Woman recalls terrifying moment she thought her colleagues were

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The nurse, from Hereford, had been experiencing crippling headaches
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A nurse has recalled the terrifying moment she thought her colleagues were speaking a different language in a work meeting – before eventually learning she had a type of tumour on her brain.

Lucy Woodhouse, 43, says she had been experiencing severe headaches which felt like hangovers and struggled to read aloud before her diagnosis.

But then in a meeting with colleagues she found herself unable to understand what they were saying, and tests revealed she had a golf ball-sized tumour.

She says she believes the meningioma tumour is linked to the Depo-Provera contraceptive injection, rounds of IVF she had and HRT medication – all of which contain the hormone progesterone.

She says she had the Depo-Provera injection multiple times in 1997, and in 2013 underwent three rounds of IVF over two years.

Lucy Woodhouse, 43, learnt she had a tumour on her brain after sitting in a meeting at work and thinking her colleagues were speaking a different language

She had the progesterone Mirena coil inserted in 2021 when she started HRT medication – which doctors have now told her not to take because of connections to meningioma tumours, she says.

Meningiomas, the most common type of tumour associated with the brain which form in the layers of tissue that cover the brain and spinal cord, called meninges. They are typically non-cancerous.

In 2013, scientists from the Danish Cancer Research Centre found a link between post-menopausal hormone treatment HRT and meningioma.

Meningiomas are also commonly found among women who are pregnant or having fertility treatment, as oestrogen can interact with the tumour and potentially make it grow faster according to a 2012 study.

And a study published in the British Medical Journal this year found prolonged use of certain progesterone medications was linked to a greater risk of meningioma.

According to the NHS website, it is common to have no side effects after taking HRT but is has been associated with a small increase in the risk of cancer.

Nurse Lucy, from Hereford, said: ‘I was sat in a senior meeting at work and I just felt like I didn’t understand anything anyone was saying – I’m usually quite on the ball but they might as well have been speaking Chinese.

‘I thought they were speaking a different language.

The nurse believes the condition could be linked to her HRT treatment, which she has undertaken over the years, particularly when having IVF

The mother-of-three first began experiencing symptoms in December 2023 and visited a doctor in February of this year

The nurse, from Hereford, said she became confused when she was in a work meeting and suddenly couldn’t understand what was being said

Lucy also experienced headaches which left her feeling like she’d had ‘six bottles of wine’ the night before

‘One night I was reading a story to my five-year-old and I could read the words but I couldn’t say them, something was going wrong between my eyes and mouth.

‘I started HRT two years before my brain tumour diagnosis – I think the meningioma was feeding off the oestrogen and progesterone.

‘Every time I got a headache it was an hour after I fell asleep and then it would linger into the next day.

CAN A BENIGN BRAIN TUMOR AFFECT BEHAVIOR?

Meningioma is the most common tumor that forms in the head.

It is relatively rare – around 32,000 people are diagnosed a year – but it doesn’t spread and 90% of cases are benign.

The biggest concern for sufferers is that, by putting pressure on certain brain regions, they can cause disability, and may become life-threatening.

WHERE DO MENINGIOMAS FORM?

Meningiomas are not technically brain tumors, but they most commonly grow in the brain and often put pressure on nerves and vessels that affect the brain.

All meningiomas form on the meninges, which is the tissue that surrounds the brain and spinal cord.

But they can be in any part of the brain or spinal cord.

These are the brain regions and the functions they control:

1. The four lobes:

frontal (movement, intelligence, speech, reasoning, behavior, memory, personality, planning, decision-making, judgment, concentration, self-awareness, mood)
temporal (speech, organization, memory, hearing, sequencing)
parietal (intelligence, reasoning, telling right from left, language, sensation, touch, pain, reading)
occipital (vision, color)

2. Cerebellum (balance, coordination, fine muscle control)

3. Brain stem (breathing, blood pressure, heartbeat, swallowing)

4. Pituitary gland (hormones, growth, fertility)

HOW ARE MENINGIOMAS DETECTED?

They most commonly form in older women, because they are linked to breast cancer.

But symptoms can be subtle and they can go undetected for years.

Symptoms typically include:

Blurry vision
Painful headaches
Loss of hearing
Memory loss
Loss of smell
Struggling to swallow
Issues with movement and balance

HOW IS IT TREATED?

Treatment options include surgery and radiotherapy or chemotherapy.

How the surgery is performed – or whether it is at all – will depend on the brain region.

Sources: Mayo Clinic, Mayfield Clinic

The mother-of-three had an operation in May to remove the tumour which was just three millimeters from her optical nerve and could have caused blindness

‘It felt like I’d drunk six bottles of wine. They were disabling headaches – I would be doubled up on all fours on my bed rocking and trying to get rid of it.’

The mother-of-three first started noticing symptoms around December 2023 and first went to the doctors on 19 February this year after experiencing a particularly bad headache while visiting London.

She says in retrospect there were symptoms six months prior – but she put it down to being a tired mum.

She asked to try migraine tablets, but the nurse in the GP surgery noticed she was blinking unevenly, and she was sent to her local hospital for a CT scan.

Following the scan, she was told by doctors they’d found something troubling and she was blue-lighted to The Grange in Cwmbran where she was told she had a brain tumour following an MRI.

She was then sent to University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff where she the consultant told her they were taking a ‘watch and wait’ approach.

A scan had revealed Lucy had a golf-ball sized tumour

However, Lucy says she sought out a second opinion from a private brain surgeon in London and was told they would operate immediately.

In May, she underwent major surgery to remove the tumour – which was growing just three millimetres from her optical nerve and could have caused her to go blind.

Now, she says she’s recovering well but still struggles with her memory at times.

‘I’ve got a scar now, but I’m doing really well,’ said Lucy, ‘I’ve got some bald patches and my memory isn’t amazing.

‘When I was diagnosed I was beside myself and one of the hardest things was telling the kids – that was really difficult.

‘My risk of seizure was very high, what worried me is I could have been driving on the motorway with my kids in the car and had a seizure.

‘Go and get your eyes tested, depending on where it is opticians can spot it.

‘If you’re having headaches you don’t normally get with unusual presentation, you need to get it checked out.

‘And if you’re a woman who has had a lot of hormone treatment, multiple rounds of IVF or HRT or been pumped full of hormones for whatever reason – given that strong link you should go and get a scan.’