A graduate who experienced bizarre symptoms like smelling bacon and frequent déjà vu turned out to have a brain tumour.<br /><br />Vegetarian Lucy Younger, 23, was just about to start university when she started experiencing the bizarre symptoms - which also included zoning out.<br /><br />She visited the GP three times and was misdiagnosed with panic disorder and given antidepressants.<br /><br />Worried Lucy was given a CT scan, blood tests and an ultrasound after doctors thought her symptoms may be due to polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). <br /><br />But scans revealed she had a benign brain tumour on her frontal lobe - and needed surgery within a matter of weeks. <br /><br />The zoning out turned out to be seizures which were due to epilepsy. <br /><br />Lucy, from Crystal Palace, London, said: “Doctors were telling me one thing - but it wasn’t until I Googled my symptoms that I realised, I think I have a brain tumour.<br /><br />“I genuinely felt like I was going insane for so long - I was being told my seizures were panic attacks.<br /><br />“When the symptoms first started I thought it was weird. But I was drinking a little bit, so I thought I must’ve been overdoing it. <br /><br />“I calmed down on the nights out and adapted my lifestyle - but once uni actually started, the symptoms only got worse.<br /><br />“I was smelling bacon all the time - I’m a vegetarian, so I was like, what the hell is going on?<br /><br />“My friends would even joke - oh, Lucy’s having a moment again!” <br /><br />Lucy, who is out of work due to illness, first started noticing symptoms just after she started her BA in English at Goldsmiths, in September 2019.<br /><br />She started experiencing déjà vu, as well as visual hallucinations - like pink elephants and rollercoasters.<br /><br />Initially thinking she was just partying too hard during freshers, Lucy stopped drinking as often, and regularly chose staying in over nights out. <br /><br />But her symptoms only started getting worse - and she experienced a range of sensory hallucinations, like smelling bacon, pins and needles in her face and tasting metal. <br /><br />Lucy tried to downplay her symptoms at first, thinking they’d pass - but once she started getting sharp headaches, she decided to visit the GP for the first time. <br /><br />She said: “Straight away, they were like - it’s anxiety.<br /><br />“I didn’t feel all that anxious, but I’d just done a big move from Newquay to London and was meeting lots of new people - so I thought, I guess my brain’s just working overtime.<br /><br />“But I was still skeptical - I felt really happy with where my life was at that point.”<br /><br />Despite taking things easy after her anxiety diagnosis, Lucy began to notice she’d zone out for long periods during lectures. <br /><br />She found it impossible to concentrate during class - and it was beginning to disrupt her studies, so she went back to her GP. <br /><br />“The doctor said, you’re really depressed, you’ve been having really bad panic attacks,” Lucy added. “But, I just wasn’t. <br /><br />“I figured, they’re the GP - they know what they’re talking about, so I guess I’ll just do what they say.”
