Former Dom-2 reality television participant Alena Rapunzel, whose real surname is Savkina, has revealed on Instagram three cancer symptoms she failed to notice before her diagnosis.
The Russian television personality identified dramatic weight loss, extreme fatigue and night sweats as the three warning signs she initially overlooked. Doctors diagnosed Rapunzel with cancer at the end of July, and she has since completed two courses of chemotherapy.
Rapunzel said the first sign of her illness was severe weight loss. While she did not recognise it as a medical issue at the time, many people around her, including her social media followers, pointed out the physical change. She recalled that people repeatedly told her she looked strange, had become extremely thin and had bones sticking out.
Fatigue and night sweats before diagnosis
The second symptom she experienced was intense exhaustion that set in almost immediately after she started her day. According to Rapunzel, she felt worn out just one hour after waking up each morning, a condition she blamed on everyday stress and overwork rather than an underlying illness.
Night sweats formed the third sign of the disease. Rapunzel explained that she consistently assumed her bedroom was simply too warm or that the problem lay with the quality of her blanket, bed linen or pyjamas. She added that night sweats are widely regarded as one of the primary indicators of cancer.
Following her diagnosis in late July and two rounds of chemotherapy, the reality television star spoke openly about the physical toll of her cancer treatment. She complained that the therapy had been difficult to endure and reported that the veins in her arms had burst as a result of constant intravenous drips.
Dom-2 fame and Instagram in Russia
Rapunzel rose to public attention in Russia as a cast member on Dom-2, one of the country's longest-running reality television franchises. Originally launched on the TNT network in 2004, the programme follows participants as they build romantic relationships while constructing a house, turning many of its former contestants into prominent social media personalities with large online followings.
She shared the update with her audience on Instagram, a platform owned by US technology company Meta, which Russian authorities designated as an extremist organisation and banned in the country in 2022. Unexplained weight loss, persistent fatigue and night sweats are recognised in medicine as systemic warning signs of malignancy, though patients frequently attribute them to routine exhaustion or sleeping conditions before undergoing clinical testing.
Standard chemotherapy regimens are commonly delivered directly into the bloodstream through repeated intravenous infusions, which can irritate and weaken superficial veins in the arms over multiple treatment cycles.
