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Woman's 'tonsillitis' was actually a massive stroke
We’ve all had that sinking feeling that a severe headache might be more than just that, but too often we brush off poitentially deadly symptoms.
One woman in England however followed her gut and visited a GP after an intense headache flooded over her suddenly, only to have her symptoms dismissed by the medical professional.
Christine Morgan was working as a hairdresser in Kent in 2016, when she experienced the sudden headache.
Knowing it was more than a mild pain, her husband called a doctor who checked only her temperature and glands.
Though she didn’t have a sore throat or cough, a small white spot led the doc to chalk the whole thing up to a nasty case of tonsillitis.
Less than a week later, the 64-year-old was undergoing emergency open-skull surgery to treat a brain bleed.
It turns out she was experiencing subarachnoid haemorrhage, a type of life-threatening stroke.
Experts warn time is of the essence in nearly all cases, and for Morgan the delay in prognosis came with devastating effect.
Six days passed between her tonsillitis diagnosis and her surgery, costing her ‘crucial time’.
She was in hospital for eight weeks and left paralysed on the left side of her body.
What is a subarachnoid hemorrhage?
The condition occurs when bleeding from a damaged blood vessel causes blood to accumulate at the surface of the brain and fill a portion of the space between the brain and the skull, according to Harvard University.
The blood mixes with cerebrospinal fluid, which cushions the brain and spinal cord, putting increased pressure on the brain. The intense pressure causes extreme headache, which some people describe as a “thunderclap”.
In the days after the bleeding, chemical irritation from clotted blood around the brain can cause brain arteries to go into spasm, which can damage brain tissue.
“The majority of patients present with a sudden, severe, worst headache of their life,” says Dr. Michael Kelly, professor and head of neurosurgery at the Royal University Hospital of the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon.
“It comes on with no real warning beforehand and happens in an instant.”
“There’s an ominous sort of feeling that comes over them,” he adds. “Family members or people with them recognise there’s something quite wrong.”
Time is of the essence
The most important factor when it comes to treatment and recovery is that quick recognition: time is of the essence.
In Morgan’s case, six days passed between her tonsillitis diagnosis and her surgery, costing her ‘crucial time’.
She was in hospital for eight weeks and left paralysed on the left side of her body.
In addition to terrible, sudden headache, other symptoms of subarachnoid haemorrhage include nausea and vomiting, stiff neck, dizziness, confusion, seizure, inability to look at bright light, and loss of consciousness.
Kelly urges people experiencing or witnessing such signs to call 000 immediately.
According to Harvard University, many people with ruptured aneurysms or subarachnoid haemorrhages do not survive long enough to reach a hospital.
Of those who do, about 50 percent die within the first month of treatment and those that survive often face long term neurological problems.
Words by Gail Johnson.
