A mum had told how pregnancy brought on a "terrifying" rare condition - which made her go blind. Amie Bridson, 36, woke up one morning and found her vision had gone completely.
She rushed to get medical help and thankfully her sight returned after three days. But Amie's C-section then triggered the condition again.
This meant she spent weeks post-pregnancy with distorted vision and now, three years later, she still has issues. Amie said: "Doctors told me I'd developed this unexplained medical condition which predominantly impacts my sight.
"I've had to deal with it ever since." Amie went to sleep on Christmas Day in 2019 completely fine.
But the next morning she woke up blind. The mum-of-two recalls desperately rubbing her eyes and splashing them with water in the hope her vision would return.
She spent the whole of Boxing Day unable to see, before making an emergency appointment with the opticians the next day. It was there that Amie was informed if she didn't go to hospital within the next few hours she'd be blind forever.
Amie, a business manager, said: "The whole of Boxing Day I couldn't see a thing. So we went to the opticians the first thing the next morning.
"They told me the optic nerve in the back of my eye was severely swollen, and the intercranial pressure was causing sight loss. But they didn't know why - all they knew was I needed to go to hospital immediately, so they rung me an ambulance.
"And it's their initial diagnosis which ultimately saved my sight."
Amie underwent multiple scans and a lumber puncture at hospital. The tests confirmed the high pressure in her skull from excess cerebrospinal fluid.
And she was diagnosed with Idiopathic Intercranial Hypertension (IIH). Doctors believe this could have resulted from Amie's increased hormones during 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 vison became bent and distorted for weeks.
Three years later she is still battling the effects of her IIH diagnosis. Son Oscar, now three, was born without any other complications.
She said: "I was told I needed a C-section as the pushing that comes with regular birth would exert too much pressure on my brain. But during the operation I felt my vision going again and suddenly everything I was looking at was at a right angle.
"We were unable to leave the ward as it was the height of Covid, and the heat was unbearable as they had no air conditioning on to try and stop the spread of covid. It was the most horrific experience of my life, and my sight stayed like that for two weeks after.
"The doctors were able to release the pressure again and I was eventually discharged, but the effects of IIH are permanent. It's like living with a brain tumour without actually having a tumour, and at the moment there's no cure.
"The constant symptoms are a loud drumming and pulsing in the ear, pressure headaches, fullness in the head, neck ache, and balance issues. I've returned to hospital twice since when it's felt like my vision was going again, but was told both times to just wait it out.
"IIH effects 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."
To find out more information about IIH visit https://www.iih.org.uk.
