A HEREFORD nurse has spoken out about the brain tumour which made her think people were speaking a different language.

Lucy Woodhouse, 43, from Hereford, said she experienced severe headaches which felt like hangovers and struggled to read aloud.

“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," she said.

ALSO READ:

But then in a meeting with colleagues, she found herself unable to understand what they were saying.

"They might as well have been speaking Chinese," she said.

“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."

A scan revealed she had a golf-ball sized tumour, which surgery in May found was growing just three millimetres from her optical nerve.

Lucy Woodhouse, 43, after surgeryLucy Woodhouse, 43, after surgery (Image: Lucy Woodhouse / SWNS)

“I’ve got a scar now, but I’m doing really well,” Ms Woodhouse said, “I’ve got some bald patches and my memory isn't amazing."

The mum-of-three believes the meningioma tumour is linked to the Depo-Provera contraceptive injection, rounds of IVF she had and hormone replacement therapy (HRT) medication, all of which contain the hormone progesterone.

She had the 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.

What are your thoughts?

You can send a letter to the editor to have your say by clicking here.

Letters should not exceed 250 words and local issues take precedence.

Meningiomas are a mostly non-cancerous brain tumour. In 2013, scientists from the Danish Cancer Research Centre found a link between post-menopausal 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.