During her time on Love Island, Tayla Damir put her heart on the line and shared some of her most intimate feelings with the Aussie public. But now, the reality star has opened up about her ongoing health battle that she’s been dealing with for as long as she can remember.
Taking to Instagram over the weekend, Tayla, 24, shared some personal “graphic” photos of herself, including ones taken in hospital.
“Finally some answers!” she captioned the post.
“I’m about to share a part of my life I’ve kept pretty private over the years. I haven’t kept this to myself for any other reason than I had no idea what was wrong with me.”
The season one Love Island winner went on to explain: “For as long as I can remember, I’ve had stomach and hormone issues. As you guys know, I get extremely bloated and can have massive mood swings and fatigue. I have had countless blood tests, seen naturopaths, hormone specialist, doctors and was always given the same answer; ‘you have a sensitive body and need to stress less’.”
Tayla then explained that at the start of 2020, her pain and symptoms “heightened to a whole new level.”
“I was having excessive hot flushes, excruciating period pain. As you can see in the pics, I would have a hot pack on my bare skin, so that pain would hurt more than the pain of the cramps,” she explained.
The 24-year-old added that she would feel nauseous around the times she was ovulating and had her period and endured abdominal pain whenever she ran or did any HIIT (high-intensity interval training) workouts.
Tayla also suffered from fatigue which she struggled with as she would appear well, but on the inside, she knew something was wrong with her body.
However, Tayla took her health and wellneing into her own hands when she went to hospital in early 2020 with pain that turned out to be cysts.
“From here I was recommended to see Dr Catarina Ang. She was the first gyne to listen,” Tayla explained.
“I had my first laparoscopy on Friday to confirm if I had Endometriosis (a disorder in which tissue that normally lines the uterus grows outside the uterus).
The endo was discovered growing on the left tube but thankfully I only had a very small amount. We also discovered I have an overactive pelvic floor which is where most of my pain comes from so I’ll be doing lots of physio therapy to get that under control.”
Despite admitting that she’s still “in lots of pain”, Tayla expressed her gratitude that she finally has some answers, an amazing doctor and nurse team helping her as well as the fact that only a small amount of endometriosis was found and has now been removed.
Tayla also thanked two of her close friends, including Love Island season one runner-up Erin Barnett who has also spoken about her experience with endometriosis.
“This post is to remind people to listen to their bodies. If it wasn’t for people like @erin.alysha and @kylie_m_brown always sharing their symptoms and pain, I wouldn’t have related so much and wouldn’t have had the balls to keep investigating until I had answers. Also big love to all my incredible friends and family for your constant check ins.”
Not long after posting, many Aussie female celebs thanked Tayla for her candour and sent her their well-wishes.
“Sending lots of love babe,” Love Island host Sophie Monk wrote.
“Feel your pain babe,” Married At First Sight star Ines Basic penned.
Former Bachelorette Angie Kent, who has spoken openly about her own endometriosis struggles also wrote: “You’re not alone girl, it’s just that we’re finally getting answers and can help other sisters who are suffering in silence! Let the healing begin. It’s a long one, but it’s totally worth it, love and light.”
Back in 2018, Tayla famously won the first ever season of Love Island Australia with Grant Crapp, but the pair called it quits just days after the finale when Grant returned to the secret girlfriend he’d been dating before the show.
“In the nicest way possible, that wasn’t heartbreak to me, that was more embarrassment. That was more ‘Ok this situation sucks and I fell for this,’” she stated on the Shameless podcast last month.
“It was six weeks – it was not ‘This is the person that I’m going to marry.’ Yes it felt like that being trapped in a little bubble at the time but then coming out and realising that I felt so much more heartbreak over past relationships, I looked at this as ‘You know what, you’re nothing, get away from me.’”
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