MYSTERY ILLNESS LEFT ME NUMB, REVEALS COUNTDOWN’S CAROL

Picture: WENN

Saturday September 6,2008

COUNTDOWN presenter Carol Vorderman has spoken for the first time about a terrifying health scare which left her unable to feel one side of her body.

The 47-year-old, pictured, who is an avid detox dieter, was admitted to hospital with symptoms of nausea, numbness and failing eyesight, just months before her decision in July to quit the Channel 4 quiz show.

She was referred to a specialist and had a number of tests to determine the condition but no diagnosis was made.

“I had a big scare,” admits the glamorous mother of two. “I started feeling very sick, then my eyesight became fuzzy and I went numb down my left-hand side. I ended up in hospital but they never found a cause. It was very
worrying, though.

“I think it was a virus I picked up from a trip abroad. I’m fine now but it gave me a real shock.”

Carol, who recently reunited with 42-year-old boyfriend Des Kelly after a nine-month split, now has other health problems on her mind: skin ageing. “I can see a lot of sun damage coming through,” she sighs.

"I’m getting a lot of pigmentation and brown patches on my face, which I know are from the sun’s rays and I’m thinking of getting something done about them.”

Carol also had a health scare in 2001 when she was rushed to hospital complaining of severe pains.

The illness prompted speculation that it may have been triggered by her eating habits.

The star, who once dropped three dress sizes in the space of two years, has written a number of bestselling books on the merits of a sugar, salt, wheat and alcohol-free detox diet.

She is due to leave Countdown at the end of the year after revealing she would have had to accept a 90 per cent cut in her £800,000 salary if she wanted to carry on co-hosting the show.

No replacement has yet been found.