Hundreds of This Morning viewers complained to Ofcom after presenter Cherry Healey was accused of giving out the “wrong information” about UTIs.
While appearing on This Morning last week, Cherry revealed her experience of suffering from a urine infection. After leaving it untreated, she was hospitalised for five days.
Talking about her own experience, she appeared on the ITV show alongside Senior Urologist Jean McDonald to inform viewers of the dangers of ignoring possible symptoms. Ignoring these signs can affect your bladder and kidneys and leave you with permanent damage.
‘It’s actually scarred my kidneys’
“I woke up on Thursday and it was definitely there [a UTI]. But I was a bridesmaid – I was actually maid of honour at my best friend’s wedding – and I was going straight from filming to her wedding in the countryside. It’s in the middle of nowhere. There’s no way I could get to a doctor,” she explained.
To avoid missing her best friend’s big day, she said she dealt with it by “just drinking cranberry juice and taking painkillers”. However, that didn’t help as she revealed she could feel her body “getting sicker and sicker”. At the wedding, she felt “horrendous”.
She continued: “I had a blanket wrapped around me the whole wedding pretty much, because I was shaking uncontrollably because I had a fever. What happened was it had moved up to my kidneys.”
After visiting A&E the next day, she admitted they “couldn’t work out what was going on”. She also stated that she didn’t even tell them she had a UTI as she didn’t believe she had one.
“It’s only when they did a lumbar puncture on me they found out. It’s actually scarred my kidneys. That’s what happens if you don’t listen to your body!”
This Morning slapped with Ofcom complaints
Cherry added that she had been drinking cranberry juice, which is believed to help urine infections, as well as taking painkillers, even though she claimed “painkillers don’t work on UTIs”.
However, her advice didn’t go down particularly well as it prompted 129 people to complain to Ofcom amid claims of giving out inaccurate information.
According to the NHS website: “Some people take cystitis sachets or cranberry drinks and products every day to prevent UTIs from happening, which may help.”
That said, the NHS states there is “no evidence” they help with symptoms or treat the infection that has already started.
ED! has contacted This Morning reps for comment.
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