Chloe's Story

I never imagined that giving birth to my daughter would be followed by one of the most frightening and difficult experiences of my life. I had just become a mum. I should have been spending those first precious days cuddling my baby, learning about her and recovering from giving birth. Instead, I became extremely unwell.

After giving birth, I remained in hospital for five days. During those five days, I repeatedly told the medical team about the symptoms I was experiencing. I had a severe positional headache. When I sat or stood up, the pain became significantly worse, while lying down brought some relief. Every day, I was explaining these symptoms. Because I had experienced hypertension around pregnancy and birth, my symptoms were initially considered in the context of my blood pressure. At times, I was also told that some of what I was experiencing could potentially be related to the medication I was taking for my hypertension.

After five days, I was discharged from hospital with blood pressure medication, painkillers and other medication, but without an explanation for why I was experiencing such severe symptoms. I went home with my newborn baby, still feeling incredibly unwell.

• Severe positional headaches

• Ringing in my ears

• Periods where the ringing was so severe that I felt almost deaf

• Nausea

• Extreme exhaustion

• Neck and back pain

• Feeling generally very unwell

Just three days after leaving hospital, I had to attend my GP surgery because I was still so unwell. I was experiencing the same symptoms — the headaches, nausea, exhaustion and ringing in my ears — and on this occasion I became so unwell that I actually vomited at the GP surgery. I was told that I had a UTI. 

I left still without an explanation for what was really happening to me. I was at home with a newborn baby, trying to recover from childbirth while feeling incredibly unwell and exhausted.

Around two weeks later, I returned to hospital because my daughter was having her blood spot. As part of my assessment, my blood pressure was routinely checked. It was very high. Because of this, I was sent to a ward for further assessment and monitoring.

And this was where something finally changed.

One midwife thought outside the box and really listened to me. Rather than simply seeing my headache as another symptom of hypertension, she started to consider whether the pain I was experiencing could actually be contributing to my blood pressure being so high, rather than my blood pressure being the cause of the headache.

She listened to everything I had been experiencing — the positional headache, the ringing in my ears, feeling almost deaf at times, nausea, exhaustion and the fact that my symptoms changed depending on whether I was lying down or upright. For the first time, I felt that someone was listening to the whole picture.

That midwife's willingness to think differently was incredibly important to me.

It was eventually recognised that I had a CSF leak. Suddenly, so many of the symptoms I had been experiencing made sense. The positional headache. The fact that being upright made me feel so much worse. The nausea. The exhaustion. The ringing in my ears and changes in my hearing. Eventually, I had a blood patch.

After everything I had been through, finally having an explanation was an enormous relief.

Something I don't think people always realise is how much being this unwell affected my experience of becoming a mum. I wanted to breastfeed my baby. But eventually, I became too unwell to continue. The pain, nausea and exhaustion, alongside everything else I was dealing with, meant that breastfeeding became something I could no longer manage. That was incredibly upsetting. Those first days and weeks with your baby are supposed to be full of those little moments you imagine throughout pregnancy. For me, they were filled with pain, fear, exhaustion and trying to understand what was happening to my body.

I'm sharing this because I wish I had known more. 

I wish I'd known about CSF leaks.

I wish I'd known that a positional headache after an epidural could be significant.

I wish I'd known that tinnitus and changes in hearing could occur alongside it.

I wish I'd known that nausea and extreme exhaustion could be part of what I was experiencing.

And I wish I'd known that I could ask specifically about a CSF leak.

Most importantly, I wish I had been given clear information about what to expect afterwards.

I'm not sharing my story to frighten anyone. I'm sharing it because knowledge can make such a difference. If you're a new mum and you've had an epidural and you're experiencing a severe headache — particularly one that is much worse when you're upright and improves when you lie down — please tell your healthcare team exactly what you're experiencing. And if something doesn't feel right, keep asking questions.

But I'm here.

I'm a mum.

And I'm finally able to look back at what happened and understand that I wasn't weak, dramatic or failing to cope. 

I was unwell. And I deserved to understand why. 

I'm sharing my story so that hopefully another mum won't feel quite so alone. If telling my story means another woman recognises the signs sooner, then something positive can come from what was one of the most difficult experiences of my life. 💙