Keltie Knight went through a long period of debilitating health symptoms before she was finally diagnosed with the rare blood disease microcytic anemia.
Two months after revealing her diagnosis in an Instagram video and essay for the website E!, The Hey! News correspondent, 42, opened up about being gassed by doctors during an appearance on Tamron Hall show on Wednesday, May 29.
“Every time I went to the doctor, Tamron, I knew I couldn’t see the teleprompter in action. I memorized my scripts before I went there. And every time I went to the doctor, I would think the same .. ‘Well, you’re eating are there enough vegetables?’ ‘So, are you drinking enough water?’ ‘Well, you know you’re just working too hard, maybe you’ll feel better,’ said the TV personality.
Knight said her doctor’s words made her feel like it was “my fault” and that it was something she took to heart.
“I said, ‘Oh well, this is my fault because you’re right. I had coffee with coffee this morning instead of green juice. So obviously this rash that I have over 75% of my body is something I did to myself, ‘ ” she said.
“And then I felt the shame of saying, ‘Oh my God, I’m so bad at being a woman that I’m hurting myself,'” Knight said. “And I tried so hard to fix these things that they said – I drank water, I drank green juice. Nothing helped. So I felt crazy.”
Keltie Knight is set to appear on ‘Tamron Hall’.
Keltie Knight/Instagram
After visiting 15 doctors, Knight was referred by a friend to a doctor who was finally able to diagnose her.
“I went and the blood test was about 60 pages long. I’ve never seen anything so thorough before. And when I went for the checkup, he looked me in the eye and said, ‘You’ve been very sick. He’s going to make you well.’ And I just started bawling,” Knight recalled.
“It was the first time a doctor looked me in the eye and said, ‘You’re justified in feeling that way.’ And that’s when we started the process of doing the work, getting to the bottom of this,” she said.
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Keltie Knight at the Women’s Guild Cedars-Sinai Spring Luncheon and Neiman Marcus Fashion Show.
Unique Nicole/Getty
The Cleveland Clinic states that microcytic anemia occurs when a person’s red blood cells do not have enough hemoglobin, which helps red blood cells carry oxygen throughout the body.
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Knight said she decided to speak out about her experience to inspire “all women to realize that they’re not crazy, they’re not liars, their symptoms are real and they need to keep fighting for their health until they find help.”
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education