Woman left PARALYSED by massive stroke while smoking on the Pill

A single mother was left partially paralysed after the contraceptive pill triggered a terrifying stroke.

Louise Palfreyman, 32, from Northwich in Cheshire, couldn't move her left side and had to learn to walk again after developing a blood clot on her brain.

She also continues to suffer violent spasms, which have left her unable to complete simple every day tasks such as opening bottles or making a sandwich.

This means that her ten-year-old daughter Alisha has to do them for her.

Doctors have since told Miss Palfreyman that the stroke occurred as a result of smoking whilst taking the contraceptive pill – something she is now working hard to warn others of.

'Our lives have completely turned upside down,' she said. 'One day I was fine, and the next I was in hospital, away from my daughter and unable to do anything for myself.

'I had to be bathed and taken to the toilet – it was awful. I felt like a toddler again.

'But I'm a strong-minded person with amazing family and friends. I wouldn't have got through this without them.'

Miss Palfreyman first went on the contraceptive pill aged 15 to help with painful periods.

Then, after changing the type of pill around a year ago, she began to suffer migraines.

At her lowest ebb, she'd experience the crippling headaches, which were so severe that she would vomit and have to lie in a darkened room until they passed, seven days a week.

Concerned, she consulted doctors on a number of occasions – but the link between her migraines and the pill was never made.

Then, in June last year, she suffered a stroke which almost claimed her life.

She recalled: 'I woke up with a migraine and went downstairs to get some painkillers. I felt a shooting pain behind my eye and my vision began to go blurry. I thought, "Oh no, this is going to be a bad one."

'I began to feel cold all down my left-hand side. It was like someone had tipped cold water on me, then I collapsed.

'Luckily, I had my mobile in my pocket, so I tried to call some of my family, but nobody was answering. My vision was getting blurrier and blurrier and, before long, I couldn't even see the screen.

'I dialled what I thought was 999 which, thankfully, was right. I was panicking as I could feel something cold on my face, but because I couldn't see, I didn't realise it was my own hand, but the emergency operator was amazing and really calmed me down.

'I held on until the paramedics arrived, then blacked out.'

Miss Palfreyman vaguely remembered coming to in the corridor of Royal Stoke University Hospital, where she heard doctors saying that she had a blood clot on her brain, which needed to be surgically removed.

Following a four hour operation, she woke up in a private room, her mum Pauline Palfreyman at her bedside.

'My mum had been sat there for hours worrying. It was such a relief to see her,' she said.

Doctors told Miss Palfreyman that she'd suffered a stroke. From there, medics ran a series of tests, including checking for various heart defects, to try and work out what had caused it.

They now believe it was triggered by smoking whilst on the pill.

'I used to smoke around ten a day, but I've quit now,' said Miss Palfreyman. 'I know it sounds silly, but I genuinely didn't realise how much risk I was at.

'Nobody had ever explained it to me during any of the yearly reviews I attended while on the pill, and doctors never suggested taking me off it when I began experiencing migraines.

'You don't tend to question doctors, so I didn't think I had anything to worry about.'

For six weeks, Miss Palfreyman avoided looking at her reflection for fear that the stroke had changed her appearance.

She said she could feel that her left eye had puffed up, and could tell by the way her daughter Alisha reacted to her that she no longer looked the same.

Slowly, her face returned to normal and, after working tirelessly at physiotherapy, she learned how to walk again.

Thankfully, her speech was unaffected, and she even joked with nurses that it would 'take more than a stroke to shut her up.'

'I've dealt with this by using humour,' she said. 'Obviously, it's not funny at all, but joking with my family and friends has helped me stay positive.

'The Stroke Association have been an amazing help. They sent somebody out to help me explain what had happened to Alisha.

'Learning to walk again was terrifying because I still couldn't feel my left-hand side, but just had to trust that my body would take my weight.'

At first after returning home, Miss Palfreyman had to move her bed to the ground floor of her house, unable to use the stairs.

She continued: 'It's been tough, but I was determined not to give up. Slowly, I started trying to make my way up stairs again.

'A couple of times, I got stuck and would have to shuffle back down on my bum, but I kept at it.'

Though she has made a remarkable recovery, Miss Palfreyman is still experiencing painful tremors down her left-hand side that are stopping her from living everyday life.