The singer Anastacia has revealed she feared she had a brain tumour – until further checks showed her symptoms were connected to menopause.
The I’m Outta Love singer, 55, said she had “no idea” that her symptoms, which included exhaustion and brain fog, were “hormone-related”.
Speaking to Kate Thornton on the White Wine Question Time podcast, she said: “I didn’t even realise I was going through such hell that it was caused by menopause.
“I didn’t know my exhaustion; I didn’t know my brain fog. I didn’t know all the things – I just thought I was tired… I was diagnosing myself, but had no idea any of this was hormone-related.”
“I guess I was waiting for that ball to drop. My ball was, I thought I had a brain tumour and life was going horrible, and I was really, really scared,” she said.
“When I got all of these other things checked out, this guy in Switzerland was like, I think you’re going through some hormone stuff.
“I told him, ‘It doesn’t feel anything like that, I have hot flashes and I’m OK with that’.
“In my head, I had no idea the things I was going through were actually in the list [of symptoms of menopause] because it’s a long list.”
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The American singer revealed in 2013 that she had undergone a double mastectomy after being diagnosed with cancer for the second time.
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According to the NHS website, symptoms of menopause include hot flushes, difficulty sleeping, heart palpitations, headaches, migraines and muscle aches.