I blamed long hours and caffeine for my symptoms. Then a doctor's sudden panic confirmed I'd missed deadly warning signs... and left it too late

Less than 10 minutes aft my CAT scan, my country successful the infirmary was filled with a afloat squad of aesculapian staff.

Each of them wore a sedate look connected their face. Fearfully, I asked: 'What's happened?'

One doc stood successful beforehand of a machine screen. He spun it circular and showed maine an image. 

'I'm acrophobic you person a encephalon bleed,' helium said, pointing to a huge, acheronian spot astatine the backmost of my skull. 'You've had a stroke.'

I was 48 years aged and the diagnosis felled me. It seemed to travel from nowhere.

It's lone now, 2 years later, that I tin admit the truth: I had a ticking timebomb successful my head, and I was conscionable excessively engaged to spot the informing signs.

I've been a driven idiosyncratic for arsenic agelong arsenic I tin retrieve - a straight-A student, the miss astatine the beforehand of the people with her manus up. I ever wanted to beryllium the smartest idiosyncratic successful the room.

It was an cognition that served maine good professionally arsenic I roseate done the ranks astatine nationalist relations and situation connection firms.

When I became vice president of my existent company, I was moving with a squad of 17 radical and, connected immoderate fixed day, was serving a roster of high-powered clients, including Fortune 500 companies.

My gait didn't alteration erstwhile I began moving remotely during the pandemic successful 2020. If anything, I worked harder. Without those water-cooler chats with colleagues, what small downtime I had during the time disappeared.

I'd footwear disconnected each greeting with an adrenaline-pumping quadruple-shot latte from a café adjacent my location successful Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Then I'd beryllium pounding the keyboard precocious into the evenings, moving connected lawsuit presentations and propping myself up with the occasional tin of Red Bull.

My hubby Andy, 45, a realtor and wood craftsman, would perpetually inquire if I was done with enactment for the nighttime - but I wasn't capable to halt obsessively checking my phone.

I was defined by my occupation and felt affirmed by bully results. They boosted my self-esteem – oregon truthful I told myself.

Because, successful each honesty, things weren't arsenic rosy arsenic I was making out. Looking back, I was hurtling towards burnout and excessively wrapped up successful enactment to announcement the tell-tale signs.

The biggest reddish emblem was accrued anxiety. I've ever tended to overthink but successful the months earlier my changeable it spiraled retired of control.

I'd get worked up astir tiny societal situations. I'd panic if my hubby and I had simply invited friends over. A afloat period earlier they arrived, I'd interest astir the location not being spotless.

Then determination was my nonaccomplishment of involvement successful things I utilized to enjoy. I stopped doing yoga, walking and cycling and struggled to person meaningful conversations adjacent with the radical to whom I was closest.

My matrimony and evenings with Andy were suffering. We'd usually curl up with our feline Maisy Jane and 3 dogs Ollie, Athena and Sir Reginald successful beforehand of the television, binge-watching Netflix. 

I gained 20 pounds which I enactment down to perimenopause.

Meanwhile, I'd miss regular meals and snack connected sugary treats.

I felt perpetually sick and exhausted. My tummy wasn't right, my joints ached. I felt level wrong and ignored the unspeakable headaches that, I present know, were indicating life-threateningly precocious humor pressure.

It each seems truthful evident with the payment of hindsight. But I was focused connected enactment and, similar galore women, truthful conditioned to not marque a fuss that, erstwhile the worst happened, my archetypal effect was to bash nothing.

Then, astatine astir 3am connected January 23, 2023, I woke up screaming and crying successful pain. The headache astatine the basal of my skull was excruciating. Andy was truthful disquieted helium wanted to instrumentality maine to hospital.

But I insisted that was excessively dramatic. It would get amended if I managed to get to sleep. Then I vomited, which made maine adjacent little inclined to enactment due to the fact that I thought it was a motion of nutrient poisoning.

I didn't privation to propulsion up again, truthful ate thing that time and napped connected the couch.

Then, 4 days later, my imaginativeness started to go. Proportions were disconnected - rooms looked tiny and stairs were successful the incorrect place. I enactment my ft connected steps that weren't there. Nothing made sense. It was terrifying.

I stumbled truthful severely that Andy had to enactment me. The next, finally, we went to Urgent Care. The doc suspected it was a gastrointestinal bug and sent maine location with an anti-nausea cause that did nothing.

My humor unit was astir 175/90. Even though I present cognize that was precocious capable to bespeak a hypertensive situation – a mean BP is 120/80 – the doc seemed much acrophobic astir the headache and nausea.

He said that if my imaginativeness hadn't improved wrong 24 hours, I should marque an assignment with an ophthalmologist. It hadn't. 

Thankfully the oculus doc who saw maine the adjacent day was incredibly thorough. He did a implicit intake, including taking a photograph of the backmost of my eyes.

He wrote thing connected a medicine pad, handed it to maine and told me: 'You request to get to the Emergency Room close now.'

To this time I don't cognize what helium wrote but immoderate it was got maine seen precise quickly. 

They took my humor unit which, astatine 176/91, was present truthful dangerously precocious the doc ordered the CAT scan that showed that ominous acheronian spot.

An MRI followed which revealed the afloat grade of the bleed connected the close broadside of my brain. My changes successful imaginativeness had been brought connected by immense unit connected my optic nerve.

I spent the adjacent week successful the intensive attraction portion astatine Froedert Hospital successful a suburb of Milwaukee.

You mightiness person thought that would beryllium my wake-up call. But the information is, knowing the acquisition was much of a gradual dawning.

I was prescribed medicine to little my humor pressure, but the doctors told maine I was a premier campaigner for another, perchance much serious, changeable if I didn't alteration my ways.

Old habits dice hard. My bosses told maine to remainder up, but I formulated a lawsuit presumption from my infirmary bed.

I didn't privation to alteration my enactment of work, arsenic 1 doc suggested I should, but adjacent I realized I had to instrumentality power of my stress.

Today I'm connected anti-anxiety medicine but it's conscionable portion of a much holistic approach.

I delegate much and person reduced the magnitude of my moving time to a strict 8 hours. I portion lone 1 changeable of java a time and person reintroduced yoga into my life. I besides instrumentality clip distant from my table and locomotion 3 miles each afternoon.

My narration with my hubby has improved, my humor unit is wrong the mean scope and adjacent though I indispensable present deterioration glasses, my optician assures maine that's much to bash with property than immoderate residual harm caused by my stroke.

It took a near-death acquisition to realize, but I've yet learned that there's much to beingness than work. I precocious got an email astatine 5.30pm connected a Friday and I simply ignored it until Monday.

Julie, who works astatine Interdependence PR, told her communicative to Jane Ridley, Real Life Correspondent, Daily Mail US. Do you person a almighty communicative to share? Please email a little summary to [email protected]