This woman kept smelling bacon, it turned out to be a symptom of brain tumour

Turns out that smelling bacon without any reason, could actually be a lesser known symptom of this deadly condition.

kept smelling bacon symptom of brain tumour
© Alex Green
kept smelling bacon symptom of brain tumour

Many diseases can come with lesser-known or bizarre symptoms. For example, unexplained bruisings, flu symptoms, or even feeling this symptom in your mouth, could all point to medical conditions and serious diseases.

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In one such case, as reported by Yahoo, a woman reported experiencing a gamut of weird occurrences, including smelling bacon when she was actually vegetarian and never used bacon.

Though doctors misdiagnosed her as having psychological problems, her symptoms were actually the result of her having a brain tumour that needed surgery.

Hallucinations and smell of bacon

Lucy Younger, 23, started experiencing a spate of things which were odd and unsettling. She found herself zoning out. The doctors who she consulted slated them as being due to panic disorder. She was given antidepressants to manage her mental health.

But her symptoms just worsened. She started having déjà vu, and visual hallucinations. She would see things like pink elephants and rollercoasters.

Not just that, she started smelling bacon all the time, when she was actually a vegetarian.

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The patient was misdiagnosed and her medical problems invalidated by multiple doctors RDNE Stock project

The real reason for her symptoms was brain tumour

She describes the ordeal saying,

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.
I genuinely felt like I was going insane for so long - I was being told my seizures were panic attacks

Taking about her strange symptoms she says,

I was smelling bacon all the time - I’m a vegetarian, so I was like, what the hell is going on?
My friends would even joke - oh, Lucy’s having a moment again

Doctors dismissed her health concerns. Luckily, Lucy consulted with a pharmacist who took her symptoms seriously, and advocated for her to have the right procedures that could get to bottom of her symptoms.

Worried about her health, in spite of what doctors were telling her, she took a CT scan that revealed she had a brain tumour on her frontal lobe and needed surgery asap. She was not having panic attacks, but seizures that left her with sharp headaches.

She underwent brain surgery to remove the tumour, and has been on the path to a full recovery since.

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Sources used:

Yahoo! Life: 'I kept smelling bacon even though I'm vegetarian - it turned out I had brain tumour'

You can actually smell this cervical cancer symptom You can actually smell this cervical cancer symptom