London vegetarian was having deja vu and "smelling bacon" - because she had a brain tumour

A graduate who experienced bizarre symptoms like smelling bacon and frequent déjà vu turned out to have a brain tumour.

Vegetarian Lucy Younger, 23, was just about to start university when she started experiencing the bizarre symptoms - which also included zoning out. She visited the GP three times and was misdiagnosed with panic disorder and given antidepressants.

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). But scans revealed she had a benign brain tumour on her frontal lobe - and needed surgery within a matter of weeks.

The zoning out turned out to be seizures which were due to epilepsy.

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

"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. I calmed down on the nights out and adapted my lifestyle - but once uni actually started, the symptoms only got worse.

"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!"

She started experiencing déjà vu, as well as visual hallucinations - like pink elephants and rollercoasters.

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. 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.

She was initially prescribed sertraline to deal with depression, but her symptoms continued to worsen. Lucy was passing out, getting migraines and her body going numb.

Lucy sought medical help for a third time - and a different GP told her she may have fluctuating hormones, possibly caused by PCOS. They recommended she track her periods and sent her for blood tests and an ultrasound.

Feeling helpless, with permanent hallucinations, Lucy rang a local pharmacist and cried down the phone to him. He sent a letter to her GP, recommending they refer her for a CT scan as soon as possible.

Lucy added: "My pharmacist advocated for me - once he’d spoken to my GP, they arranged for me to have a CT scan. I went in the July - and finally got my diagnosis of a benign brain tumour."

Four months later, Lucy had to undergo a craniotomy, a type of brain surgery, to remove the tumour.

She took a year out of uni in order to do this - as her seizures and surgery had left her with short-term memory loss.

"I was completely out of it during recovery," she said. "I remember not being able to walk very well - I had to go back to beginner ballet classes after learning since I was a teenager. I also realised, I’d been diagnosed with dyslexia when I’d just started uni - that was all to do with my brain tumour."