A young woman who ‘diagnosed her own blood cancer‘ a day before doctors found the disease has shared four symptoms that indicated she had the illness.
Leukaemia, or blood cancer, is the fifth most common cancer in the UK. More than 41,000 people are diagnosed with it every year – one in every 16 men and one in every 22 women will develop the disease at some point in their lives.
A woman who found out she had the illness at just 23 has spoken about how she first realised she had the disease when she “self diagnosed myself on TikTok the day before they told me.” “Finding awareness on TikTok first prepared me to hear the words,” she said in the caption of a video posted on the social media platform.
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“It’s so important for me to spread the same awareness.” She then shared the four warning signs that led her to self-diagnose. Firstly, she noticed she was “constantly itchy, especially on my arms and legs.” She then showed a clip of her skin, which was red from where she had been scratching.
The second symptom she noticed was “headache and chest pains when drinking alcohol,” followed by being “so tired, no matter how hard I try.” Fatigue is an early warning sign of many forms of cancer – in young people, extreme tiredness can often be one of the first symptoms they notice.
Fourthly, she noticed that her lymph nodes were swollen – a symptom of some forms of cancer, although it’s more commonly associated with infections. “I held back from posting this for a while even though I get asked LOADS, because I don’t want to scare anyone,” she wrote in the caption, before sending “love from the bottom of my heart” to anyone else battling cancer.
The NHS lists symptoms of blood cancer as: appearing pale or “washed out”; feeling fatigued or weak; breathlessness; frequent infections; unusual and frequent bruising or bleeding, such as bleeding gums or nosebleeds; and unexplained weight loss. “Speak to a GP if you or your child have possible symptoms of AML (acute myeloid leukaemia),” advises the website.
“Although it’s highly unlikely that leukaemia is the cause, these symptoms should be investigated.”
“If your GP suspects you may have leukaemia, they’ll arrange blood tests to examine your blood cells. If the tests suggest there’s an issue, you’ll be urgently referred to a specialist in treating blood conditions (haematologist) for further tests and treatment.”