West Midlands mum shares her experience after being diagnosed with debilitating brain condition
A mother who was left unable to move or speak.
One woman who put down her migraines to being a busy working mum was left unable to walk and talk after being diagnosed with a common brain condition.
Sarah Lewis, 46, began suffering from severe headaches, problems swallowing and heart palpitations but was told by doctors she was probably just suffering from anxiety or stress.
The mum-of-two also attributed her symptoms to working too hard in her high-pressure job as an assistant management accountant alongside sitting accountancy exams and juggling family life.
The migraines became more constant, and the day after her son's 8th birthday she found she couldn't walk in a straight line "like being drunk" as well as problems with her speech.
She was rushed to Birmingham's Heartlands Hospital with a suspected stroke or brain tumour where she spent a week undergoing tests - and was told yet again she was fine and "probably overdoing it" at work.
A few months later she was finally diagnosed with functional neurological disorder (FND), a condition in which the brain's 'software' malfunctions, disrupting signals between the brain and body.
It has left Sarah reliant on a wheelchair as she can't walk unaided and she now relies on her mum to be her carer at her home in Solihull, West Mids.
Yet despite her setbacks she has managed to turn her life around and embark on building a new career running a successful cake business alongside her 11-year-old son Henry.
Sarah, who is also mum to Lily, 17, said: "It was a case of my body intervening and saying 'right I think you need to stop now' when I just thought I was tired and overworked.
"I put myself under so much pressure, feeling like I had got to do everything and I was just taking on too much.
"The first issues I started with were problems swallowing , food wouldn't go down the right way and I'd end up coughing and spluttering.
"Then I just started feeling really tired, I was going to lectures and about to sit accountancy exams while working full-time.
"So I just put it all down to working too hard and trying to do too much. I'm one of those people who just pushes on and just keeps going but I wasn't listening to my body.
"Then palpitations started and as I'd lost my dad quite young to heart disease I was given a cardiac monitor to see if anything was wrong there - but it came back fine and the hospital said its probably just a bit of anxiety or stress.
"The migraines started happening on an almost daily basis - instead of coming home and having dinner I 'd just want to go to bed and lie down in a dark room.”