FORMER Oxford West and Abingdon MP Nicola Blackwood has said she is pleased to be able to 'shine a light' on a rare medical condition after she collapsed at the despatch box last week.

Ms Blackwood, who was made a baroness in January, was answering an urgent question on the hospital listeria outbreak at the House of Lords before she fainted.

The Health and Social Care Minister repeated 'I’m going to faint' before collapsing.

In a series of tweets on Monday she thanked people for their support and talked about having Ehlers Danlos (EDS), a genetic joint mobility syndrome, which she was diagnosed with in 2013.

Read our interview with Nicola Blackwood about the condition

As a result of her EDS, she also suffers with postural tachycardia syndrome (PoTS), an an abnormality of the autonomic nervous system affecting blood pressure and heart rate.

She wrote: "I'd like to thank the peers and House staff who kindly helped me get back on my feet and everyone for your messages of support and even flowers.

"Like half of London it seems I’ve been fighting off the flu over the last couple of weeks and an occupational hazard with #eds & #POTS is infections play havoc with your blood pressure so you can faint unexpectedly - but it really is no big deal."

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She added: "On one hand like anyone I was frustrated and embarrassed my body gave up on me at work and it’ll never not be strange to have my health condition reported as 'news', but I am grateful it gives me a chance to shine a light on a condition many others are also living with."

Speaking about the condition to the paper in 2015, she said it had been a 'long, rocky road' to diagnosis but the NHS had been 'fantastic' in helping her.

She added: “I’m lucky I don’t face life threatening complications like some EDS patients; in fact I’ve found that it’s been the simplest things like eating a high salt diet and pilates that have made the biggest difference."