Judy Finnigan has revealed she almost died after ibuprofen tablets caused her to develop stomach ulcers.
The presenter said she was taking the over-the-counter medication to help with the pain from a knee injury, however, the tablets left her vomiting blood.
Judy, 70, said she was told if she didn’t go to hospital when she did, she could have bled to death within “half-an-hour”.
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Writing in a column for Express, Judy said: “Last autumn it happened to me and I nearly died.
“The culprit was good old over-the-counter ibuprofen, the seemingly harmless stuff you take for a bad back, or (in my case) a painful knee. I gulped the jolly little bright blue capsules, looking like sweeties, daily for a mere four weeks.”
She added: “And then one night I woke up and vomited copious amounts of blood. Totally out of the blue. Never experienced anything like it before and hope to God I never will again.”
Judy said she was taken to London’s Royal Free Hospital and underwent “two major life-saving blood transfusions” after developing four large stomach ulcers – one of which ruptured directly above a main artery.
Judy explained that she spent four days in hospital and she’s “absolutely fine” now.
She then urged others to be more aware of ibuprofen.
Last year, Judy and husband Richard Madeley’s daughter Chloe revealed her famous mum had effectively “retired from television”.
Chloe told The Sun: “My mum is done with TV and if she went back to it I don’t think it would make her happy. She wants to concentrate on other things, such as her health and our family.”
Richard and Judy fronted ITV daytime’s flagship programme This Morning from 1988 until 2001.
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After quitting This Morning, the couple moved to Channel 4 in 2001, where they had a 5pm chat show called Richard and Judy. The programme moved to the channel Watch in 2008, but ended in 2009.
In 2014, Judy became a panellist on ITV’s Loose Women, appearing several times until 2015. She also hosted the series We Can Work It Out.
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