'My undiagnosed ADHD almost made me turn down cancer treatment'

Rachel Evans says being neurodivergent impacted her lymphoma diagnosis and treatment (Image: rachel evans) Rachel Evans’ reaction to being diagnosed with cancer in 2022 was not, she admits, what most people would expect. “I was elated,” says Rachel, 46, from South Gloucestershire. “I’d been experiencing symptoms for a long time and finally had an answer.

” But while the ensuing six months of chemotherapy proved to be life-saving, they were also traumatic – something she now understands was compounded by undiagnosed ADHD. Rachel had spent months going backwards and forwards to the doctor with an “incredibly itchy” rash, as well as suffering recurrent illnesses, unexplained weight loss, nosebleeds and fatigue. Eventually, an x-ray to see if symptoms could be caused by tuberculosis discovered a shadow on her lungs.

A subsequent CT scan revealed enlarged lymph nodes in her chest and neck - by this time, she’d developed lumps on her legs. function loadOvpScript(){let el=document.createElement('script');el.

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