to have to live with the pain forever.'
It was only during a chance conversation at a routine appointment for her varicose veins in August 2022 that she discovered she had pelvic congestion syndrome (PCS) - a little-known condition caused by hidden varicose veins around the ovaries and womb.
It's most common in women aged 20 to 45 who have given birth more than once, as well as those with varicose veins, a family history of them, or polycystic ovary syndrome.
Most patients experience dull, achy or heavy pain in their pelvis. It may feel worse at the end of the day, before or during your period, during or after sex, and when you stand or sit for long periods.
Some people also need to use the toilet more urgently, or have pain when they pee.
Most Brits have never heard of PCS, but it affects around 1.5million people in the UK.
'We're a very veiny family'
Kate, who has appeared on Hole in the Wall, Celebrity Total Wipeout and Love Island, says: 'It was only when I went to see Professor Mark Whiteley at The Whiteley Clinic that I heard about PCS.
'I was getting the varicose veins on my legs treated and he started talking about PCS and I said, 'Sorry, what are you talking about? Because I can relate to all the symptoms you're saying.'
'I felt like that was exactly what I had.
'I had never linked my varicose veins to my pelvis but he offered to test me.
'My mum's got varicose veins, my grandparents had them, and my dad's got them all over his leg. We're a very veiny family.
'Eventually your varicose veins and your legs can cause pain and discomfort and you can end up having ulcers, which my grandma had.
'Varicose veins and PCS are often interlinked. And once I'd had the test, it transpired that I had both.'
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The most common treatment for PCS is pelvic vein embolisation - a walk-in-walk-out procedure which involves placing tiny coils, thinner than human hair, inside the damaged veins under X-ray guidance.
Kate says the procedure in November 2022 was 'uncomfortable but not painful' - and it has changed her life.
'Suffer in silence'
'I was holding a stress squeezer and cursed a few times, but once it was over it was amazing,' she says.
'I realised, 'God, I was in a lot of pain before'. I would wake up and immediately be in pain, and no amount of painkillers would get rid of it.
'I just learnt to live with it - though I didn't want to be on painkillers my whole life.
'I can't explain how much I've improved and how I no longer feel crippled by this pain that would strike at any time.'
Like thousands of others, Kate is frustrated by the lack of awareness around the condition.
She says: 'So many women go to the NHS or private doctors and they're just not given enough training when it comes to women's health, and that includes things like menopause, perimenopause and PCS.
'They get trained in a bit of everything, but unfortunately it's not enough.
'What Prof Whiteley is doing is incredible, and we just need to get the word out there.
'I want women to be able to find out exactly what's wrong with them if they're experiencing the same things I did, because most are misdiagnosed.
'I've spoken to many different people who have suffered from it, and most of them will go into hospital, have loads of scans, and then just be sent home.
'One woman was actually told to have a hysterectomy unnecessarily. The gynaecologist didn't know what was causing the pelvic pain so he thought, 'Oh, I'll take out your uterus.''
She adds: 'Women's health is so underfunded and doctors need to be more informed.
'There needs to be more money and awareness so that when a woman goes to the GP in pain, it's not brushed aside.'
Despite the challenges, Kate is urging women not to be shy about asking for help or thinking they're making a fuss.
'No woman should suffer in silence,' she says.
Dr Sophie Strong, consultant gynaecologist at The Whiteley Clinic, adds: 'A lot of the women we see will have been suffering from pelvic pain for many years but their conditions will remain undiagnosed.
'Our new Pelvic Pain Clinic is a place for women who have been told there's no hope and there's nothing that can be done for them. We can make a real difference.'
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