A fashion blogger who suffered a stroke aged just 17 has told how she mistook it for a migraine.
Bridie Kirsopp was hit with a severe headache, blurred vision and nausea when she woke up one morning in 2012.
The teen felt so unwell she couldn't stand up and chalked it down to the common condition experienced by people her age.
The last thing Bridie thought was that the source of her pain was coming from a stroke.
But a CT scan five days later left doctors shocked, when the results showed she had a blood clot in her brain.
"I just never thought it could happen to someone so young," said Bridie, who is now 29 and spent a week-long stint in hospital following the stroke.
The stroke left Bridie with severe fatigue and weakness on the left side of her body which, after a few months, developed into severe pain that “burnt from head to toe”.
Now, 12 years later, the Leeds-based blogger reveals she is still suffering from severe physical and psychological side effects.
“As well as having to learn to adapt mentally with what I have endured,” she told Leeds Live.
“I am now extremely sensitive to touch and on bad days I can’t bear being anything on my skin.”
Bridie said she was not offered any support after the traumatic event, claiming she felt like “such an anomaly”.
“You’re never told you’re going to have a stroke at 17 and no one else believes you can have one either,” she said.
“I didn't understand enough about strokes or the chronic pain condition I was left with. Looking back, I was quite naïve and fearful and that played havoc on my anxieties.”
The severe side effects meant Bridie couldn’t enjoy being a teenager or do what her friends were doing as she entered her twenties.
She said: “I was just so caught up in healing and controlling my pain. I didn't have time nor the good health to do the normal teen things like parties, dating and university.
“It’s all I've known through my most important years.”
Bridie, who will celebrate her 30th birthday next month, feels she has missed out on her youth and still has to manage how much she can do each day.
She said: “I don’t have any choice, I just need to limit myself and rest as much as I can. I used to make the mistake of taking too much on because I forget I don’t have a normal brain.
“I just need to listen to my body and accept it.”
As well as being left physically unable to do as much as her friends, Bridie says her mental health also took a toll.
She said: “The mental impact has definitely been worse than the physical, and that is saying something with the debilitating pain I have.”
She's since undergone several years of psychotherapy to enable her to find a way of coping with everyday life, and says she refuses to call herself a “victim” opting instead for the word, “survivor”.
“I've lost a lot, but gained so much more and I've figured out what truly matters in life.”
Bridie now works closely with Different Strokes, a charity helping young stroke survivors in the UK.
She said: “I think I felt too ashamed. I didn't want to admit that I was now actually a stroke survivor, especially because I was so young.
“I quickly noticed a difference in how I see myself and it made me feel less alone and gave me a sense of purpose.
“The biggest thing is my ability to feel deep compassion and advocate for what's right," she said.
“I feel like I've gained a superpower and I use it to my full advantage.”
