A little private horror: Kirsty Young's life with chronic pain

Kirsty Young stepped down from presenting BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs in 2018

Broadcaster Kirsty Young has revealed the loneliness of living with chronic pain, describing it as "very isolating".

The former Desert Island Discs presenter stepped back from the programme in 2018 after she was diagnosed with fibromyalgia.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Thursday, Young said she was "hollowed out by it".

She also said she felt a sense of "failure and shame", as well as a reluctance to talk about it to other people.

'Private horror'

"It's very isolating," she told presenter Emma Barnett. "It came as a surprise to even people I worked very closely with. People who are friends.

"They were like, 'Oh, I didn't know'. And I thought, well yeah, you didn't know because I didn't talk about it. It was a little private horror."

Fibromyalgia causes pain all over the body and can bring on severe fatigue. Young also has rheumatoid arthritis, which causes pain, swelling and stiffness in the joints. The two long-term conditions are often linked.

The broadcaster said she felt a certain self-consciousness about discussing her condition. "There are a lot of feelings that surround it, I think a sense of failure and shame," she explained.

"[There's] a sense that there are people much worse off than me. Which of course is true, there are people dealing with stage three diagnosis of cancer, so why am I going to talk about chronic pain?

"There's that sense in which there's always somebody worse off. Well that's true, but if you're in your life, and you are dealing with chronic pain day in, day out, night in, night out, then that's a hell of a thing to deal with."

She added: "But I'm self-conscious talking to you about it today. I'm self-conscious about it, and I also think it's ridiculous to be self-conscious."

Young described how one doctor "snorted" when she suggested she might have fibromyalgia, before she was finally diagnosed.

She said she recognised the many demands on the NHS, but added: "I would say that it would be to the advantage of the overstretched health service to take people with chronic long-term pain seriously and not just palm them off with either a big pack of painkillers or some heavy antidepressants."

Young returned to the airwaves a few years after stepping down from Desert Island Discs, fronting occasional major events for the BBC.

She presented BBC coverage of Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee and then the monarch's funeral in 2022.

She returned to Desert Island Discs, this time as an interviewee, later that year, where she also spoke about living with fibromyalgia in a conversation with her successor as presenter, Lauren Laverne.

If you have been affected by any of these issues, speak with a doctor. You can also visit BBC Action Line for information.