A stroke at just 20, now Nia has to rebuild her life slowly
WHEN student Nia Phillips felt a headache coming on one Friday in autumn 2019 she had no idea it was the start of her life changing for ever.
Seeking medical advice early on, the then 20-yearold from Ammanford was told the pain in her head was probably the result of a hangover.
But days later doctors discovered she was experiencing a life-threatening stroke likely to be caused by her contraceptive pill.
A year and a half on from her traumatic ordeal, Nia is slowly coming to terms with what happened and is now more determined than ever to follow her dreams.
“I felt like I had a headache on the Friday but it wasn’t bad. Then I woke up on the Saturday and it was definitely a migraine,” said Nia, now 22.
“I was vomiting, I had blurred vision, I was seriously light sensitive to the point where I had to have closed curtains and an eye mask on.”
It was a day when the psychology student should have been enjoying herself at her thirdyear ball at Royal Holloway University, Surrey. Instead she was bedbound and could hardly lift her head from her pillow.
Her worried mum went down to Surrey to help her and the pair decided to return to Carmarthenshire on the Friday so Nia could get better in the comfort of her own home.
“When we got home I saw a nurse who thought it was an ear infection as she could see swelling behind my ear, but because my eyes were still so painful my mother suggested we
saw an optician.
“The optician was a family friend and we were so lucky that she could fit us in last minute.”
Nia said it was only then that something far more sinister was discovered – and it was caught just in the nick of time.
“The optician noticed some swelling in my brain and sent me straight to Glangwili Hospital in Carmarthen to be seen out of hours. I will always be so thankful to her because if it wasn’t pointed out then who knows what would have happened?” she said.
Nia was admitted to hospital and had an MRI scan and ultrasound of her eyeball the next day.
“They came back and
said: ‘After seeing your MRI scan we can see a blood clot on the brain.’ They instantly injected me with heparin to thin my blood as soon as possible,” she said.
Following her diagnosis, Nia stayed in hospital for two more weeks.
After she was discharged she had regular ophthalmology appointments to check her eyesight and pressure behind the eyes and in the brain.
Tests were run to try to determine the cause of her clot, the result of which really surprised Nia.
“They told me that
according to the tests I didn’t have a genetic predisposition to blood clots. There was also no known family history of it and I was a healthy 20-year-old.
“I was told that doctors would never be able to explain 100% for certain why I had the blood clot but the most likely cause was my contraceptive pill.
“I went on the (combined) pill Rigevidon in 2017 at the age of 18 and I never had any previous issues with it.”
According to the NHS website, Rigevidon is one of the more popular types of contraceptive and is safe for most women.
It states that there is a “very low risk of serious side effects” such as clots and that women should be fine to take it unless they are suffering with or have a close family history of certain conditions.
These can include blood clots, high blood pressure, heart abnormalities and migraines – especially ones with auras.
Even though Nia was not identified as being high risk, she believes a better understanding of the possible side effects of taking the pill would have led her to make a more informed choice.
Nia said it took her a while to adjust back to a new version of normality after leaving hospital and said lockdown helped her to catch up with her peers.
Because of the time she spent out of university, Nia deferred her psychology degree for a year and instead re-enrolled to do her third year at Cardiff University to be closer to home, starting it last autumn.
She said: “When I was first home I was basically just staying at home watching the TV on the dimmest setting because my eyes were still so painful for a while. My mum is retired and she was amazing – she spent the whole time looking after me and making sure I was okay.
“I hated any sunny day, even in the house, because it was too painful, whereas now I can go out and about on a sunny day,” she said.
“I wasn’t able to drive until about six months ago and that was really hard. But even though I am able to do so much more now, simple things do tire me out more than they used to.
“I’m really lucky to have really supportive friends, but when I come home after socialising I can feel that it’s really taken it out of me whereas I never had that before – I’m really sociable.”
Nia also started jogging and walking throughout January, aiming for 100km to raise money for brain injury charity Sameyou – something she couldn’t have imagined doing just a few months earlier.
Even though Nia got through this awful time with humour and the help of her supportive family, she said one thing she didn’t receive was professional support to deal with her emotional trauma.
She said: “I wasn’t given much support in terms of my wellbeing. This was really traumatic for me and I wasn’t given or didn’t have any support groups or therapy suggested to me. I feel like it would have been so helpful to have had someone to talk to about it.
“Through chance a girl in my local area was doing her dissertation on blood clots and she interviewed me and I found people through her on social media and it was so comforting to speak to people.
“As much as I use humour to get me through it, it was traumatising and I still haven’t processed it all.”
Mandy Rayani, director of nursing, quality, and patient experience at Hywel Dda University Health Board, said: “The health and wellbeing of all our patients is of paramount importance to us and so it is disappointing to hear that, in this case, the patient felt she did not receive the psychological support she needed.
“We would advise any patient who has concerns about their care and treatment to get in touch with our patient support team who are there to provide help and advice. The team can be contacted by calling 0300 0200 159 or by emailing hdhb.patientsupportservices@wales. nhs.uk.”