'I'M STILL HERE. STILL SINGING. STILL LIVING'

Doctor thought student's stroke was hangover

- ELLIE GOSLEY

NIA Tyler was like most other people her age. Then 20, she had just made her way from her home in Ammanford to the Royal Holloway University in Surrey to begin her final year of studies.

She was excited to be back at university with friends and was looking forward to getting her degree in psychology. But within a few days her life would completely change. After a busy “refreshers” week Nia woke up on a Saturday morning with a severe headache.

“It was extremely painful - like nothing I'd ever experienced before,” Nia explained.

“I could barely lift my head up from the pillow because the change in pressure was hurting my head.”

As well as the extreme headache, Nia was experiencing blurred and double vision, sickness and was sensitive to light. Due to the amount of pain she was in and confused about what could be wrong, Nia slept for most of the Saturday and Sunday.

“It wasn’t tiredness - it was as if I was in so much pain that my body needed to shut down,” she said.

Realising something was definitely wrong, Nia called 111 on the Sunday evening and went to see an out-of-hours GP. Nia was told she was probably just hungover and was sent away with painkillers.

While some of the pain subsided, the symptoms persisted with Nia being left unable to see properly, being sick and experiencing balance problems when doing simple things like trying to get up. Her mum came to help look after her, but due to how unwell Nia was they decided to travel home to Ammanford.

“My mum was leading me through Reading station with a sleep mask over my eyes because I was so light-sensitive and she had to hold my arm to help my balance,” she said.

Nia saw medical professionals back home, but the true seriousness of what was happening was still missed. Nia was prescribed antibiotics because health staff thought she had a urine infection due to swelling in her ear.