{"id":8192,"date":"2026-04-22T07:33:24","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T07:33:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/?p=8192"},"modified":"2026-04-22T07:45:03","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T07:45:03","slug":"woman-26-diagnosed-with-cancer-after-extreme-itchy-skin-that-stopped-her-from-sleeping-turned-out-to-be-symptom-of-deadly-disease","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/?p=8192","title":{"rendered":"Woman, 26, diagnosed with cancer after extreme ‘itchy skin’ that stopped her from sleeping turned out to be symptom of deadly disease"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A young woman has revealed how her extremely itchy skin led to a devastating cancer<\/a> diagnosis – despite doctors initially telling her she needed to moisturise more.<\/p>\n

Sumbul Ari was unable to get a full night’s sleep for seven months due to the sensation of her skin crawling, leaving her ‘itching herself to death’ each evening.<\/p>\n

Despite raising concerns, the 26-year-old from Cairns, Australia, claims doctors suggested the problem was likely caused by ‘dry skin’ and advised her to use moisturising creams.<\/p>\n

Ms Ari said her symptoms began last April, the first of which was ‘uncontrollable itching’ which ‘got worse at night’ and ‘would keep me up for hours’.<\/p>\n

She added: ‘I would scratch myself with sharp objects, and no medication, cream or antihistamines would help. Doctors put it down to dry skin, scabies, eczema.’<\/p>\n

But when other symptoms developed – including night sweats, chronic fatigue and a loss of appetite – Ms Ari suspected something more serious was at play.<\/p>\n

Then, after finding a lump on the back of her neck, it became far more serious than even she thought.<\/p>\n

Ms Ali said: ‘I randomly touched my neck and felt a lump. When I did my Google search, the symptoms came up \u2013 itchy skin, fatigue, night sweats. I knew instantly I had cancer.’<\/p>\n

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\"Sumbul<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Sumbul Ari has told how her extremely itchy skin led to a devastating cancer diagnosis<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The symptoms aligned with the rare form of the disease, Hodgkin lymphoma, a rare cancer that begins in the white blood cells.<\/p>\n

Around 2,200 people in Britain are diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma each year, accounting for roughly 1 per cent of all cancer cases nationwide.<\/p>\n

Globally, the figure rises to just under 83,000 cases annually, according to the latest published statistics from the World Health Organisation.<\/p>\n

One of the most high-profile cases is Michael C. Hall, who revealed in 2009 that he had been diagnosed aged 38 while filming the fourth season of Dexter.<\/p>\n

As well as being one of the rarest forms of cancer, Hodgkin lymphoma is most commonly diagnosed in adults aged 20 to 24 and 75 to 79.<\/p>\n

Being young herself, Ms Ari booked another appointment as soon as she realised her symptoms matched the disease.<\/p>\n

Through tears, she listed the conditions she had already been treated for and pleaded for an ultrasound scan.<\/p>\n

Official NHS guidance lists itchy skin alongside painless lumps or swelling in the neck, armpit or groin as some of the most common symptoms.<\/p>\n

Pain in those areas after drinking alcohol, as well as high temperatures, night sweats, shortness of breath and sudden weight loss can also be warning signs.<\/p>\n

On March 17 – and almost a year after her first symptom – Ms Ari received an official diagnosis from the haematologist.<\/p>\n

She said: ‘After I received my ultrasound result, which confirmed multiple enlarged lymph nodes in the neck, the doctor urged me to go to the hospital.<\/p>\n

‘A CT scan was done and doctors at the hospital confirmed more enlarged lymph nodes across my chest and neck.<\/p>\n

‘They said they highly suspect lymphoma, so I had a biopsy and PET scan done the following week and got my official diagnosis on 17 March.’<\/p>\n

Ms Ari’s cancer was found between stage two and stage three, with enlarged lymph nodes in her neck and chest, and spread to her spleen.<\/p>\n

She has finished one round of chemotherapy and has five more to go, and says she is so ‘relieved’ that someone ‘finally’ listened to her.<\/p>\n

She said:\u00a0‘For seven months, I woke up every single night to itch myself to death.<\/p>\n

‘If you know there is something wrong with you, please do not stop advocating for yourself.’<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  A young woman has revealed how her extremely itchy skin led to a devastating cancer diagnosis – despite doctors initially telling her she needed to moisturise more. Sumbul Ari was unable to get a full night’s sleep for seven months due to the sensation of her skin crawling, leaving her ‘itching herself to death’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8193,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[987],"tags":[2904,2899,870,2902,2893,2903,2898,2900,2901,2809],"class_list":{"0":"post-8192","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthy-living","8":"tag-b-symptoms","9":"tag-cancer-red-flags","10":"tag-chemotherapy","11":"tag-diagnostic-advocacy","12":"tag-early-onset-cancer","13":"tag-hematology","14":"tag-hodgkin-lymphoma-2026","15":"tag-itchy-skin-pruritus","16":"tag-lymphatic-system","17":"tag-patient-resilience"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8192"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8192\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8195,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8192\/revisions\/8195"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}