A TRIP to the opticians didn’t turn out as planned for Stratford teenager Kyra Barboutis – as she ended up being referred to hospital.
Headaches, brain fog and exhaustion had been a common part of the 16-year-old’s life for six months, but when she started college in September 2022, Kyra thought she might need some new glasses so made an appointment at Specsavers on Wood Street.
She was seen at the store by optometris, Sadiyya Akhtar. As part of the eye examination, Sadiyya compared photos of the back of Kyra’s eyes from a previous visit and noticed that her optic nerves looked slightly swollen.
Kyra said: “Even when Sadiyya said she needed to check something again and brought another optician into the room, I wasn’t alarmed. She was so calm so I just kept thinking about the new glasses I’d need to pick. And when she told me she thought my mum should come in, I thought that maybe I’d been rude and was going to get told off.”
Once Kyra’s mum, Helen, arrived Sadiyya explained what she’d seen and that she’d like to make an urgent referral to hospital for further checks.
Sadiyya said: “When I compared the photos of the back of Kyra’s eyes to the images we’d taken the last time she came in, I could see I could see the optic nerves were slightly blurred. This, coupled with her symptoms, made me think she should be seen at the hospital and after getting a second opinion from my colleague, I referred Kyra to Coventry Hospital.”
It was late in the afternoon by this point so Kyra and Helen went first thing the following day. At hospital she saw lots of different doctors and had lots of further tests after which it was agreed Kyra needed an MRI scan. Two days after the scan, the hospital called and said it had revealed swelling on her brain and she needed to come in immediately.
Helen said: “It was a lot to take in. But Kyra dealt with it all brilliantly. She had even more tests after the results of the MRI and it was at this point that it was confirmed she had Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension and the hospital said she would need a lumbar puncture. This would remove fluid that was causing the increase in pressure that was in turn causing swelling on her brain.”
The lumbar puncture was successful and after an overnight stay for monitoring Kyra was allowed to go home.
Kyra said: “I’d suffered with headaches and feeling exhausted for so long, that I just thought it was normal. To finally know what was causing it and to get the treatment I needed has been such a relief. I also can’t praise Sadiyya enough for how she handled everything.
‘She was calm and explained everything but without alarming me, and for that I’m really grateful. It wasn’t until I was at the hospital that the doctors told me I could have lost my sight if it had been left any longer which is quite scary. And not something I thought would happen when I made my appointment.
‘I’m now taking quite a bit of medication to make sure my pressure doesn’t creep up again. This made me feel unwell but that’s settling down and I hardly ever get headaches now which is brilliant.”
Her mum Helen added: “Looking back, we only really now see how poorly Kyra was. As well as the medication she’s seeing three specialists to monitor and keep on top of things. To see her on the road to recovery is fantastic and hopefully things will continue to improve as time goes on.”
