My name is Danielle, I was born in 1958 and I lived Strasbourg.
In August 2018, I discovered the Marlène Vault Facebook group, I contacted her and discovered that finally we were starting to talk about the problems related to Androcur.
My journey, I realized it following the cessation of the drug, was dotted with other problems than the meningiomas, caused by this poison!
Small summary: I had my first period at the age of 11, terrible, painful, abundant ... I was always to be picked up with the small spoon during these periods; Then at 17, after increasingly long spaces between two "episodes", they have definitively disappeared; relief ! I was hospitalized for exams and I was found a syndrome of polycystic ovaries; Before this diagnosis, we wanted to get it into the account of a psychiatrist problem, like of course!
At the age of 23 I had my first child, after a somewhat hectic pregnancy following the lack of specific hormones and unforgettable sterility treatments; This hormonal upheaval has exploded hyperandrogenism… 1982, prescription of the Miracle medication !!! 50 mg every day of the month.
At 30 years old second child, with the same course and a break in the capture of Androcur, then resumed ... Until 2010, discovery of meningiomas; Pregnancy excluded, 28 years of "consumption", as the expert told me !!!
I have undergone other side effects:
-Digestifs (I put them on the account of my greed and the consumption of chocolate, cakes, cheese); I would no longer digest the fat and often had liver attacks with vomiting and diarrhea; At 31 I was even operated on the gallbladder in an emergency.
- chemical castration, oh yes (I put it on the account of my fatigue with children, work, disturbed sleep etc ...); And when you stop treatment, we no longer understood what happened to us !!!
- weight gain.
- Sleep apnea, disappeared after the operation, therefore a meningioma had to obstruct the passage of the air.
This sleep apnea has evolved for more than 15 years and with fatigue that has become chronic, I reduced my working hours and we have lost a little of our quality of life; It made an "snowball" effect on my disability pension and on my future retreat.
Then a progressive exophthalmia was installed on the left and I thought I had a swollen eye because of the mask, the air leak, to stay lying on this side ... We are still looking for a banal explanation; I consulted an ophthalmologist who has even seen nothing !!! My doctor thought of a thyroid problem, then sinus and ended up prescribing a scanner to me, followed by an MRI, to reach the discovery of multiple meningiomas:
- one on the left optic nerve
- One on the right optic nerve
- A large in a tablecloth, caught in the bone on the left temple
I called my gynecologist who told me to stop the treatment immediately; He must have heard of the research done in Strasbourg by the team of Professor Froelich, and to make an appointment in neurosurgery; He had decreased the dose two years before and should have predicted an MRI at that time.
It is there that I learn by the neurosurgeon, who was part of the team, that the Androcur would be in question; Monitoring of meningiomas by MRI following stopping treatment, 6 months later ... No regression but no growth, therefore operation scheduled for November 8, 2011.
10 hours in the operating room, 4 days in intensive care and return to my room; 12 days of hospitalization.
Reading the testimonies of many victims, I learned that one could suffer from the follow -up; Now I had to be lucky because I was surprised not to feel anything in my head or in terms of the scar.
I was removed the large meningioma in a plate and of course a large part of the temple bone, leaving a hollow that I hide under the hair, as well as the one on the left optic nerve; The third remains in place under surveillance, because it is on the other optic nerve. For 2 months I saw troubled, blurred, the leaned soil made me a little nauseating by walking, then everything became normal again overnight.
And good news: sleep apnea has disappeared !! But she left consequences; She resulted in a tachycardia neat to tenormine, which lowers my blood pressure already low and sometimes causes dizziness.
I lost the taste and smell (anosmia and aged), because the nerve was destroyed, which I had been warned; At the beginning everything had an infect taste and I lost a lot of weight; Now my brain has recreated sensations.
There is this hole in the slightly disturbing head, the upper left quarter of the numb face, the eye that has not found its place, the eyelid that falls from time to time, disorders of convergence and the photomotor reflex abolished on both sides, I do not bear the brightness.
Therefore, I did a depression when resuming part-time work therapeutic, because, I deplore it, I was asked the same thing in my situation, as young in great shape, which completely lacked empathy and only thought of their progress !!!
According to the expert who received me for disability, I could no longer work on screen.
To date, the third meningioma is stable, I got used to the consequences, because I have no pain and can still live almost normally; I have put it into perspective since I was publications on the Marlène website.
On the other hand I made an admissible file in CCI (Committee on conciliation and compensation for medical accidents) in 2014 and if I regret the time spent, travel and nervousness, I discovered what certain experts or committee presidents can be, who seem to play the game of laboratories rather than victims, minimize, and accuse you of having been "plaintiff" among others ...
That's almost everything, like many I await the rest and thank people like you, who dedicate you for this cause.
Find the other Amavea articles here