A 22-year-old woman who was suffering from severe headaches thought it was caused by draught in her bedroom. However, Jess Boxley, was actually suffering from a rare brain condition that almost caused her to go blind.
Boxley, a nurse from Tipton, England, had initially thought she had 'cold stimulus headache,' sometimes known as 'brain freeze', reported the Daily Mail. After she consumed pain reliever called paracetamol, Boxley began to get nauseous and eye pain which led to loss in vision. The pain even spread to her back and neck.
After visiting her optician she was sent to a hospital where she learned she had intracranial hypertension (IH). The condition can occur suddenly due to head injury, brain tumour, stroke or brain abscess. It is caused by excess fluid around the brain.
To remove the fluid from her brain and relieve the pressure, Jess had to have many lumbar punctures where a needle was inserted into the lower part of the spine. If left untreated, the condition can cause permanent vision loss. It reportedly affects women in the 20s and 30s. Boxley’s optician warns an eye check up is valuable for everyone’s health.
