Coffee addict mistook her brain tumour symptoms for caffeine withdrawal
An ex-addict was diagnosed with a brain tumour after mistaking her brain fog for caffeine withdrawal.
Abi Feltham, 36, has been sober for four years after dealing with alcohol and drug addiction since she was 14 years old.
She started realising she was drinking a lot of caffeine in November 2023 - having up to 12 cups of coffee a day and reduced her intake.
Abi started having headaches, nausea and brain fog but put it down to caffeine withdrawal.
But when the symptoms started again and she struggled with double vision she went to see her doctor and an optician.
Following a CT scan and MRI Abi was told they had spotted something that could be malignant and she was taken for brain surgery the following day.
Doctors found and drained a cyst which was pushing on a tumour.
Following a second surgery to remove 90 per cent of the tumour, Abi was diagnosed with a grade three oligodendroglioma and told she had roughly 15 years left to live.
Abi Feltham, 36, has been sober for four years after dealing with alcohol and drug addiction since she was 14 years old.
She started realising she was drinking a lot of caffeine in November 2023 - having up to 12 cups of coffee a day and reduced her intake.
Abi started having headaches, nausea and brain fog but put it down to caffeine withdrawal.
But when the symptoms started again and she struggled with double vision she went to see her doctor and an optician.
Following a CT scan and MRI Abi was told they had spotted something that could be malignant and she was taken for brain surgery the following day.
Doctors found and drained a cyst which was pushing on a tumour.
Following a second surgery to remove 90 per cent of the tumour, Abi was diagnosed with a grade three oligodendroglioma and told she had roughly 15 years left to live.
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FunTranscript
00:00When this year started out, one thing that wasn't on my 2024 bingo card was getting a brain tumour.
00:05Yet here we are! One moment I'm crushing PBs at the gym and celebrating 40 years of my recovery
00:10from alcoholism and drug addiction, the next a neurosurgeon is slicing into my skull and having
00:14a good old route around in my cranium there. As it stands, we're currently waiting for the
00:18results of my biopsy to determine whether or not I need further treatment. In the meantime,
00:22you better believe I'll be milking this for as much attention as possible and making brain tumour
00:26jokes left right and centre. At least I know my poor health symptoms weren't all in my head after
00:30all, eh hat? When I first got sober, people told me it wouldn't all be sunshine and rainbows,
00:34but honestly I wasn't expecting this. I guess life happens whether we're self-sabotaging with
00:39reckless abandon or looking after ourselves with green juices and journaling. For now,
00:43I'm staying grateful that this challenge has come at a time when I'm clean,
00:46sober and emotionally stable. I'm a bit scared about the prospect of going on a cancer journey
00:50right now because it would be quite the inconvenience. I have so much care and support
00:54around me, especially from my cheery golden retriever partner Steph who balances out my
00:58cynical black cat ways. But the time has come for my second brain surgery. This tumour is cancerous
01:03as f**k so we gotta cut the sucker out. How am I feeling? Strangely confident. Recovering from
01:08my first craniotomy was a pain in the arse, but I know what to expect this time. Just like my
01:12addiction recovery, my mental illness management and healing from the part of myself who was
01:17mangled by trauma and spent her entire life falsely believing she was irredeemable human trash,
01:21I'm taking each day as it comes. It's incredible how much my outlook on life has changed.
01:26Last month I was wishing the days away and wondering what I was doing anything for.
01:30Now I'm feeling immense joy when the kind nurse brings me a cup of cracked coffee and a packet
01:34of biscuits, like literally bouncing off the walls at a chocolate bauble, and because my ability to
01:38make simple choices for myself has vanished and another human being has done something nice for
01:42me. Listen, I'm not going to pretend I'm not scared, because I am. There are obvious risks
01:46that come with brain surgery, and I'm nervous about what state my body is going to be when
01:50I wake up. The surgeon was very clear that my left side is going to be fucked up and I'll have
01:55to spend weeks learning how to move again, but there is so much out of my control. All I can do
02:00is love myself, love each day, and take each challenge as it comes. Oh, and hope that my very
02:04nice, genuinely very skilled neurosurgeon, Dr Butterfingers, doesn't drop my skull fragment
02:09on the floor this time. If you could find out when you were going to die, would you?
02:13Hi, I'm Abby, and this week the doctor told me that the tumour in my brain is a grade 3
02:17oligodendroglioma, and although research is not up to date, and I am a unique human with an
02:22individual case, he thinks my life expectancy is going to be about 15 years. In my last video,
02:27I spoke about how much time I wasted being unspeakably cruel to myself due to my chronic
02:31and honestly pointless self-loathing, which, by coincidence, also lasted about 15 years.
02:37Well, now that I know I have approximately the same amount of time left on this earth,
02:41you'd better believe that I'm going to continue my self-compassion journey. I'm just so happy I
02:45made those changes when I did, because to find out now that I might not make it past my 50s,
02:49and to know I wasted even more time deliberately making myself sad for no reason, would hurt even
02:53more. And hey, a lot can happen in 15 years. That's a whole teenager worth of enjoying life,
02:58loving myself, and putting good into the world. So, if you're stuck in this cycle of self-hatred
03:03and self-punishment, this is your sign to start treating yourself with love and respect,
03:06because life just is not that long.