Joanna Donnelly has opened up about her battle with insomnia.
The meteorologist revealed that she has been suffering for 30 years.
She explained how it affects all aspects of her life, from work to relationships, to her children.
“Insomnia is a debilitating condition that can go on for days and leave you just out, you just can’t function. I can’t eat, I can’t exercise, I can’t think straight. It’s a different condition”
The broadcaster went on to explain that one night of bad sleep is managable and that it’s easy to catch up on, but with her condition, which includes nausea, blurred vision and disorientation ‘can really limit what you’re capable of doing’.
“It’s torture. You’re tired at 9.30pm but you say ‘I’m not going to bed’ because if I go to bed at 9.30pm, I’ll fall asleep, then I’ll wake at 11.30pm and I’m awake,” she told Claire Byrne Live.
Joanna added that sufferers must keep on top of their symptoms and be aware of what they can do to you.
“Symptoms of mental health problems can creep up on you and you think that you are worthless and paranoid, and ‘nobody likes me’, obviously.
“It feels like it’s real but it’s not real, it’s a symptom of your condition.”
She also spoke about a very difficult period of the condition: “There was a few years there when I wasn’t really functioning very well, as a grown-up.
“My life got very small as well, I was only around the house and not venturing very far, not getting very much done, not expanding my career because I was tired.”
The broadcaster added that while she has many positive things in her life, such as her job, her activites and her family, the condition sometimes stops her from doing anything.
“That’s really depressing, really depressing,” she said.
“The position I have, where I’m in front of a camera, I obviously have to paint on the face, and put on the smile and shake off the personality and try to deliver the message in as nice a manner as you can. But that’s not easy, that’s hard. They tell you what the symptoms of breast cancer are: watch out for your lumps, identify the problem, find the solution and get it fixed quick before it becomes a problem.”
She advised people to recognised the symptoms of insomnia too.
Broadcaster and Meteorologist Joanna Donnelly on her personal battle with Insomnia pic.twitter.com/aAFncpK0t5
— RTÉ ClaireByrneLive (@ClaireByrneLive) April 23, 2018
