The 34-year-old mother who had a stroke was told by her GP to go home and get a MANICURE –

A young mother suffering from severe headaches was repeatedly rejected by GPs and hospital doctors who did not know she had a stroke.

Kerri-Ann Wool was told that she suffered from migraines, tension headaches and even postpartum depression after experiencing sudden severe headaches, distorted vision and dizziness.

One doctor even prescribed antidepressants, telling him to “put his nails up.”

An MRI eventually revealed evidence of a stroke (blood clot) in the cerebellum, the part of the brain that controls balance, but a consultant missed it.

This meant that 34-year-old Ms. Wool had only learned of her stroke a year later when she requested her medical records. The diagnosis was in the MRI results.

Now it’s too late to seek treatment for her stroke, and she still has symptoms that prevent her from returning to work as a kitchen aide at school. “I felt like I was fucked like a hysterical woman,” she said. I couldn’t get anyone to take me seriously.’

A Portsmouth-born mother of three, she suffered from visual impairment and a severe headache at the base of her skull on 18 September 2018. Later that day, a doctor sent him home, suggesting it might be a blood pressure problem.

As her symptoms worsened, she visited the office with a different family doctor each time for the next three days. She burst into tears during her last visit, and a family doctor told her she probably had postpartum depression. She gave him antidepressants and encouraged him to get a manicure.

After taking paracetamol and being sent home by doctors at Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth, he was sent to Southampton General Hospital for an MRI on 29 September.

Incredibly, a counselor from University Hospital Southampton NHS Trust overlooked the diagnosis, even though the screening report revealed that he had suffered a stroke.

Eventually, Mrs. Wool was diagnosed with a hole in her heart that could cause paralysis. He had surgery to close in July 2021.

University Hospital of Southampton and University of Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trusts said they could not comment.

Ms. Wool received support from the Different Strokes charity, which supports one out of every four paralyzed people under the age of 65.

Austin Willett, director of the charity, said: “Kerri-Ann says she has been told repeatedly that she is ‘too young to have a stroke.

“This is something we hear very often from the young stroke survivor community we work with.

“Stories like yours show how hard we still have to work to address the lack of awareness and misconceptions about stroke among young people.

“Strokes are common in people of all ages, but they can be overlooked due to the misconception that strokes only occur in older people.”