It all began in October 2021; at the time I was healthy and had no idea what was coming. Growing up I had experienced dizziness and could be known to faint, but I had never been concerned. I had put it all down to other things like feeling too hot or anxious.
It all changed one evening when I was ant my cousin’s house for dinner. I was talking with everyone and felt fine but all of a sudden, I started feeling unwell and everything went black. A few minutes later I regained consciousness to find out I’d had a seizure. I was taken to hospital and after several hours I was discharged. It took nearly a year for them to complete a few neurological tests, and I was told there was nothing more they could do but to come back if I had another seizure. I had no answer.
In June 2024, when I was 26, I became pregnant. When I was around 8 weeks pregnant, I was on the tube in London and again experienced that strange feeling and lost consciousness. I awoke to about 20 strangers panicking around me telling me I’d had a seizure. I was again taken to hospital, they completed an ultrasound to check my baby and that was it. They told me there was nothing else they could do and that I had probably just fainted due to the heat.
Thankfully I was under consultant care for my pregnancy so told my consultant about what had happened and my history. He wondered if there was another explanation so requested that I have a 24-hour tape to monitor my heart activity. When I was 23 weeks pregnant, I finally got my appointment and completed the monitoring. I handed it back in thinking nothing of it. Within 3 hours I was called by my hospital and asked to come in.
I spent a week in hospital being monitored, they noticed several pauses of my heart during this time. They said that if I was 30 years older, they would immediately fit me with a pacemaker. I felt worried that they felt I needed it but wouldn’t give me one purely on my age. I was also extremely concerned about what this may mean for my pregnancy and giving birth. They told me that they would make sure I was monitored during my birth but that was all they could do. Fortunately, they were liaising with Barts for advice who in the end did not agree with their plan and asked that I be transferred over to them. Once I was there, they told me that I did need a pacemaker and that they needed to complete the procedure before I developed any further within my pregnancy. I was frightened but knew I needed to do the best thing for me and my baby. I was lucky to have very kind anaesthetists who supported me through the procedure, especially as I could not have any sedation due to being pregnant.
It was a tough recovery period, but I now feel better than I ever have and have a beautiful 6-month baby boy. I will forever by grateful to my consultant for pushing for that 24-hour tape when others had put it down to just fainting.