Alice, 17, started on the pill – got clots in her brain

17-year-old Alice lived an active life with a lot of floorball and socializing with friends. Then she decided, in consultation with mother Anna, to start using birth control pills.

Alice went to the youth clinic, where her blood pressure was taken – it was normal – and she was asked a question.

– They asked if I had a migraine. I don’t even know how it feels, so I said no, she says.

After that, the prescription for combined birth control pills – they contain both the hormones estrogen and progestin – was in her hand and Alice started taking the pills.

It was in March this year.

Then came the headache

Life went on as usual and Alice was fine.

But when the family was on holiday in Cyprus two months later, that changed. At the end of the holiday week, Alice started to have a headache:

– At first I thought it was just a headache, nothing strange. Then I threw up all night and couldn’t sleep.

The family thought that Alice suffered from a regular migraine.

– But of course you were worried, says mother Anna.

The day of the journey home, which was the day after, Alice doesn’t remember much about, she says. She needed to be pushed around in a wheelchair.

The doctor’s report: “Alice has massive clots in her head”

When the flight landed in Sweden, they contacted the Swedish healthcare system – they were asked to go to the emergency room and in the end Alice had to have a CT scan of the brain.

After that they got the message:

– They said: We have seen the plates (from the X-ray) now and it turns out that Alice has massive clots in her head, says mother Anna.

She continues:

– I just became: Huh?! What the hell are you saying?!

Alice was admitted to the intensive care unit where she received drips and morphine for the pain in her head. As she slept a lot, she hardly remembers anything, she says.

She remained in the hospital for two weeks before being allowed to come home. Since then, Alice has fought a battle to get back to her old life.

Unusual mutation

Through simple blood tests, it turned out that both Alice, her younger sisters and mother Anna carry an unusual gene mutation that makes it easier to form blood clots – something that is triggered by, for example, birth control pills and pregnancy.

– I think everyone should be allowed to take a blood test before they prescribe birth control pills. And that as a young person you might be recommended other things than just birth control pills, says Anna.

But even if you carry the mutation, it does not necessarily mean that it will break out. Anna, for example, has both been pregnant three times, and has taken birth control pills.

– So it seems to be more chance that decides. But it’s probably that serious – no one should have to go through what Alice went through, she says.

“Couldn’t bear to do anything”

Alice was plagued by brain fatigue in the months after the plugs were discovered.

– I couldn’t bear to do anything! I mostly stayed at home and watched TV. I was very social before, so my friends got in touch and asked if we should do something, but I didn’t have the energy. It’s only been a month since I was able to go back and start living as usual, she says.

She is now taking blood-thinning medication and it has been seen that the clots have dissolved. But they could come back.

– But then we know what applies, then the warning bells start ringing. Then we have to go to the hospital again, quite simply, says mother Anna.

“Don’t want to scare others”

And Alice has thus been able to start returning to her normal life.

– I’ve started training fully again, I’m not really competing yet, but it’s on g. I go to school, but I have a little extra help there. I hang out with friends – I’m like myself again.

To others she wants to say:

– I don’t want to scare other girls. I just want to inform them that they should be alert to the risks that exist. You don’t think it should happen to you yourself – I didn’t. But you never know.

See the entire interview with mother and daughter here: