Living with Intracranial Hypertension..

Benign can I just add ( I don't have a brain tumour..)

My retina
The retina is -  the optic nerve around the eye (we all have them, its how you see..)
My retina will be forever swollen, my retina will be scarred for life, showing a white blob around the nerves that show within any MRI I have taken..

Idiopathic Hypertension (the retina)
My eye is similar...

"I can't lift my head, please can you help me?"..

I remember being REALLY unhealthy:
pot noodles
boiling pasta with oil/butter to make it extra soft
using those ready made pasta sachets 'just add boiling water'
drinking a bottle (large) of Lambrini every weekend (sometimes vodka & cherry aid (classy)
yes smoking weed (mum knows...)
BUT I never actually smoked 'real fags'..

I was 15/16.. I think, just starting my A-levels at my school (Chaucer Technology) ''Chavvy Chaucer''..

Laying on my mum and step-dads red velvet sofa (gone now).. watching Harry Potter (NEVER watched it since)..
My head slowly turning to the side & all I remember is this screaming noise coming from me,
I was on my own..
I woke up to blood pouring out of my mouth and I'd bitten through my tongue (I'd suffered my first seizure!)
I had suffered severe headaches for about 5months prior to this..
Just taking paracetamol and carrying on thinking it was stress related..
 'meh only a headache it'll go'

My mum always tells me:
"Liz, you become immune to the paracetamol/Ibuprofen if you constantly take them.."
*I was taking about 8 tablets a day*..
Constantly struggling to lift my head, honestly it was like something pulling on my spine refusing to let me sit up straight..

What is Benign Intracranial Hypertension?
"A build up of pressure around the brain - can appear suddenly"

"BUT you're not over-weight?"
"You're definitely not pregnant"
"You're on the pill though..."

This was the cause of my diagnosis..
THE PILL


I had so much pressure around my brain that I was seeing white spots in my eyes (still do..) they scare me as I see these before a seizure..
*oooo bright light...*

Lumbar puncture time!
A tube inserted into the bottom of the spine to 'release pressure from the brain'..
IT KILLS 
I still have a numb spine years later...

So whats it like?

I suffer severe migraines, seizures that until my stroke weren't diagnosed as epilepsy. I obviously get fatigued. Memory loss, 'oooo bright lights' A swishing noise in my ears (like when you have a fan on in the bathroom and your so excited for it to turn off) I get really hot flushes.

What do they do now?
do you want to know something REALLY cool? they do NOTHING.
'you've got an eye appointment' bla bla same old 'hmm you can see the retina is raised'..
If you're being sick, please come back :)

The causes:
Being over-weight (obese)
being on the pill (too much oestrogen)
Being pregnant
Tumour in the brain
Stroke (Yes I know what you're thinking..)
Lack of red blood cells 

Thank you to those who've read ALL of this long blog post, it means a lot :)

Don't be scared if you get headaches or are on the pill BUT get checked..

You see the discoloured blobs? thats pressure, and the white one is my blood clot..