Olivia Bowen voices fertility fears after not taking medical condition seriously
The former Love Island star, 26, explained how she’d been diagnosed with an underachieve thyroid as a child but hasn't taken the condition seriously or been taking her medication in recent years
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Love Island's Olivia Bowen has heartbreakingly revealed fears she's scuppered her chances of having kids as she opens up on the impact of her under-active thyroid.
The star, who came second in 2016's series with now-hubby Alex Bowen, has candidly confessed she’s uncertain of her future fertility because she been 'irresponsible' at dealing with her condition.
On Wednesday’s edition of Steph’s Packed Lunch on Channel 4, the Love Island runner-up spoke to Dr Javid Abdelmoneim as part of the show’s ‘Celebrity Surgery’ segment.
Olivia, 26, explained to the doc how she’d been diagnosed with an under-active thyroid as a child.
The reality star revealed: “I got diagnosed when I was 10.
“Back then I was good with it, I always took my medication.
“Whereas now, where I’ve got really busy in the last four years, it has taken a bit of a backseat.”
Olivia went on to reel off the awful list of symptoms which come with having the condition.
“I’m one of those people that should take it seriously but don’t… I suffer a lot with tiredness, I think that’s my main thing.
“I’m always fatigued, I’ll sleep about 10 hours a night and still feel tired, I’ll want to nap in the day.
“I can have really awful moods, really low, low moods.”
But in addition to these side effects, Olivia’s condition can prevent ovulation, making it difficult to become pregnant.
Explaining her concerns to Dr Javid, she said: “I have a lot of people asking me, ‘When are you going to have kids, when do you want to get pregnant?’
“In the back of my head, I’m like ‘Can I?’, because I’ve been so irresponsible.
“I know how much Alex wants to have kids, so that’s another reason why I need to be a bit more on it and careful, and make sure I’m giving us both the chances.”
Dr Javid, who helps celebrity patients in their quest for better health, ordered a blood test to confirm her low thyroid levels and got women’s health GP Doctor Yash to recommend Olivia get back to taking daily medication.
Olivia asked Dr Yash, if the medication would need to be adjusted for her to get pregnant.
She asked: “My husband and I have been speaking about having a kid next year, possibly. In that case, how does it change?”
The star was then stunned to lean she would need to increase her medication dosages during pregnancy and receive close monitoring from medics.
Shocked Olivia said: “I had no idea it was that involved… I’m quite a defiant person.
“I always told myself, ‘Oh I’m fine, I don’t need’, whereas obviously now I know….
“Now I know how important it is, I can put that message out to other people and make sure they’re staying on top of it as well, because I know how hard it is and how we sometimes think we don’t need help – but we do.”
Olivia and Alex, 28, entered the villa during the 2016 series, becoming fan favourites and taking second place.
They tied the knot in 2018, their careers going from strength to strength.
Asked why she thinks they're relationship works so well, she dished to MailOnline previously: "It's such a hard one to answer because I was never ready for a relationship when I went in there and we tried to be friends for such a long time.
"We were sort of trying to make it really casual and not really looking at it as a relationship and I think that's partly the reason why.
"It happened so naturally in such an unnatural environment, we just clicked."
Now they're thought to have racked up a staggering £4.5 million fortune, and are said to earn £2000 for endorsing products on their Instagram pages.
Olivia previously told The Sun : "I didn't go on Love Island for love, I didn't go in for money, I just went in for a laugh.
"My friends say I've become a nicer person because of Love Island.
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