Double Olympic champion Dame Kelly Holmes says the symptoms of perimenopause are leaving her in “constant pain”.

The 52-year-old former sports star said the condition is “killing me at the moment” as she suffers body aches and night sweats.

“Last week, I started getting the sweats, which I’m not happy about, only at night,” she said.

“I’m thinking: ‘This isn’t good’. And it makes you more irritable. You feel like you’re not yourself.

“I think perimenopause is killing me at the moment. As much as I’m in denial, it definitely has had an effect on my body.”

Dame Kelly described her symptoms as “body aches, pains, like constant pain throughout the body” and “feeling lethargic”.

She added that the perimenopause was tough for “someone who is in tune with their body” but admitted: “I think I’m in denial of age completely.”

Ms Holmes retired from professional athletics in 2005 after winning gold in the 800m and 1,500m races at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Perimenopause is the transitional period before menopause, when women’s hormone levels start to change, but before their periods have stopped for a full 12 months – therefore reaching menopause.

The NHS says perimenopause usually starts between the ages of 45 and 55.

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Dame Kelly recommended exercise as a way of coping with the condition, but admitted she sometimes feels “so knackered, it’s easy just to not do it”

She said: “When you feel your body’s a mess, that’s going to affect your head. But if you go into the gym or you go and do some exercises, at least you are doing it knowing that you’re benefiting yourself by doing it – even if those changes are still happening.”

Dame Kelly, who has been open about her past mental health struggles, added: “Hormonal changes in the body can really affect your mental health.

“And I think women have to understand how so connected and interconnected your mental and physical health [are], because if one is not in tune, the other one will be affected, whatever way around that is.”

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