Holly Rey reveals she's been in and out of hospital
"It's been a tough journey. Anyone who lives with a chronic illness will know how difficult it is."
Singer Holly Rey has opened up about her recent health struggles.
The 'Spend My Time' singer has previously spoken about her battle with type 1 diabetes, but in a new video shared on Instagram, she reveals a recent diagnosis she struggled to come to terms with.
"I've always been really open about my health journey and my diabetes in the hope that it helps someone else in some way. The last three months have been incredibly difficult for me from a health perspective," she said.
Rey says things were "touch and go" at one point.
"I'm finally at a point where I am strong enough physically and emotionally to start talking about it, even though I still am in recovery... still have a long journey ahead of me."
She reveals that she was hospitalised in December for severe dehydration.
"It had affected my kidneys and kidney function had dropped really, really low. I was hospitalised for about a week and managed to get my kidney function up."
She believed she had moved past the incident, but in January, she began feeling unwell once more, leading to another hospital visit.
Rey was diagnosed with renal failure, also known as kidney failure. Things got so bad that she says, "There were conversations about dialysis."
She admits feeling overwhelmed by everything that was happening.
"It has been a very scary time of not knowing what this means. I understand my diabetes and I was having a lot of diabetes fatigue and diabetes related depression. Now adding this renal failure on top of that and not understanding what that meant."
After lots of prodding and tests, doctors diagnosed her with acute kidney injury.
According to Mayo Clinic, "Acute kidney injury happens when the kidneys suddenly can't filter waste products from the blood. When the kidneys can't filter wastes, harmful levels of wastes may build up. The blood's chemical makeup may get out of balance."
While her health ordeal has been challenging, Rey says she is thankful there is no permanent damage.
"But it did mean that my body was going to take a long time to heal, and it was going to be a long process. I was told that it would take anything from six weeks to three months for me to start feeling normal again. I just feel really fatigued, I feel so exhausted."
She says she can't even take a shower by herself because she feels dizzy and out of breath.
"I've had to become a vegetarian to take the pressure off my kidneys," Rey added. She is also now permanently on an insulin pump.
"Anyone who lives with a chronic illness will know how difficult it is. You start to feel like people think you are making things up because you're always sick... I haven't been able to speak about it without crying until recently."
Rey also thanked her followers for checking up on her.
Watch her full video below.
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Main image credit: Instagram/@hollyreymusic