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Studio 10 star Denise Drysdale's crippling battle with nerve disorder: 'Debilitating'
Studio 10 star Denise Drysdale was rushed to hospital in 'unspeakable agony' last month due to a 'rare nerve disorder' and now her son Peter Milne has shared an update on his mum's condition.
Speaking to her Studio 10 co-hosts on Monday, Peter confirmed his 72-year-old mother is suffering from Trigeminal Neuralgia.
"Mum has likened it to a shocking sort of pain right at the back of her eyes, sending electric shocks," he said.
"It comes in waves, and [had] little triggers like being on the phone, texting, laughing, anything where she needed to use her brain is just sending these terrible debilitating pains."
Trigeminal Neuralgia is a chronic pain condition that affects the trigeminal or 5th cranial nerve.
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Peter added that Denise undergoes 'high intensity acupuncture' at a local clinic several days a week, which helps the pain 'dissipate' somewhat.
"She managed to have a nice little plate of spaghetti the other day and she would not have eaten for over a week. She was trying to spoon little bits of yoghurt and couldn't swallow," he added.
But the TV veteran has apparently still taken the illness in her stride and according to her son hasn't lost her sense of humour.
Denise is no stranger to health battles over the years.
In 2019, she was hit with a string of health issues beginning with a knee injury that required a knee replacement.
After the surgery, she developed blood clots in her knee and ended up suffering headaches and vision loss which doctors later discovered was caused by a detached retina.
While recovering from treatment for her eye, Denise also received multiple courses of intravenous antibiotics to tackle infected lumps on her head. And on New Year's Eve, she discovered a lump on her breast which thankfully turned out to be a cyst.
Denise's unlucky streak continued in late 2020 when she fell and broke her shoulder while filming Channel 7's mini-golf series, Holey Moley.
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