Kirsty Young’s doctor ‘snorted’ at her fibromyalgia suggestion before diagnosis

Kirsty Young says that her suggested explanation for a chronic pain condition that forced her to step away from her broadcasting job was dismissed with a “snort” from a medical professional.

The former Desert Island Discs host, 55, left her Radio 4 show as she underwent treatment for fibromyalgia and rheumatoid arthritis.

She told Radio 4’s Today programme that she is “doing okay at the moment” but she finds it “very uncomfortable” to talk about her health.

The Scottish BBC broadcaster says with fibromyalgia “your pain centre is overinterpreting things that would happen normally in your body”, and also explained it has symptoms such as brain fog and chronic fatigue.

She added: “I have at my worst felt as though someone has drugged my cup of tea, almost sort of swaying with fatigue, and (I feel like) just having to just opt out of doing anything because the fatigue is almost like cement in your body.”

Young recalled that she spent a “long time” in pain, which started in her elbow joints, before being diagnosed.

“I wasn’t managing,” she added. “I had it for probably about a year to a year and half, increasing, it increased over time and the migraines became more, the pain became more, the fatigue became more, so it kind of increased over time before I successfully managed (to get medical advice).”

Young said that when she asked a medical professional about it being fibromyalgia, she “memorably” dismissed her concerns.

She added: “I said ‘I’ve read about this thing called fibromyalgia, could it be fibromyalgia?’ They actually did snort… She snorted… I said: ‘Is that not a thing?’ She said: ‘That’s not a thing, that’s where we put people when they don’t have something, just to say they’ve got something’.

“I now, of course, realise the depths of that particular medic’s ignorance on the subject.”

Young says when she was “finally” diagnosed, she no longer felt like “a crazy lady”, and could explain how she was feeling, and also recalled difficulties managing her pain.

“I think I coped chaotically and badly,” she also said.

Young said she was “quite horrible to be married to”, and “prioritised” work and her children over the rest of her life as she could not manage with anything else.

She added: “I was hollowed out by it, I remember I just finished recording (an edition) of Desert Island Discs, and it had gone well, and I was walking down Regent’s Street in central London and I was standing at the traffic lights, and I just had missed the crossing, and I had somewhere to be and I had to get there in time, and I just burst into tears.”

Young said this was an example of something that “tipped” her emotions over, and a doctor explained to her that she would get to the “end of the tunnel”.

She said she does not want to make a documentary, despite offers, as she feels “privileged” that she has the kind of comfortable lifestyle where she can give up her job at the helm of Desert Island Discs.

Young also described her condition as a “little private horror”, and said that she feels a lot of “shame” when there are people going through worse conditions.

She added: “If you are in your life, and you are dealing with chronic pain, day in day out, night in night out, then that is a hell of a thing to deal with, but I am self-conscious talking to you today about it.”

Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is a long-term condition that causes pain all over the body, according to the NHS.

Rheumatoid arthritis is described as a long-term condition that causes pain, swelling and stiffness in the joints.

Young has fronted various big events since leaving her radio show including the BBC’s Platinum Jubilee and D-Day programme, and has a Radio 4 podcast with famous guests called Young Again.