Denise Welch has opened up about a recent health scare during her trip to Los Angeles, revealing a relapse in her battle with depression.
Speaking candidly on Monday’s (May 19) episode of Loose Women, the 65-year-old actress and TV presenter joined Ruth Langsford, Coleen Nolan and Brenda Edwards on the panel and shared the emotional details of her experience abroad.
Denise Welch opens up about battle with depression
Denise Welch had been in LA for 18 days to celebrate her eldest son Matty Healy’s engagement.
However, the first part of the trip was unexpectedly overshadowed by what she calls her “unwelcome visitor” – a sudden return of depressive symptoms.
“The second half, when the sun came out, was absolutely gorgeous,” Denise began. “But the first half, sadly, was blighted by a return of my unwelcome visitor. After five years clear of that illness and not having any symptoms, I had a breakdown before Christmas, which I talked about. I had to pull out of the pantomime. It was only the second time I’ve ever had to do that in my career.
“Then I was well, and I went off to LA excited. Two days in, I went to a market to meet a friend. I was paying for a little trinket… and suddenly I got the panic and the tingling in my palms and the metallic taste in my mouth. Within a minute, the depression was on me. That’s how mine comes on.”
Fellow panellist Ruth Langsford reflected on how Denise has described the sudden onset in the past.
“It’s always astounded me how quickly that comes over you. You talked about the time when you were driving with your nieces and your sister, all excited to go on holiday… and suddenly it was the pins and needles.”
‘It’s incredibly rare’
“The pins and needles in my hands and the metallic taste in my mouth,” Denise clarified. “It doesn’t always start with anxiety, but I can always feel a tingling, as if I’ve put a coin in my mouth, and then there’s a foreboding. It comes on like a whoosh.
“Over the years, I’ve explained it to psychologists, psychiatrists, doctors. At one point, they thought it might be temporal epilepsy, and in a way, I was hoping it was. Because if it was, they could give me a pill and I’d be better. But it wasn’t that.”
Denise shared that she had spoken with a neurologist in LA, who offered fresh insight into her symptoms.
“I was explaining the onset of my depression, and he said it’s incredibly rare, whether it’s chemical or reactive. He asked because your son has excruciating cluster migraines, have you ever had a migraine?
“I said no, I barely get headaches, I’m a stomach person! And he said: ‘Have you ever heard of non-headache migraines?’ I had never heard of such a thing.”
The neurologist suggested Denise explored the concept of non-headache migraines, a type of migraine where sufferers don’t experience head pain, but instead a wave of neurological symptoms such as auras, tingling sensations or intense mood changes.
Denise also mentioned learning about cortical spreading depression, a wave of brain activity linked to migraines that may mirror how her depressive episodes strike so suddenly.
“In 36 years, nobody has said to me: ‘Have a look at the symptoms of non-headache migraines.’ It just shows how lacking we are in constant research into depression.”
Ruth concluded by adding a striking statistic. “People with migraines are five times more likely to develop depression than people without migraines.”
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