A woman has warned others of the symptoms she ignored that turned out to be caused by a deadly cancer. The mum from the US, shared her journey online following her devastating thyroid cancer diagnosis, urging people to “always talk with your doctor”.
Amy Lou experienced a host of symptoms but dismissed them or attributed them to other issues.
These included fatigue, night sweats and neck pain among many others.
She documented her experiences on social media platform TikTok, with some videos amassing more than half a million views.
Amy explained: “Everyone’s symptoms are different, but these were mine and I always brushed the symptoms off and was convinced my anxiety was playing tricks on me until it was all too unbearable.
“Always listen to the signs your body is sending you and always talk with your doctor.”
In one video she revealed eight symptoms she ignored.
These were:
- Weekly migraines – Amy thought she “just needed to eat better”
- Night sweats with chills – she put this down to PMS
- Always feeling tired and fatigued – she thought she needed a better bedtime routine
- Feeling like she was coming down with the flu – Amy thought “my immune system just sucks”
- Neck pain – she mistook this for an ear infection
- A hoarse and weak voice – Amy thought this was linked to her getting older
- Always feeling cold – she thought exercising more would solve this
- Heart palpitations – Amy thought “I just need more anxiety meds”
In fact, these signs were actually caused by thyroid papillary carcinoma – the most common type of thyroid cancer.
Amy also noted that she was unsure whether the night sweats she experienced could also be mistaken for Covid.
Responding to someone in the comment section of the video, she said: “Yes Covid can do that too as well. Everyone’s symptoms can be different but night sweats was one for me that went away since surgery.”
She added: “I thought a lot of it was just bad PMS or maybe I had premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) so another reason I ignored a lot of it was because it’s just part of being a woman.”
In 2023 Amy underwent a procedure to have half her thyroid, which is a gland in the neck, removed.
However, recently she discovered she had a new tumour and is waiting for another procedure.
Many of Amy’s symptoms are listed by the NHS as potential signs of thyroid cancer.
The health body says the following are the most common symptoms of the disease:
- A lump in the front, lower part of your neck – the lump usually feels hard, slowly gets bigger and is not painful
- A hoarse voice
- A sore throat
- Difficulty swallowing or breathing
- Pain in the front of your neck, or a feeling like something is pressing against your neck.
- But other symptoms can include:
- A red face (flushing) – this may be harder to see on brown or black skin
- Softer poos or diarrhoea
- Weight loss
- A cough.
The NHS says you should see your GP if:
- You have a lump in your neck – either a new lump or an existing lump that’s getting bigger
- You’ve had a hoarse voice, sore throat or cough for more than three weeks
- You have pain in the front of your neck, or a feeling like something is pressing against your neck.