Balqis Aldimshawy
Insulinoma
Egypt

I was an athletic lady who got Hurthle cell carcinoma in 2017 and recovered completely. In 2018, I started to get peckish a lot, and in 2019, I exhibited chronic diarrhea with consistent and significant weight gain. This made no sense, medically. And despite being a graduate oral surgeon, I spent three years seeing various specialists: endocrinologists, internal medicine doctors, surgeons, neurologists you name it. All I kept hearing was: “Ma’am, you need to lose weight. Get laparoscopic surgery.” To the point that even hearing the mention of weight loss surgery caused me trauma.

I started getting seizures, suffered from severe brain fog, and began growing an apron belly. I had stopped digesting food to the point of living off the water from boiled rice. Still, every new doctor who saw a fat lady thought weight loss was the solution. I was supposed to lose weight, yet every week or two, I had to buy new clothes because my old ones no longer fit.

In my third year of this (2021), I found myself standing in the street, crying and praying next to the last surgeon I saw who again positively recommended weight loss surgery. At that moment, I decided to go to the nearest insurance-covered endocrinologist, and I did.

She was a calm lady and the only one who acknowledged the amount of chronic pain and fatigue I was experiencing. She looked at all my paperwork, her notes, and some recent blood work and said: “You are a true hero to live with all this pain… But why are you trying to fix each issue on its own? They are all connected. I think you have a Tumor in your pancreas.”

I started crying again because of the validation. Finally! She asked for lab work, and once it was done, it confirmed the diagnosis: an insulinoma. I had been living with tremendous amounts of insulin, and the seizures were not neurological they were caused by my blood sugar dropping to 40 at the drop of a hat.

Now, there was another issue. Insulinomas and neuroendocrine tumors, in general, are the lesser-treaded path in oncology, and in Egypt, this area was still new. My oncologist was, in fact, just beginning to tour conferences and deliver lectures to other doctors about them.

It took me one more year of trying to locate the insulinoma through different types of medical imaging. I didn’t know back then that it was a secreting tumor, one that would only show during active secretion until I found a support group for insulinoma patients. It was based in the USA, but I connected with a fellow Egyptian who had spent five years seeking a diagnosis. His condition had become so misunderstood that doctors began telling his mother (a physician, by the way) that he might be mentally ill or on drugs, due to the fatigue, pain, and seizures.

He told me about his experience and advised me to see one hepatologist who had studied neuroendocrine tumor detection abroad and had helped him locate his tumor sites. Finally, a spot of hope. I was able to get an image of the tumor, and at 164 kg, with high blood pressure, heart rhythm issues, insulin resistance, and abrupt seizures, I had to find one surgeon who would give me a chance.

I went to a renowned institute where a committee of oncology professors unanimously refused to operate on me. They concluded that I could live better than risk my life under anesthesia.

After around 10 months, one brave surgeon agreed to help. I stopped breathing twice in the operating room and spent two weeks in the hospital, but I made it.

Today, in 2025, I am still recovering from hepatic steatosis and fibrosis, traumatic brain injury, muscle mass loss, high blood pressure, imbalanced blood lipids, and, of course, depression. Maybe I would have avoided many of these side effects and the mental trauma if I had known about patient advocacy or had challenged my doctors more.

Today, I am the Vice President of the Board of Trustees at the Cancer Care Egypt Foundation, a patient advocacy group, and a proud member of the WPA helping patients with all I’ve got.

My advice to you is this:

Just set your foot to the ground and be your own advocate. Read research and ask for help when needed from health professionals, caregivers, and patient advocates.