During her illustrious career, Olympian Dame Denise Lewis suffered excruciating pain. The heptathlete, who won gold at Sydney in 2000, regularly had to leave training as she was doubled over with cramps. The cause? She was living with Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
“I’ve suffered from IBS since my teens,” says Denise, 50. “I was 19 and visiting a friend in Sweden when I had my first episode. Out of nowhere I started to feel cramping in my stomach. I was literally doubled over on the floor in the foetal position and just didn’t know what was happening to me.”
The episodes continued for years.
“Thankfully I don’t remember it affecting me at competitions, but it was definitely an issue in training,” she adds. “I would have severe bowel movements which meant I’d have to excuse myself, exit the track for maybe half an hour. Obviously by then you have cooled down, so you have to re-warm up.
“It was challenging at times. You go through periods of having a massive flare up and then nothing for a while.”
During those early days Denise wrote food diaries and took intolerance tests.
“The things that were supposed to trigger me were garlic, onion and coffee. I would have been very conscientious about my diet. I was very well hydrated and still I had symptoms,” she says.
“It’s been a constant factor in my life. I have been on the floor on cold tiles with the sweat just pouring out of me because of the pain. There’s this knotting sensation which intensifies and at its peak I would be almost delirious with pain. Then you start to feel it subsiding and sometimes there’s the passing of gas, which is not pleasant. Being out could be so awful.
“I had many evenings when I was going to charity functions or awards ceremonies and dreading it. I knew that I was going to struggle during my meal as I may get a cramping episode at the table and have to excuse myself.”
The heptathlete even had episodes during her pregnancies. “They were particularly scary because you just don’t know how that high cramping sensation is affecting the baby,” she says. “You obviously have physical reactions, the sweating, the increased heart rate, because you are in pain.”
It’s only in the last few years that Denise’s IBS has been brought under control thanks to moderation, diet and awareness.
“It’s really staggering how we really don’t feel comfortable talking about IBS. Over 13 million people in the UK suffer from it but one in five don’t even want to talk to their GP.
“I was one of those people in my early days, thinking it’s quite embarrassing… the flatulence issues.”
Breakfast is usually avocado, eggs, multi-grain bread and a herbal tea. During the day she tries to “eat a rainbow” with her favourites of salads and oily fish like mackerel. She also starts her day with a shot of the water-based probiotic Symprove.
“I’d seen a few people on Instagram taking it who I knew had gut problems. It seemed a no-brainer to me to try it to help my process.”
Denise has been even more conscious of her health recently as in January she had a stent put in her gallbladder
duct.
A routine examination in 2016 had found anomalies.
“I had a narrowing in my gallbladder duct and a very, very high liver function value which the doctors couldn’t really explain,” says Denise.
“They asked if I’d been injured or been in an accident of some description. I don’t drink excessively and it didn’t make sense for some of my readings to be so high.”
While they never found a cause for the narrowing, Denise continued to be monitored until, in 2018, her doctors recommended she had a stent put in to widen the duct.
“But I said, ‘I’m fit, I’m healthy. I’m not putting a stent in my body’.”
Narrowing of the bile duct prevents bile from draining into the intestine, causing it to back up into the liver. In severe cases it can cause liver damage and jaundice.
“I became really ill just before my 50th birthday and this accelerated the need for a stent to widen the narrowing,” says Denise, who had begun suffering discomfort and mild jaundice.
Four months later it was successfully removed and, thankfully, she hasn’t experienced any issues since.
Having retired from athletics in 2005, Denise has carved out a hugely successful career as a presenter. She was awarded a Damehood in King Charles’ first Honours List and received her DBE at Windsor Castle earlier this month.
She is kept busy at home too. She is married to music manager and property developer Steve O’Connor, 59, son of the late comedian Tom.
The couple have three sons, teenagers Kane and Ryan, and Troy, four. Denise also has an older daughter Lauryn, 21, from a previous relationship.
Denise now trains online at home in Buckinghamshire.
“I haven’t gone back to the gym. I have a little exercise place in my house where I can do just enough to feel happy. I beast myself, sweat and I get my fix. I do that three times a week and I feel amazing.”
She also loves to go on “walks and talks” with friends. “It’s my mental go-to. I find a lot of peace in that.”
