Appearing on ITV's This Morning, Alexandra Burke revealed she's been privately battling with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) symptoms since her 20s, which would cause "crippling" pain during her performances.
"Every time I had all these symptoms that would occur I would always think it was anxiety or something else that triggered it, and anxiety played a massive part in it all, but I just didn't know what it was," she told hosts Alison Hammond and Dermot O'Leary.
"I was cutting out foods, I was doing everything possible to change my lifestyle with how I was eating, I was skipping meals before shows [despite of course being hungry], because all of the pain would come after eating."
First experiencing symptoms just after X Factor, she explained, "It got to the point where it was out of control, like it was an out of body experience. It's something that I was too shy and ashamed to speak about, which I shouldn't be."
Burke experienced cramping, a constant feeling of wanting to go to the toilet, pain after eating food, which she would try to help with exercise and meditation. And then, eventually going to the doctors, she was recommended a product called Symprove (a probiotic).
While everyone is different, and you should check with your doctor what's best for you, she added: "It's been my life changing friend, it's changed everything."
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