Woman discovered she had leukaemia after having heavy period

A woman was left in shock when a trip to the doctors for her heavy period left her with an unexpected leukaemia diagnosis.

Pharmacist Victoria Lang, 30, was convinced that her heavy flow was a result of the covid booster vaccine she had gotten two days before her period was due.

But when she went to the hospital in March last year, she was stunned to hear medics diagnose her with Acute Promyelocytic Leukaemia.

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Aside from an intense period, that she says felt like someone had 'turned a tap on', Victoria's only unusual symptoms were a few bruises and a slight loss of appetite.

She recalled: “I had a normal period in February but then in March I started bleeding really badly and I knew it was an abnormal period.

“Two days after I had my Covid vaccine booster I started bleeding and it was horrific. I woke up in the morning and I had to run and get a towel to hold under me.

“I know what is normal for me and what my periods are like and this was insane. The blood was pouring out, it was like someone had turned a tap on.

“There had been a lot in the news at the time that Covid vaccines might mess with your periods so I thought I would leave it 24 hours and see if the bleeding stopped.

“It carried on all that day, I wore and tampon and a pad and I bled right through them, it was an insane amount of blood. At the time I had a few bruises on my knee and shoulder but they were from things I could explain, so alarm bells weren’t going off."

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Eventually, Victoria decided to call her GP, who did some blood tests, but it wasn't long before she was admitted to Glasgow Royal Infirmary.

After taking a bone marrow sample, medics were able to confirm that Victoria had leukaemia and told her that, if she hadn't noticed the abnormal period, they might not have caught the cancer in time.

“I was transferred to the Beatson Cancer Centre and spent 42 days there," she said.

“I gained about a stone in fluid weight and went up a dress size in just three weeks.

“I have been left with really bad stretch marks, you would think I had had twins, but my skin just couldn’t cope with it.”

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Thankfully, Victoria is now in remission, and back to her normal menstrual flow. She's urging others to keep an eye out for unusual symptoms and to trust their gut if something feels wrong.

“I would say to people to just trust your instincts, you know what is normal about your own body.

“I knew my period wasn’t right and if I hadn’t called the doctors to discuss it then I might not have been diagnosed as quickly.”