Graduate who experienced headaches after one glass of wine discovers they were sign of cancer
A young graduate thought she had developed an allergy to booze but later discovered she had cancer.
Izzy Fletcher, from Derby, was out for a drink after work when one glass of one left her with an excruciating headache.
It was so severe that the 23-year-old had to go home early because she felt like her head was 'going to explode'.
Izzy thought at the time that she might be allergic to an ingredient in booze or have a full blown 'alcohol allergy'.
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"It would be really strange, because I'd have one drink and the reaction to that would seem to last forever," she recalled.
"I got one drink, I think it was a glass of wine or something. I started drinking it and had what started as a really splitting headache. It was really odd.
"My head felt like it was going to explode. I had a really tight chest."
She later went on to develop a non-stop cough, and decided that she needed to go get herself checked out by a doctor.
After undergoing a series of tests at Southampton University Hospital, on 10 January, Izzy was diagnosed with stage two Hodgkin lymphoma.
This is a rare form of blood cancer that forms in the body's lymphatic system.
Despite the diagnosis, Izzy, who started chemotherapy this week, says it was a relief to know that she wasn't 'going crazy'.
"The doctor thought it was nothing to do with [the cough], and then when they realised it was Hodgkin's lymphoma they found that it was linked to it," she said.
"When they told me that, it was a relief. I wasn't going crazy."
Izzy now wants to share her story to encourage others who may be experiencing the same things as she did to get to a doctor as soon as possible.
Izzy said: "The biggest thing I've learned from this is that if you are worried about something, just go and get it checked out.
"As a 23-year-old, you don't really think, 'Oh, I'd best go and get myself checked out at the GP'.
"You obviously don't expect that it's really going to be anything that serious, and obviously you never expect that you're going to get cancer at 23."
She is now focused on getting through the treatment.
"I have never struggled with anxiety in my life, but the anxiety I felt for those [few] weeks up until now has just been crazy," Izzy said.
"I can't really eat anything, I don't think about anything else. I think that is quite consuming.
"Now my treatment is six months of chemo. In terms of curability and survival it has a really, really high success rate."
Dominic Smithers