Former EastEnders star has had ’40 doctors appointments’ and spent ‘over five figures’ amid gruelling health condition
FORMER Lucy Beale actress Melissa Suffield has shared how she had around 40 GP appointments last year and feels she’s a burden on the NHS.
Battling small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, Melissa Suffield, who turned 32 on Christmas Eve, is raising awareness for SIBO after she became ill in December 2023.
Fighting for a diagnosis after experiencing “horrible nausea”, Melissa has felt nauseous “ever since” and has spent an eye-watering amount of money on prescriptions.
Melissa also believes that she’s a bigger burden on the NHS now, after having lost weight due to her health condition, compared to when she was bigger before her SIBO diagnosis.
“I am now currently more of a burden on the NHS than I was when I was bigger last year. That is a fact. That is a pure fact,” she told us in an exclusive interview,
“I’ve been bounced around from this department to this department.
“I’ve been requesting tests left, right, and centre. I’m almost at 40 GP visits just this year.”
She then added how she has spent more than five figures and an “obscene amount of money on prescriptions” adding: “I am a bigger burden on the NHS in my smaller body, with my perfect BMI.”
Elsewhere in her chat with us, Melissa spoke of how she has now proven that bigger people are not a burden on the NHS.
“What it [losing weight because of SIBO] has helped me do is prove the point that I’ve always, always made, which is that you cannot define how healthy someone is, by how much they weigh, or how fat you think they look or whatever it is that you think you know,” the former Lucy Beale star told us.
“We say, ‘oh, you know fat people, they’re a burden. Blah! Blah!’ It’s not true. It’s just not true,” she urged.
The former soap star played Lucy Beale from 2004 until 2010.
Hetti Bywater took over the role of Lucy Beale in January 2012.
CAREER U-TURN
This comes as Melissa continues to make a name for herself in the influencing work, with her having just recently signed to a talent agency.
Known for creating body-positive content on her Instagram page, Melissa often promotes self-love by rocking lingerie and styling clothing to give her followers inspiration.
Earlier this week, Melissa announced that she had been signed to Rede Talent – an agency set up by Snowflake Mountain star Liam Brown.
What is SIBO?
SIBO is also known as small intestinal bacterial overgrowth.
According to the Mayo Clinic, the condition occurs “when there is an abnormal increase in the overall bacterial population in the small intestine — particularly types of bacteria not commonly found in that part of the digestive tract.”
Symptoms are listed as a loss of appetite, abdominal pain, nausea, bloating, an uncomfortable feeling of fullness after eating, diarrhea, unintentional weight loss, and malnutrition.
“Buzzing to announce that I’m now signed to @redetalent,” Melissa penned on Instagram.
“They’re a brand new agency already doing some really exciting things and I’m over the moon to be one of their core girls. Absolute dream team.”
TV STARS WORKING TOGETHER
Liam Brown, who previously worked at InTheStyle, has a career in the media just like Melissa.
The young entrepreneur appeared on Netflix’s Snowflake Mountain in 2022.
Speaking to Daily Star in the year that the show came out, Liam slammed Love Island when he said: “I mean like this is a bold statement right?
“But I think this show was so funny. I actually think I’ve laughed more at those eight episodes than I have the whole way through Love Island at the moment.”
Liam went on to say: “I don’t find any of it really [sic], there might be a funny moment, but like I know that my show from start to finish was full of laughs.”