A woman who thought she had a head cold was rushed to hospital after she woke up to find half her face had become paralysed in the night.<br /><br />Caoimhe Reddy, 26, thought her cheek was just numb from 'sleeping funny' until she couldn't sip her morning coffee.<br /><br />When she looked in the mirror she realised the left half of her face was slumped - and 111 operators told her she might be having a stroke.<br /><br />But seven weeks of tests came back clear and doctors are still uncertain exactly that caused her paralysis.<br /><br />Their best guess is she is suffering inflamed facial nerves caused by an infection - and she just has to wait it out.<br /><br />Meanwhile she is struggling to eat, drink and talk - and has lost the use of the taste buds in half her tongue. <br /><br />Caoimhe, an account manager originally from Smithfield, Ireland, said: “It is just so shocking - the universe has decided to freeze half my face.<br /><br />"I’m still working on eating and drinking, and talking is really laboured. <br /><br />“At first I was like, ‘okay, cool. It’ll go away after a couple of days.’ <br /><br />“Then, when it got to two weeks and it still wasn’t better - it was almost like I had to keep learning how to deal with it.”<br /><br />Caoimhe, who is now based in West London, went to bed on August 19 with what felt like a mild head cold - by the next morning, the left side of her face was completely frozen. <br /><br />But - despite friends assuming she had numbness and pain - she didn’t actually realise until she went to take her first sip of coffee. <br /><br />When she realised she couldn’t hold it in her mouth, she rushed to a mirror - and found her face was paralysed. <br /><br />She said: “There was nothing really that started it.<br /><br />“I wasn’t sick at the time - there was no indicator this was going to happen. I woke up in bed - my fiancé had bought a cup of coffee and left it beside me. <br /><br />“I went to drink it and it spilled all out of my mouth. <br /><br />“My rational brain - I didn’t think anything of it at first, just ‘oh, that’s a bit weird’. <br /><br />“I looked in the mirror and found my face was paralysed - but there was no numbness, no tingling - it felt just the same as it did the night before.”<br /><br />Caoimhe’s fiancé, 29, a financial advisor, told her she needed to call 111. <br /><br />After thinking she’d be told to “just walk it off" Caoimhe was shocked an ambulance was coming in case she'd had a stroke.<br /><br />“I literally felt my soul leave my body,” she added. “Maybe I’m naïve but I didn’t even realise it could be a possibility. I’m only 26, and I’m healthy. <br /><br />“While waiting for the ambulance, I sat down on my bed and had a bit of a cry. But I also thought, if I’ve had a stroke, I just need to go to the hospital and deal with it.<br /><br />“It was the most scared I’ve ever been in my life.”<br /><br />Caoimhe was rushed to Charing Cross Hospital - with paramedics unable to work out whether she’d had a stroke, a traumatic brain injury (TBI) or an infection. <br /><br />She added: "They were able to ascertain I hadn’t had a stroke through MRIs and neurological tests - but then they said they ‘weren’t really sure’ what had happened - and sent me home with steroid tablets. <br /><br />“But they kept needing me to come back in for more tests - I went back six times in seven weeks.<br /><br />“They thought it might be a palsy related to some kind of infection, but all my bloods came back clear."<br /><br />Caoimhe was eventually told by doctors her facial nerves “may be inflamed” - and is on antibiotics, antivirals and steroids.<br /><br />But seven weeks on, the paralysis hasn’t improved.<br /><br />She says she no longer feels comfortable eating and drinking in public - and talking, particularly pronouncing ‘P’ and ‘B’ words, can be a struggle. <br /><br />“I’m trying to win a mental battle with myself over eating and drinking in public,” she said. “It’s just not an elegant process, I can’t close my mouth. <br /><br />“It’s even affected half my tongue - because half my tongue is paralysed, I’ve also lost half the use of my taste buds.<br /><br />“Everything I was doing before the paralysis just felt so un-doable at first - even going to the coffee shop and having to ask for a straw. <br /><br />“I thought it was mortifying. Like, what if they ask what’s happened? What if they know I’m sick?” <br /><br />Now, Caoimhe is trying to face her condition head-on, with as much positivity as she can. <br /><br />“I just want to be as happy and healthy as possible,” she added. “I’m going running for the first time in my life, trying to improve my fitness. <br /><br />“I also started acupuncture on Wednesday (4/10), just trying to keep on top of my mental health as well as the paralysis.”
