A woman who was told by her GP that her symptoms were due to ‘stress or allergies’ was later diagnosed with cancer. Georgie Swallow was in her 20s when she started experiencing itchiness that was so bad it would keep her up at night.
She also had night sweats and felt exhausted. She eventually decided to go to her GP surgery and was told they thought it could be ‘stress, allergies or urticaria’.
However, lifestyle changes and creams prescribed did not make her feel better. Follow-up tests later revealed she had stage 4 Hodgkin lymphoma.
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It is an uncommon cancer that develops in the lymphatic system, which is a network of vessels and glands that spreads throughout the body. Georgie said: “I would itch until I broke the skin which would keep me up all night.
“I went to the doctor and they thought it could be stress, allergies or urticaria but no cream or lifestyle change would make it go. During this time I was losing weight, having night sweats, constantly exhausted and a never-ending stream of colds and flus but I just thought I was on the go too much and wearing myself out.”
Recalling her symptoms, Georgie said: “Honestly, it took the doctor telling me “you have stage 4 Hodgkin lymphoma” for me to realise how serious it was. After being off work for about two weeks with a serious bout of flu, I went into the office and, whilst at my desk, discovered a peach-sized lump in the side of my neck.
“Even then, I wasn’t too worried because I just never even contemplated there would be anything seriously wrong with me, naively!” Georgie assumed her symptoms would eventually clear, SurreyLive reports.
She was worried that she was ‘wasting everyone’s time’. Georgie said: “This is why lymphoma is diagnosed so late; you can brush the symptoms off as easily as other things.”
She added: “My treatment was very aggressive as I was stage 4. In my first diagnosis I had four different types of chemo every two weeks which left me weak and with a lot of side effects.
“I lost my hair, weight and strength but found the fun by painting my head with sparkles and making sure I filled the days I had energy with things that made me smile. The second diagnosis treatment was definitely more of a challenge.
“My body was already exhausted so the weekly chemo took its toll and then I had a stem cell transplant. It was a little touch and go during the transplant as I nearly didn’t make it through which has been something I had to process but it’s also given me an incredible new outlook on life.
“It was a stem cell transplantation that put me into the menopause at age 28.” Going through the early menopause was also difficult for Georgie.
She said: “Physically, it was like being hit by a bus. Cancer can take quite a lot away from you but having my fertility taken before I’d had a chance to have children was difficult.
“The menopause at any age can be difficult but at 28 I didn’t have anyone my age to talk to about it. None of my friends understood what I was going through, and as supportive as they were, it’s hard to comfort and relate to something you don’t understand.”
Georgie, now 32, is keen to raise awareness and said: “There are 42 recognised symptoms of menopause and I think we all talk about the hot flushes and loss of periods but the most important one for me would be mental health.
“I have spoken to so many women who felt like they were having a nervous breakdown, myself included, because they didn’t realise what they were experiencing was menopause. Your mood changes and you can suffer with low moments and I think the minute you recognise what it is, the less stressful it becomes.”