Susannah Constantine has revealed she was at risk of having a stroke – but surgery saved her life.
The TV personality, 61, was rushed to hospital for emergency surgery last year after suffering from an arteriovenous malformation (AVM), a rare neurological condition that disrupts the flow of blood and oxygen to the brain.
Addressing her health in a new interview with The Times, Susannah revealed if it wasn’t treated in time she could have suffered a brain haemorrhage, paralysis or stroke.
She said: ‘My left arm became weaker. All the muscles were atrophied, it was withered. I got to the point where I couldn’t even change gear in my car and it was very painful.’.
Susannah added: ‘It was actually the receptionist who looked at the notes, which had been sitting there over a year, and said, ‘You need to see a neurosurgeon immediately.”
Susannah Constantine has revealed she was at risk of having a stroke – but surgery saved her life
The TV personality, 61, was rushed to hospital for emergency surgery last year after suffering from an arteriovenous malformation (AVM), a rare neurological condition that disrupts the flow of blood and oxygen to the brain
She went on to have life-saving surgery, explaining: ‘Women are very resilient. I’ve learnt just to be accepting of everything and I couldn’t change anything that was out of my control.
‘Being older, you’re just like, “OK, it’s done. On to the next thing.” Things start falling off and there’s nothing we can do about it. You just have to be more vigilant and take more responsibility about one’s health.’
It comes after Susannah admitted that she thinks about her ‘own mortality’ first thing every morning following her ‘life threatening neurological’ scare.
Addressing her health on Thursday’s Loose Women, she said she is now ‘in a good place’ and is less fearful.
Susannah explained: ‘I feel fine. I had this weird neurological disorder and it was life threatening but at this age you just take these things on board.
‘When you get older you become less fearful. But, I still think about my own mortality first thing every morning.’
Laughing she continued: ‘I’m cool about it. I’m in a good place. I’m a wife and mother. a housewife that has to work and that’s how I like it.’
Susannah also opened up about her 30-year friendship with partner in ‘fashion’ Trinny Woodall and said: ‘I think because we became such close friends, and we continue to be such close friends, because we are complete opposites.
‘All the kinds of things that I lack in my personality or emotionally, she has and vice versa.
‘So, I can’t think of a single thing that we do the same. We think the same about a lot of things but you know, she’ll, [and] this has just come to the top of my head, but when I go to loo, I’ll use one piece of loo paper and she’ll use the whole roll.’
Addressing her health in a new interview with The Times, Susannah revealed if it wasn’t treated in time she could have suffered a brain haemorrhage, paralysis or stroke
‘She’s very extreme and it’s like, I’m the brake and she’s the acceleration. I think when you meet someone and there is that chemistry, it’s about knowing to recognise that and knowing that, and going, ‘Okay, that person is going to balance me out’ and that’s what she does for me.’
Last year, Susannah was rushed to hospital for emergency surgery as doctors told her she was ‘lucky to be alive’.
Speaking after the worrying ordeal in February, Susannah said she had initially brushed off her pins and needles symptoms in her arm.
Susannah told OK! magazine that she was given stark words of warning from doctors during the health crisis.
She said: ‘They said ‘It’s Hobson’s Choice, if you don’t have the operation, you’ve got a one in three chance of having a brain haemorrhage, being paralysed or having a stroke.
‘If you do have surgery, you’ve got a one in ten chance of these same things happening during the operation.”
Susannah’s condition is typically created surgically or appears as a result of a congenital or genetic abnormality.
It had led to bleeding into the capillaries, affecting her spinal cord and brain, and putting her at imminent risk of paralysis, a stroke, or a haemorrhage.
She said: ‘I had a health scare and a pretty major operation. It was a very rare thing where I had a leak – the arteries were bleeding into the capillaries and trapping the spinal cord, and affecting my brain.’
It was causing symptoms such as pins and needles in her arm, as well as a swollen left eye and tinnitus.
Susannah first spoke about the scary incident when she revealed she was rushed to hospital after struggling with a ‘withering arm’.
The presenter took to Instagram to share that she’d been placed on a drip after the health scare, which turned out to be ‘more serious’ than she first thought.
Luckily, Susannah reassured her followers that the health problem was ‘all sorted now,’ and praised the ‘magnificent’ NHS and neurosurgeons for taking care of her.
Posting a snap of her arm connected to a cannula, Susanna wrote: ‘Withered arm turned out to be symptom of something a bit more serious.
‘All sorted now thanks to our ailing but still magnificent NHS where we are lucky enough to have some of the most gifted doctors (and in this case neurosurgeons) in the world. @brainandspine. Forever grateful.’
Susannah previously revealed she’s been suffering from hearing loss , and shared details of her devastating diagnosis and the treatment that changed her life in an interview with The Mirror .
She added: ‘When you get older you become less fearful. But, I still think about my own mortality first thing every morning’
She spent a lifetime in loud environments, juggling between production studios and live gigs – but it was the incapacity to hear birds singing that alarmed her.
The award-winning author realised she had problems with her hearing earlier this year, but admitted the problem could have been going on for a year and half.
The famous writer – who lives in the countryside – said the birdsong was one of the most comforting things to her, as all of a sudden she just couldn’t hear that anymore.
‘It was a cacophony of noise without the clarity and differentiation. That’s when I realised. Well, that coupled with my children [Joe, 25, Esme, 23 and Cece, 20] calling me deaf and getting really frustrated with me,’ she said.
Susannah admitted social situations became more and more difficult to bear, with ambient noise being ‘awful’.
‘I wasn’t able to hear the person sitting next to me. I’d become an amateur lip reader, but if I couldn’t see someone’s face, I had no idea what they were saying. It was embarrassing,’ she revealed.
The clothing designer got candid about her ‘shame’ of seeking help with her problem – as she admitted she’d always dreaded age-related hearing loss.
‘There can be a huge stigma around wearing hearing aids, I felt like I might as well go to the funeral director and order my coffin, it made me feel so old,’ Susannah explained.
But things took a turn when the TV star decided to book a hearing test at Boots, finally overcoming the shaming stigma.
Susannah recalled the moment she did her hearing test, saying she sat in a soundproof booth with headphones on as she listened to a continuous beep, and only pressed the button when she could hear it.
The famous style advisor was initially convinced everything went well and was quite sure she was ‘not deaf’ – but there were several pitches she had no idea she couldn’t hear.
The test showed that years of tear and wear – such as listening to music on headphones on a very high volume – left the author in need of hearing aid.
The BBC star surely had a life studded of sensational moments, such as being on tour with the Scissor Sisters in the past – where she was often closely exposed to speakers as a big fan of live music.
Despite the initially devastating diagnosis, Susannah admitted hearing aids changed her life forever – describing her Phonak as ‘transformative’ and ‘comfortable’.
The former fashion journalist joked the hearing technology looks something as the like of ‘NASA’ and that such a thing blew her away only after she got to try it.
Susannah explained these types of hearing aids can comfortably become part of your life, as they can be worn while swimming, or washing your hair – as long as you are careful.
She also said they have an embedded Bluetooth – where she often listens to music and calls, although ‘the music isn’t as good as it was through headphones’.
The TV personality also revealed her eldest daughter admitted her hearing improved significantly.
It comes after Susannah revealed she’s been suffering from hearing loss, and has shared details of her devastating diagnosis and the treatment that changed her life
Susannah recalled her very first test – which was a noisy big party.
The award-winning author revealed she was in fact doing better than many of the people present at the party – with many asking to turn the volume down to talk, while to her everything was ‘ perfectly pitched’.
That’s when things took a great turn for Susannah, as she said she finally started embracing her new accessory.
She felt even better when she realised her previous shamed was so unmotivated, as many of the people around her showed support and were actually amazed by how ‘subtle’ the technology was.
The writer recalled lifting up her hair asking people if they noticed ‘anything new’ about her – with some hilariously her if she ‘got a piercing’.
The TV star admitted seeking help with hear hearing loss turned out to be game-changing, as it allowed her to appreciate what she was missing out – and to take her life back in her hands.
Susannah also urged anyone who notices symptoms of hearing loss to get tested.
