Woman left paralysed from mystery illness she thought was just a cold
'It was the most scared I’ve ever been in my life'
Watch: 'I thought I had a cold by mystery illness left my face paralysed'
A woman who thought she had a head cold was rushed to hospital after she woke up to find half her face had become paralysed during the night.
Caoimhe Reddy, 26, thought her cheek was just numb from 'sleeping funny' – until she realised she couldn't move her face enough to sip her coffee.
When she looked in the mirror and saw that the left side was slumped, she called 111 operators, who told her she might be having a stroke, leaving her terrified.
But much to her confusion, seven weeks of tests came back clear and doctors are still uncertain about exactly what caused her paralysis. Their best guess is that Reddy may be suffering from inflamed facial nerves caused by some sort of infection, something that she just hopefully needs to wait out.
Meanwhile, however, she is struggling to eat, drink and talk, and has even lost use of the taste buds in the half of her tongue affected.
Read more: Woman who thought her drink had been spiked was actually having a stroke (Yahoo Life UK, 4-min read)
"It is just so shocking – the universe has decided to freeze half my face," Reddy, an account manager originally from Smithfield, Ireland, who now lives in West London, says.
"I’m still working on eating and drinking, and talking is really laboured.
"At first I was like, 'okay, cool. It’ll go away after a couple of days.'
"Then, when it got to two weeks and it still wasn’t better – it was almost like I had to keep learning how to deal with it."
Reddy doesn't recall anything in particular that could have really started her symptoms.
"I wasn’t sick at the time – there was no indicator this was going to happen. I woke up in bed – my fiancé had bought a cup of coffee and left it beside me.
"I went to drink it and it spilled all out of my mouth.
"My rational brain – I didn’t think anything of it at first, just 'oh, that’s a bit weird'.
"I looked in the mirror and found my face was paralysed – but there was no numbness, no tingling – it felt just the same as it did the night before."
Read more: Woman raising awareness of sepsis after what she presumed was a cold led to the condition (Yahoo Life UK, 5-min read)
Reddy's fiancé, a 29-year-old financial advisor, was the one to encourage her to call 111 after that night she went to bed on 19 August with felt like a mild head cold. And despite her thinking she'd be told to "just walk it off", she was stunned to be sent an ambulance.
"I literally felt my soul leave my body," she says of the moment she realised it could be serious. "Maybe I’m naive but I didn’t even realise it could be a possibility. I’m only 26, and I’m healthy.
"While waiting for the ambulance, I sat down on my bed and had a bit of a cry. But I also thought, if I’ve had a stroke, I just need to go to the hospital and deal with it.
"It was the most scared I’ve ever been in my life."
Reddy was rushed to Charing Cross Hospital, with paramedics unable to fully determine whether she'd had a stroke, a traumatic brain injury (TBI) or an infection.
A stroke is a serious life-threatening medical condition that happens when the blood supply to part of the brain is cut off, a TBI is an injury to the brain caused by a trauma to the head, while an infection can be caused by a whole host of things.
"They were able to ascertain I hadn’t had a stroke through MRIs and neurological tests – but then they said they 'weren’t really sure' what had happened – and sent me home with steroid tablets," Reddy explains.
"But they kept needing me to come back in for more tests – I went back six times in seven weeks.
"They thought it might be a palsy related to some kind of infection, but all my bloods came back clear."
She was eventually told by doctors her facial nerves "may be inflamed", and was put on antibiotics, antivirals and steroids. Seven weeks on, the paralysis sadly hasn't improved.
Reddy says she no longer feels comfortable eating and drinking in public, as well as talking, with her finding 'P' and 'B' words particularly difficult to pronounce.
Read more: Signs and symptoms of a stroke as Susan Boyle reveals she experienced one (Yahoo Life UK, 4-min read)
"I’m trying to win a mental battle with myself over eating and drinking in public," she says honestly. “It’s just not an elegant process, I can’t close my mouth.
"It’s even affected half my tongue – because half my tongue is paralysed, I’ve also lost half the use of my taste buds.
"Everything I was doing before the paralysis just felt so un-doable at first - even going to the coffee shop and having to ask for a straw.
"I thought it was mortifying. Like, what if they ask what’s happened? What if they know I’m sick?"
But, undefeated, Reddy is trying to face her condition head-on, with as much positivity and strong will as she can.
"I just want to be as happy and healthy as possible," she adds. "I’m going running for the first time in my life, trying to improve my fitness.
"I also started acupuncture on Wednesday (4/10), just trying to keep on top of my mental health as well as the paralysis."
If you experience signs of a stroke (drooping of the face, not being able to lift your arms, difficulty with speech), a TBI (slurred speech, headaches, confusion, and more), or an infection (headache, cold skin, trouble breathing, feeling confused, difficulty breathing, slurred speech, and more) seek medical help immediately.
Additional reporting SWNS.
