by A mother recounted how the pregnancy caused a “terrifying” rare condition that made her BLIND. Amie Bridson, 36, woke up one morning to find that her vision was completely gone. She rushed to seek medical help, and luckily, she regained her sight after three days. But Amie’s C-section later triggered the condition again. This meant that she spent weeks after the pregnancy with distorted vision and now, three years later, she still has problems. Amie said: “The doctors told me that I had developed this unexplained medical condition that predominantly affects my eyesight. I’ve had to deal with it ever since.” Amie, from Chester, went to sleep on Christmas Day in 2019 completely fine. But the next morning she woke up blind. Her mother of two remembers desperately rubbing her eyes and splashing them with water in the hope that she would regain her sight. She spent all of Boxing Day unable to see, before making an emergency appointment with opticians the next day. It was there that Amie was informed that if she did not go to the hospital in the next few hours she would go blind forever. Amie, a business manager, said: “All Boxing Day I couldn’t see anything. “So we went to the optician first thing the next morning. “They told me that the optic nerve at the back of my eye was badly inflamed and that intercranial pressure was causing me to lose my sight. “But they didn’t know why, all they knew was that I had to go to the hospital immediately. immediately, so they called an ambulance. And it is his initial diagnosis that ultimately saved my sight.” hospital. Tests confirmed high pressure in his skull due to excess cerebrospinal fluid. And he was diagnosed with idiopathic intercranial hypertension (IIH). Doctors believe this could be due to the Amie’s hormones increased during the pregnancy, but they can’t say for sure. She regained her vision three days later, after surgeons regulated the pressure in her skull. But her C-section in April 2020 triggered the condition again, and Amie’s vision Amie twisted and distorted for weeks. Three years later, she is still battling the effects of her IIH diagnosis. Her son Oscar, now three, was born without any further complications. She said: “They told me I needed a C-section because the pushing that comes with a regular birth would put too much pressure on my brain.” “But during the operation I felt my vision go away again and suddenly everything that is I was looking at it at a right angle. We couldn’t get out of the room because it was the height of Covid and the heat was unbearable because they had no air conditioning to try to stop the spread of covid. “It was the most horrible experience of my life, and my eyesight stayed that way for two weeks later. “The doctors were able to release the pressure again and I was eventually released, but the effects of IIH are permanent. “It’s like living with a brain tumor without actually having a tumor, and at the moment there is no cure. Constant symptoms are loud drumming and throbbing in the ear, pressure headaches, fullness in the head, neck pain, and balance problems.” but on both occasions I was told to hold out for awareness and support others suffering from this life-changing condition.” For more information about IIH, visit https://www.iih.org.uk.
