Spin 1038 DJ Nikki Hayes has spoken candidly about experiencing a breakdown.
The radio star received a diagnosis for EUPD (emotionally unstable personality disorder) last year, and she has opened up about the day she was hospitalised.
After suffering from depression and anxiety for years, the 36-year-old said that last September she was on her own in the house and “everything just stopped working”.
“I couldn’t leave the house one minute or thought everything was wonderful the next, but on the day it happened, I was brought to hospital when everything just stopped working,” she told the Irish Daily Mail.
Nikki’s husband Frank was at a rugby match at the time and she had just put her daughter Farrah to bed when she experienced the breakdown.
“I went to the fridge to get milk for tea and couldn’t figure out how to open it. I started roaring crying, I was distraught and rang Frank to come home.
“The ambulance came then and I was there in the psychiatric ward for the five weeks.”
One there, she finally got the diagnosis she needed. “I have EUPD and that basically means your hormones are unregulated,” she said.
“You go to extremes on everything and give yourself anxiety because you’re overthinking everything. It’s in the same family as bipolar.
She added: “In a weird way, it’s been a good thing for me because I’ve suffered over the years from depression, anxiety, eating disorders and I never really had a diagnosis.”
The popular DJ said she’s now in a good place: “Before, I’d be getting back on an even keel and then something would happen that would set me back.
“This is the first time everything is working.”
