Abbie Chatfield has opened up about a three day stint in hospital last after ignoring symptoms of a urinary tract infection (UTI).
In a series of Instagram stories, the podcaster and TV host revealed why she’s been quiet on social media of late, sharing that amidst filming for The Masked Singer, she tried to carry on working only to end up in a hospital bed.
It’s the second time the influencer has been admitted to hospital in the past month, citing the “worst tension migraine” of her life for the first stint.
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The four Instagram stories showed Chatfield lying in a hospital bed, with the following captions:
“Hello everyone, only now able to use my phone bc I’ve been so sick but I’ve been in hospital for the last 3 days.
“I had a kidney infection and was basically in denial about how bad it was so didn’t go straight to hospital, despite crying from the pain in my bladder and back. I just thought my oral antibiotics would fix it.”
And then I got on a plane for work and ended up in hospital away from home.”
She continued, “I didn’t want to mess anyone around so I just tried to do the work I had planned to do (like I always stupidly do) and now I’ve ended up messing everyone around MORE and also I’m very sick in a place none of my friends or family can come visit me.”
Chatfield said the kidney infection came from a UTI, which she has spoken about contracting often. While UTIs are usually treatable with antibiotics, if the infection gets severe enough, it can reach the kidneys, causing serious illness.
“If you have UTI symptoms and back pain/nausea don’t f*ck around with that. Go to hospital.”
“I knew this logically bc I’m a UTI QUEEN but was taking a chance I should have and thought I could work.”
She also said that by delaying her admission to hospital, she ended up needing to be treated with strong painkillers fentanyl, oxycodone, along with valium to treat severe anxiety.
“Anyway ily just remember to try to connect with the pain you’re having instead of distracting yourself from it”, she concluded.
Chatfield also touched on the trend of women and people assigned female at birth being conditioned to minimise their pain – or push through it to avoid being seen as weak.
It’s not the first time Chatfield has spoken about the importance of women advocating for their own health, which is often attributed to hysteria or just misdiagnosed, as symptoms differ to those of men.
Earlier this year Chatfield pursued a diagnosis for ADHD, which she eventually got in May – the treatment for which she said has changed her life.
“A lot of women have different symptoms to men when they’re younger, so they go undiagnosed for a longer time,” she said.
“A lot of women get diagnosed in adulthood, and their symptoms will get confused with anxiety and depression.”
