- Nichole Bain, 19, was suffering from severe headaches and sickness when she visited her GP in Blackburn, Lancashire
- She actually had a malignant brain tumour the size of a 50p coin
By Graham Smith
|
A teenager weighing just six stone was wrongly diagnosed as an anorexic by doctors when she actually had a potentially deadly brain tumour.
Nichole Bain, 19, was suffering from severe headaches and sickness when she visited her GP in Blackburn, Lancashire.
At the time she had to wear clothes that normally fit an 11-year-old, and her doctor mistakenly thought she had an eating disorder.
When her symptoms failed to go away, Miss Bain sought the opinions of other doctors and she was referred to a neurologist.
Changes: Nichole Bain weighed just six stone (right) when as a 15-year-old she was wrongly diagnosed as an anorexic by doctors when she actually had a potentially deadly brain tumour. She is now healthy again (left)
She was stunned to be told she needed an emergency brain scan, just days before she was due to fly to Turkey on holiday.
Tests showed Miss Bain had a malignant brain tumour the size of a 50p coin - and if she had flown on a plane, the air pressure would likely have exacerbated her condition.
Miss Bain underwent an operation to remove the tumour.
She then endured two months of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, losing her long hair, before she was finally told that the treatment had been successful.
Her mother Julie Bain, 41, said: 'We initially got nowhere but all we’re bothered about is seeing Nichole eat again and to know that the tumour has gone.
'Doctors thought she had anorexia or bulimia and each time we went it was different. When the GP said she had anorexia I just thought that a doctor can't be wrong so accepted it.
'Now she’s having a brain scan every four months for two years, then every six months for three years, then every year for five years and then every five years after that.
'There’s still a way to go yet.'
Road to recovery: Tests showed Miss Bain, pictured with her mother Julie, had a malignant brain tumour the size of a 50p coin
Miss Bain was 15 and weighed 8.5-stone when in December 2008 she began suffering from severe headaches and constant sickness.
Her doctor first said she suffered from migraines, then celiac disease and even bizarrely said she was 'standing up too fast'.
She was finally diagnosed with anorexia in April 2009 after her weight dropped to just six stone.
Mrs Bain, who is her daughter’s full-time carer, said: 'She complained of a bad headache and felt sick and was dizzy and I took her to the doctors.
'We never saw the same doctor twice so we felt frustrated that we knew something was wrong and they talked to us like we were stupid and gave us painkillers.
Schoolgirl: Miss Bain was wrongly diagnosed with anorexia in April 2009 after her weight dropped to just six stone
'They always said it may be this, it may be that - they never committed to anything.
'They even said that she was dizzy because she was standing up too fast. To say that was disgusting.
'The doctor was about to send her to a psychiatrist about having an eating disorder.'
After months of feeling unwell, Miss Bain started hiding being sick from her parents because she was ashamed and thought it was her fault.
Mrs Bain said: 'All her food came straight back up, she wasn’t getting any nutrition at all. They even said that it may have been something she had eaten or she was allergic to something.
'I was only after she had the operation and I helped her out the bath that I saw just how skinny she was.'
They went to see another GP who sent her for cognitive and non-cognitive tests.
Mrs Bain said: 'The GP had a feel round Nichole’s neck and she said that she needed an emergency scan. That’s when we said that we were going to go on ho liday to Turkey so they got us in for the scan the next day.
'After the scan we were going to make another appointment and we got told to wait in the treatment room. Then they came in and said, "You’ve got a brain tumour." We all had a big long cry.'
Miss Bain was admitted to Manchester Children's Hospital where she had an operation to remove the tumour.
When she came round doctors said that they had taken out 99 per cent of the tumour; the rest was destroyed by chemotherapy.
She had to go through six weeks of chemotherapy and radiotherapy before a more intensive treatment called ‘packer regime’ - before her appetite came back with a vengeance.
Since the operation, Miss Bain has had double vision in her eyes and has to have Botox injected into them to make them straight, and also has to have intensive physio to help her walk properly again.
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How is this news? Are you saying that the GP should have immediately known the problem? People get ill with all kinds - it's not news is it?
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I can relate to their expierience with the doctors totally, i was fobbed off for the first 16 years of my life, i had severe headaches every day, light sensitivity, no energy, dizzyness when crouching down and getting back up, trouble concentrating, a multitude of other probs and eventually a squint developed in my right eye which finally got me sent to ae where i spent two weeks being treated for potentially blinding Benign Intra Cranial Hypertension. If i had the evidence and the balls i would have that GP struck off for ignoring and covering over my symptoms all that time. I once overdosed on Painkillers, the pain was basically untreatable i would have to take 12 or more nurofen throughout the day, every day just to get by, one night i got so desperate i over did it, that was a scary night. Ok my parents didnt help either and let it carry on, but that GP should have done something more than the odd prescription here and there that never helped. I ha ve NO faith in doctors now.
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Very frightening and to think that you put your life in their hands - my wife has had the same experience with her mum - at GP's 3-4 times with blatant signs of spinal cord compression and being fobbed off for over 6 months - luckily my wife is a physio and told her to go back and what to say - they scanned her and found a huge spinal cord tumour in her neck which necessitated surgical removal. To re-iterate others, follow and pursue your instincts.
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Wow.. this story is shocking! Surely her migraines, the fact that she was throwing up after eating losing a lot of weight would be a serious concern? Migraines could be anything from stress to a brain tumour the Doctor(s) really should of checked everything out as it's NOT normal to feel like that! I've never known a food allergy or coeliac disease to cause such bad headaches either! But yes throwing up after eating COULD be a sign of a food allergy but on it's own not accompanied with bad migraines. Doctors can be very ignorant of teenagers though, unfortunately. I've had the experience to prove it! I'm glad she's okay now though that the tumour was found just in time! :)
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Thank goodness she's okay now. I despair of the NHS, it saddens me to read this sort of issue when it really shouldn't happen. I was a nurse for 20 years, a job I was good at and proud of. Now I don't tell people what I did, I'm too ashamed. I need to see my GP about something minor in comparison to this brave young woman - and I know I will be patronised and dismissed as always. But I'm ready for them! However, I know I have an advantage, I know what to say, what they should be doing, many people don't or are too frightened to argue. Please everyone, just remember these people are GENERAL practitioners, and don't know everything (or many things). If you are worried, you have the right to see someone else. Follow your gut instinct, and don't take no for an answer.
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Why oh why do they never carry out tests immediately in the UK and rule out certain conditions. Oh it could be this and it could be that is just not good enough. My father went to the doctor about 4 times before they diagnosed cancer with 6 months to live.
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Teenagers get a raw deal when it comes to GP's and getting diagnosed. They just don't listen and blame it on hormones/growing pains and any other rubbish they can think of!
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GP's cant get everything right. With so many young girls that are too thin you can't blame them for this diagnosis.
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So sad to read this story. My best friend had the same thing happen to her, she had 12 different doctors tell her it was a migraine before being diagnosed with cancer. Unfortunately it was too late for her and she passed away after 2 years of fighting. Maybe one day we might have a health service that we could actually rely on. Lovely to see this lovely girl get a chance at life again
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What do we pay gps?
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