A woman heard voices telling her she had a brain tumor — and scans confirmed she did
After she recovered from the condition, the voices bid her farewell by saying, 'We are pleased to have helped you. Goodbye'
Psychologists know that everyone carries a voice in their head that makes them feel various emotions and exhibit distinctive behaviors and reactions. But never documented before was the kind of voice that appears to "help" an individual, specifically with their body. In 1984, a European woman in her 40s reported hearing voices that directed her to visit the hospital in London, telling her that something was wrong with her body. When doctors confirmed the diagnosis, everyone was left flabbergasted. Her unique case, published in the BMJ Journal, made even the most scientific doctors think that truth is indeed stranger than fiction.
Voice from beyond
What stunned doctors was the fact that the woman had no physical ailments. She never went for any hospital treatment. But one ominous day, while the homemaker was reading at home, she heard a distinct inner voice. The voice told her, "Please don't be afraid. I know it must be shocking for you to hear me speaking to you like this, but this is the easiest way I could think of. My friend and I used to work at the Children's Hospital, Great Ormond Street, and we would like to help you."
Fighting for a CT scan
To her surprise, Ikechukwu Obialo Azuonye, the psychiatrist, diagnosed her with "functional hallucinatory psychosis," and recommended counseling. The doctor also prescribed her a treatment with thioridazine, an antipsychotic drug often used in the treatment of schizophrenia. After two weeks, the hallucinatory voices disappeared, and the woman went on a vacation. While she resumed her normal life, the voices reportedly returned and instructed her to return to England. Based on what the voices told the woman, her husband drove her to the CT scan department at the London hospital. "The request was initially declined, because there was no clinical justification for such an expensive investigation," Azuonye wrote in his report titled “Hip, Hip, Hippocrates: extracts from The Hippocratic Doctor.” But seeing her distressed, the doctors approved it.
The angel in disguise
The scan reports confirmed what the voices had told the woman. She was diagnosed with a type of brain tumor called “parafalcine meningioma,” which spreads between the two hemispheres of the brain. Looking at her condition, the doctors suggested surgery to remove the tumor. Meanwhile, the voices told her that “they were fully in agreement with that decision." Doctors performed the surgery and removed the tumor. After she regained consciousness, the voices said one last thing before bidding her farewell. "We are pleased to have helped you. Goodbye." After this, the voices never returned. 12 years later, Azuonye received a call from the woman who wished him Merry Christmas and informed him that the voices had not returned. Moreover, the woman, whom he referred to as AB, confirmed she wasn’t taking any medications any longer and was enjoying good health.
Trust your gut
A survey of 2,000 women (conducted by Talker Research for MDLIVE) found that 56% trust their intuition, especially when it's related to their health. In fact, the report revealed that 81% of women rely on their own "intuition." Surprisingly, 68% of the time, that gut feeling turns out to be true, with 37% of respondents saying the same about health-related issues. But when it comes to auditory hallucinations, the woman experienced, this is the first-of-its-kind case. "This is the first and only instance I have come across in which hallucinatory voices sought to reassure the patient of their genuine interest in her welfare," said Azuonye.
In a conference later, some doctors surrendered to the fact that it was an instance of telepathic communication between two psychically connected beings; others debated that she was hiding some information. The second group even suggested that the “funny feeling” in her head could be her fear of speaking. Maybe she had mugged up on too much information from various hospitals, and it was just replaying in her mind. Whatever the truth may be, no one is sure of what exactly it is at this point.
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