Mum discovers her panic attacks are due to a huge brain tumour

Mum of three Catherine Wilcockson discovered her panic attacks were a symptom of a large brain tumour
Mum of three Catherine began experiencing panic attacks last year (Picture: Kennedy News and Media)

A mum-of-three is urging people who experience panic attacks to ‘fully investigate’ their symptoms, after discovering hers were due to a brain tumour the size of an apple.

Catherine Wilcockson, 36, had felt exhausted for a year but dismissed how she felt as just standard tiredness.

But in December last year, while at her daughter’s nativity play, Catherine had a panic attack that felt like an out-of-body experience. She went to see her GP, who thought Catherine was suffering from derealisation and prescribed her antidepressants.

The medication had no effect and Catherine continued to have panic attacks until May, when she had a seizure, falling and hitting her head in front of her daughters Shani, nine, and Christie, 16.

An ambulance took the teaching assistant to Northern General Hospital, where a CT scan to check for damage after the fall revealed a giant brain tumour.

) A single mum-of-three is urging panic attack sufferers to 'fully investigate' their symptoms - after hers turned out to be a huge BRAIN TUMOUR the size of an 'apple'. Catherine Wilcockson, 36, had dismissed her general tiredness for a year until she had a panic attack that felt like a terrifying out-of-body experience at her daughter's nativity play in December last year. The school teaching assistant's GP thought she was suffering from derealisation - a disorder that creates a sense of disconnection from the world - and prescribed her antidepressants. DISCLAIMER: While Kennedy News and Media uses its best endeavours to establish the copyright and authenticity of all pictures supplied, it accepts no liability for any damage, loss or legal action caused by the use of images supplied and the publication of images is solely at your discretion. SEE KENNEDY NEWS COPY - 0161 697 4266
At first Catherine was prescribed antidepressants but these didn’t have an effect (Picture: Kennedy News and Media)

Catherine believes she had the tumour since her childhood, remembering telling her parents she thought she had a brain tumour in her early twenties.

Thankfully surgeons were able to remove most of her tumour, but Catherine is still at risk of it growing back. She is now waiting for her second round of chemotherapy.

The mum is sharing her story to raise money for the charity Brain Tumour Research and encourage other people to push for medical tests if they feel something is wrong.

Catherine said: ‘I went to my GP in January and I explained the situation to her and she said “I think you’ve got something called derealisation”.

‘I’ve always been an up and out girl and got on with life but I didn’t feel right. She gave me some [antidepressents] tablets and I felt like they weren’t working. I had to take three weeks off work in January.

‘[My GP] increased [the dosage] but then I was still having episodes while I was at work. But I thought they were panic attacks with the derealisation.

‘Obviously they need to investigate more into people in regards to something as serious as what I had.

Catherine with 34 staples in her head after the surgery
A CAT scan after a fall revealed the tumour, which Catherine needed surgery to remove (Picture: Kennedy News and Media)

‘They need to up their game instead of leaving things because I could have had a massive seizure and died.

‘I watched videos about how people [with mental illnesses such as derealisation and panic attacks] felt and it totally matched how I felt.

‘After what I’ve been through with [the misdiagnosis], I’d advise others to get somebody to obviously fully investigate into how they’re feeling because you only get one brain.

‘From what I’ve experienced doctors and patients definitely need to be more aware as well. If they’re not well then follow it through.’

Catherine believes the tumour has been growing since she was six years old and says its presence has affected her personality and her day-to-day life.

Catherine after surgery to remove the tumour
80% of the tumour has been removed (Picture: Kennedy News and Media)

‘Nothing major happened to me but I can remember when I was a child getting up at night and I’d just go the toilet and be sick and then I’d get back in bed,’ she explains.

‘That happened quite a few times to me a few months apart. I was about ten. And apparently this tumour I have does start between the age of six and eight years old.

‘I got taken to Northern General and I had a feeling before I went in – I even said to [the doctor] “do you think I’ve got a brain tumour?” If I didn’t have that feeling I wouldn’t have asked that question but I knew. I knew.

‘When I saw it a few times on a screen it looked about the size of an apple.

‘One of the consultants said “you’ve had this for years”. And when I was speaking to my surgeon he said I could have had it for 20 years but I think it was longer because it started when I got sick as a child.

‘I think [the tumour] took over my personality because now it’s like I’m a different person.

‘I know this sounds really bad and no one wants a brain tumour but it was something I’d lived with all those years and I knew I’d had one and to me I felt like I was lucky that mine was only a low grade tumour.

‘It is treatable, it can grow back. But hopefully if it grows back in five or ten years there will be new solutions that they can use and I think it’s really important that money is raised for Brain Tumour Research.’

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source https://metro.co.uk/2019/11/29/woman-panic-attacks-brain-tumour-11237642/
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