Former EU commissioner Mairead McGuinness has revealed she was diagnosed with severe post-viral syndrome after a stay in hospital last year which prompted her to withdraw from the presidential election race.
Ms McGuinness withdrew from the race last August, saying her decision was taken on medical advice and that her health was her priority.
Post-viral syndrome, or PVS, is characterised by extreme fatigue and muscle pain following a virus, which can sometimes include cognitive dysfunction. Ms McGuinness was advised it could take up to eight weeks to recover from.
In her first interview since her withdrawal, Ms McGuinness revealed her diagnosis, adding that it was like "a bolt from the blue where I was knocked sideways".
Speaking on RTÉ's Brendan O’Connor programme, Ms McGuinness said "every part" of her was not well, adding that she was advised, given her situation, that it was "either your health, or this race".
"It was the first time I said 'you have to look after yourself, instead of looking after everyone else'"
"Every part of me, I wasn't well. I was physically drained. I had lost loads of weight. I wasn't sleeping, and it crept up in me very quickly. I had some kind of virally things, but didn't think they were significant until I was hit with this. I suppose it was like a bolt from the blue where I was knocked sideways and couldn't keep going," she said.
"This would have been fine if I wasn't in the public space," she said, "and I could opt out of life, however I wasn't in that position."
"I'd say to be very, very honest it was the first time I said 'you have to look after yourself, instead of looking after everyone else'," she said.
"I really wasn't a well person and it was showing physically," Ms McGuinness said, adding that she was "emaciated".
'It was like a bolt from the blue where I was knocked sideways', says McGuinness
"I was very, very tired ... the last thing you do when you have what I have is keep going."
She added that experts advised her to "stop everything", including walking, and that she should "just lie on the couch and watch rubbish on the television".
"I was very weak. I was very unwell," she said.
Ms McGuinness said she was informed it would take her between six and eight weeks to get better, adding that all of that time was needed for her to fully recover.
"I'm good now," she said.
Ms McGuinness added that she had been very happy to be nominated to run and contest the presidency but she was physically incapable of doing so.
On day four of her stay in hospital, she explained that she heard a dear friend had died.
"I had a chat with myself then," she said, "and realised I had to look after myself".
"Once I had made that decision, I wrote it down and I wrote the press release to announce my decision," she said, "although it was a week before the announcement was made."
"When I took that decision, I actually wrote down the decision. I wrote the press release that would announce it, and I wrote 'don't let anything change your mind'."
She said she had thought in July that she would be able to recover and contest the election but realised in August it would not be possible.
"The other thing I have realised, and I think particularly for women, is that putting yourself first isn't something you do when you have children or elderly parents.
"While I wouldn't like to go through it again, I don't think it is any harm to have had a wake up call," she said.
"I'm still hale and hearty, thankfully. And I think while I wouldn't like to go through it again, no harm to have had a wake up call and to see, you know, how things can be different, and that you don't have to keep ... at that level of intensity," added Ms McGuinness.
