A 43-year-old woman in Istanbul who suffered from severe bouts of insomnia and paranoia actually had a rare cyst growing in her brain.
As The Daily Mail reports, the unnamed woman thought her husband was cheating on her with another woman, even though she had no evidence to back up her suspicions.
According to the journal BMJ Case Reports, the paranoid wife quickly began searching through her husband’s cell phone and personal belongings to find proof of the other woman.
Eventually, the woman became so irritable and jealous that her family forced her to visit the hospital, where doctors from the Department of Neurology at Uskudar University, Istanbul discovered the truth.
After several tests, an MRI scan finally revealed a porencephalic cyst in the right frontal lobe of the woman’s brain.
Depending on where these rare fluid-filled sacs grow in the brain, they can cause seizures, learning disabilities, and even personality changes.
According to BMJ Case Reports, the woman was diagnosed with a psychotic disorder caused by the cyst pressing on her brain.
Because of the tricky location of the cyst, doctors decided against surgery and instead prescribed the anti-psychotic medication olanzapine.
Doctors treating the woman say her extreme irritability and delusions “improved significantly” after she began taking the medication, though they did not comment on the current state of her marriage.
