An Aussie mum has left the internet in shock after revealing the stomach-churning diagnosis behind her mum’s 40-year “medical mystery”.
For four decades, Kat Jamieson-Harwood’s mother Jocelyn had been experiencing severe symptoms of burning in the stomach as well as bloating and reflux.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Aussie nan’s 40-year medical mystery ends with stomach-churning discovery.
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And, over the past five years, the Brisbane grandmother’s health had been getting worse.
“She’d feel like she’d want to vomit, and she’d feel really dizzy, then she’d get vertigo, then she’d have a pain in her back,” Jamieson-Harwood said in a viral TikTok.
The TikToker explained that whenever her mum, now 70, experienced “these cycles of symptoms” she would have to call an ambulance.
“Every time she (went) into the hospital they scanned her liver and the liver is covered in something,” she said.
“(Doctor’s were) like, ‘Oh, it could be cholesterol or fatty liver or something that alcoholics would have’.”
But this raised more questions, as Jocelyn only drank half a glass of champagne at Christmas.
Doctors were stumped and continued to try to think of different theories.
“They even took her gallbladder out the other year,” Jamieson-Harwood said.
But this didn’t help, as the Jocelyn’s debilitating symptoms continued.
Recently, they became so bad that she found herself back in hospital for two weeks.
This time, however, would be different.
“She had this new young doctor at this private hospital saying ‘Something’s not right, I want to do, MRIs, I want to keep getting scans done’,” she recalled.
Jocelyn underwent daily blood tests, scans and finally a biopsy of “whatever was surrounding her liver”.
“What they found, it was not actually fat or cholesterol build-up or cirrhosis or whatever they were saying,” Jamieson-Harwood said.
“He actually found layers and layers and layers of eggs.
“The eggs are found from a rare parasite that has been living in her body since she lived in Africa for over a decade.
“(That’s) where I was born and where we migrated to Australia (from) 36 years ago.”
For almost 40 years, Jocelyn had been living with a parasite known as Schistosomiasis.
“I don’t even know where to begin on how shocking it is for all of us,” Jamieson-Harwood said.
Jamieson-Harwood was told the parasite had both male and female organs, so “they can just keep procreating in the body”.
“I’m not sure what happens to the eggs,” she said.
“I think they just build up around the liver and I think it can sometimes pass through urine and that’s how it then spreads.
“It’s been a lot, I’m just trying to figure it out.”
In a follow-up video, she said her mum was given medication and was now “feeling like a million bucks”.
“She stayed in hospital while she had it. She said that her stomach got really big and hot and she felt so dizzy and so sick,” the TikToker explained.
“But it was just the medication killing off the (parasite) because she was the host for a long time.”
Jocelyn will need ongoing medical attention, Jamieson-Harwood tells 7Life.
“My mum went back to the specialist and the liver results have not changed,” she said.
“So she had another round of treatment and is feeling a bit better.
“They’re hoping this second round will take care of the parasite but ongoing checks and treatment will be required.”
She says the discovery of the parasite has “answered so much for” her mum, who is now recovering well at home.
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