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A mother of two has revealed how pregnancy triggered a rare ‘scary’ eye condition, causing her to lose her vision.
Amie Bridson, 36, from Chester, had enjoyed a merry Christmas in 2019, when she woke up on Boxing Day to find her vision was completely gone.
Her opticians sent her to the hospital, and although she regained her sight after three days, having a C-section while giving birth sparked the condition again.
Amie spent the first weeks of her newborn’s life with distorted vision and now, three years later, she still has vision problems.
Amie said: ‘The doctors told me that I had developed this unexplained medical condition which predominantly affects my eyesight. I’ve had to deal with it ever since.
Amie Bridson, 36, had never had any problems with her eyesight before she became pregnant with her second child, now three.
Amie went to sleep on Christmas Day 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.
He 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 be blind forever.
Amie, a business manager, said: ‘For the whole of 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 my loss of sight.
Pictured after baby Oscar was born in 2020; a caesarean section triggered distorted vision caused by Idiopathic Intercranial Hypertension (IIH), which lasted for several weeks
Amie must now live with Idiopathic Intercranial Hypertension (IIH), which causes pressure headaches and balance problems.
Doctors think the rare condition could be due to Amie’s increased hormones during the pregnancy, but they can’t say for sure.
She adds: “But they didn’t know why, all they knew was that I had to go to the hospital right away, so they called an ambulance.” And it’s her initial diagnosis that ultimately saved my sight.
Amie underwent multiple scans and a spinal tap at the hospital.
Tests confirmed high pressure in his skull due to excess cerebrospinal fluid.
And she was diagnosed with Idiopathic Intercranial Hypertension (IIH). Doctors think this could be due to Amie’s increased hormones during the pregnancy, but they can’t say for sure.
He regained his vision three days after surgeons regulated the pressure in his skull. But her C-section in April 2020 triggered the condition again, and Amie’s vision warped and distorted for weeks.
Three years later, she is still fighting the effects of her IIH diagnosis. Her son Oscar, now three years old, was born without any further complications. She said: ‘I was told I needed a C-section as the pushing that comes with a normal delivery would put too much pressure on my brain.
“But during the operation I felt my vision go away again and suddenly everything I was looking at was at a right angle.
“We couldn’t get out of the room because it was the height of covid, and the heat was unbearable since they didn’t have 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 afterward.
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.
When an episode occurs, Amie has to “wait” for her vision to return to normal.
Constant symptoms are a loud drumming and throbbing in the ear, pressure headaches, fullness in the head, neck pain, and balance problems.
“I’ve been back to the hospital twice since I felt my vision failing again, but both times they told me to wait.
‘IIH affects less than two percent of the population, and I want to share my story to raise awareness and support others suffering from this life-changing condition.’
For more information on IIH visit www.iih.org.uk.