A cup of tea with... CLAIRE TURNBULL

USED TO DISHING OUT ADVICE, IT’S BEEN A CHALLENGE HAVING TO OBEY DOCTOR’S ORDERS!

- Fleur Guthrie

By her own admission, nutritionist and author Claire Turnbull, 38, used to be the “queen of multitasking”. Regularly dishing out food advice on TV and radio, and running her business Mission Nutrition, the UK-born mum-of-two thrived on her fast-paced life. But after a health crisis earlier this year, that saw significant issues with her speech and experiencing blackouts, she is adjusting to a “new normal”, which means taking at least two naps a day and cooking with noise-cancelling headphones. The Weekly catches up with Claire at home on Auckland’s North Shore to hear how she’s doing.

When did your brain issues begin?

Over Christmas, I got a sinus infection. Normally, I bounce back from those kinds of things. The pain was horrific. One morning in January, I woke up and noticed my speech was really odd. I could say three words, then I’d trip up on the fourth and not complete my sentence because I couldn’t remember what the beginning of it was! I had debilitating headaches that wouldn’t go away with medication. I felt like I was drunk. The doctor arranged an urgent CT scan because all of my symptoms were similar to those from a brain tumor. I had to cancel my work for the next three months.

Were the scan results good news?