This woman went to doctors for horrible hangovers, they turned out to be something much worse

Updated on December 27, 2023 at 7:02 PM

She may have been drinking in moderation, but her hangovers were no less intense. Here's what the doctors discovered.

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Poppy Beguely is only 20 years old, yet she knows all about her limits. That's why she quickly became alarmed when she was suffering the worst hangovers of her short life. And no, she didn't drink to excess. And to say the least, she was right to worry. What her doctors discovered was absolutely terrifying.

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A descent into hell

For Poppy Beguely, from Auckland, New Zealand, it all began when she was just 19. She particularly enjoyed going out with her friends, and began to realize that after consuming even tiny quantities of alcohol, she would experience the worst hangovers. A terrible situation that resulted in vomiting, skin rashes and nose sores. She said:

Almost every time I went out, it ended with these vomiting and terrible symptoms; as early as the next day, sometimes, the very evening.

The point of no return was reached when she started coughing up blood. The girl was hospitalized several times. But according to the doctors, it seemed less serious than she let on. According to them, she had deep vein thrombosis. This disease is characterized by the formation of blood clots in the deep veins. A medical diagnosis far removed from what it really was.

Hodgkin's lymphoma

It took many more months before the verdict was in: the young woman had Hodgkin's lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphatic system. It was thanks to a throat biopsy performed by new doctors that the disease was discovered. As if that wasn't enough, Poppy Beguely also had a 6-centimeter tumor in her chest.

Placed under chemotherapy, she spent long months in hospital. Now in remission, she recalls this painful period with emotion.

Before that, I took a lot of things for granted. It was only when they were taken away from me that I realized how important they were. The first time I went out, after long weeks cooped up at home or in hospital, and felt the sun on my skin, I cried.

Hodgkin's lymphoma has a fairly high remission rate, according to the Cancer Research Centre in the UK. Now the young woman intends to enjoy every moment of her life.