Kate Lawler opened up about suicidal thoughts after giving birth, which left her feeling 'useless' while on Monday's episode of Loose Women trucc

Kate Lawler opened up about suicidal thoughts after giving birth, which left her feeling 'useless' while on Monday's episode of Loose Women. 

The 44-year-old, who gave birth to daughter Noa in February 2021, appeared on the ITV show to raise awareness of Pelvic congestion syndrome.

Pelvic congestion syndrome (PCS) leads to chronic pain in the pelvis, which is thought to be caused by problems with the veins in that area.

But chat soon turned to when Kate was last on the show and how she was 'child free', but has since become a mum. 

Jane praised the Big Brother star for being open about struggling, to which Kate said: 'I had to use my platform because I thought, I can't be the only one going through this.  

'When I was pregnant, I thought I was going to be sharing pictures and videos of me happily breast feeding with my new baby. 

Kate Lawler admits 'I had suicidal thoughts' on Loose Women after 'awful' health battle left her feeling 'useless'

The 44-year-old, who gave birth to daughter Noa in February 2021, appeared on the ITV show to raise awareness of Pelvic congestion syndrome

'It was the complete opposite. 

Jane asked: 'What did you struggle with?'

Kate answered: 'I had post natal depression in the first year. 

'It was such a blur. I read back at notes I made, I made loads of notes in that first year and it was awful. 

'I had suicidal thoughts. I thought I had made a mistake. I thought I had ruined my life and I had self doubt issues.

'I loved my daughter, I didn't have a problem bonding with her, the moment she came out of me I was in love. 

'But I felt useless as a parent. I couldn't breast feed. So many challenges, my mood was so rock bottom. 

'I just went into the deepest depression I've ever been into. 

'I thought, why is this happening to me? 

'Stupidly when I was pregnant I just didn't think it would happen to me, again I think I focused too much on social media and seeing everybody being happy on social media, how lovely it looked and I didn't do any research about post natal depression.

'It can happen to anyone. No matter where they are from, their background. 

'I just wanted to put it out there that I was struggling. 

'Thousands of women, even yesterday, a woman said "Your book really helped me".  

'That's why I thought I had to write a book. To just get it out there of what being a new parent can be like.

'Not necessarily for everyone, some people love it and breeze through it. 

'But I really struggled being a new mum.'

Kate shares her daughter Noa with her husband Martin Bojtos, but the pair started dating when she was nearly 33
Elsewhere in the chat, Kate spoke about what it was like having Pelvic congestion syndrome. 

The star was admitted to hospital in 2018 because the pain was so great, but was repeatedly told it was something that she just had to put up with.   

Kate explained: 'My symptoms started in December 2017.

'I had the worst pain in my lower groin area and I went to the doctors, I had a trans abdominal scan, a pelvic scan. I ended up in March, here in the UK because the pain was so bad. 

'I had another scan, everything was telling me, the A&E trip said that I had a hernia, I didn't have a hernia. 

'Then thought I had appendicitis, wasn't that. I ended up in Greece on holiday, I was like "Something bad is happening!" 

'They are like "Everything is fine!"  

'I was thinking "Am I going mad?"'

Then she was put in the right direction while seeing a vein specialist at a clinic on Bond Street in August 2022.

The mum-of-one went to see a doctor about the varicose veins in her legs because they were started to cause her pain.

Kate was left lost for words when he told her that the veins could be because of PCS and went on to have a proper scan, which confirmed she had it and she was treated for it with a walk-in, walk-out procedure.

'It's called pelvic pain embolisation,' Kate explained. 

'They use platinum coils, they use these coils around the veins and they stop the veins from working.' 

Jane asked: 'All those years and you could have been pain free?'

Kate replied: 'Yeah. This is the thing. GPs don't know enough about it. 

'We need increased investment in research, we need better access to specialised services. We need a greater focus in women's issues in the NHS.' 

Loose Women airs weekdays on ITV1 from 12:30pm and is available to stream on ITVX.