I thought I had the world’s worst hangover after a heavy night out at the pub

WHEN a university student woke up with a pounding headache after a night in the pub, he put it down to the worst hangover of his life.

What he didn’t realise was that he’d had a stroke in his sleep.

Jameel Razak thought he had a hangover but had actually suffered a stroke in his sleepCredit: Evening Gazette

Eight weeks before he was due to graduate from his journalism course at Leeds University last March, Jameel Razak, then 23, returned to his home town of Norton, Teeside, for the Easter break.

After an evening at his local boozer and a few pints with mates, he woke up in bed the next day feeling “tired and a bit rough”.

But it was “nothing out of the ordinary”, he said in a video released by North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust.

Jameel realised something was wrong when he tried to get out of bed a few hours later.

He was hit with a splitting headache as soon as he sat up and when he tried to stand, he ended up collapsing on the floor.

He realised his legs weren’t working and he couldn’t stop vomiting.

Despite this, Jameel still attributed his symptoms to a brutal hangover.

He said: “I was pretty confident that I’d wake up tomorrow after a sleep and I’d be good as new – maybe it was just a little blip.

“So I persuaded my parents somehow to let me be for the night and not to worry.”

When he woke up the following morning, he realised his symptoms were worse – the right side of his body felt completely numb and he struggled with hand eye coordination.

His parents rang for an ambulance and he was admitted to the stroke ward at the University Hospital of North Tees.

Doctors carried out an ultrasound probe, known as a transoesophageal echocardiogram, and found a small hole in his heart.

It meant blood, and potentially clots, were able to flow between the heart valves and into other parts of his body, including the brain.

Jameel received treatment on the ward for 17 days and continued his physical and cognitive therapy as a discharged patient at home.

He recently underwent keyhole surgery at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle to repair his heart and reduce his chances of having another stroke.

Now 25, Jameel said the stroke had changed him as a person – he picked up where he left off at university and he said it’s given him a renewed focus on his studies.

He’s still suffering from some long-term symptoms, including fatigue and some cognitive impairments such as linking words to their meanings.

But Jameel said: “Having a stroke has shown me what I’m made of.

“I didn’t think I could ever go through something like that and come out the other side a better person, a better version of myself.”

What are the signs of a stroke?

The FAST method – which stands for Face, Arms, Speech, Time – is the easiest way to remember the most common symptoms of stroke:

F = Face drooping – if one side of a person’s face is dropped or numb then ask them to smile, if it’s uneven then you should seek help.

A = Arm weakness – if one arm is weak or numb then you should ask the person to raise both arms. If one arm drifts downwards then you might need to get help

S = Speech difficulty – if a person’s speech is slurred then this could be a sign of a stroke

T = Time to call 999 – if a person has the signs above then you need to call 999 in the UK or 911 in the US for emergency care

You could experience a mix of these symptoms or just one, so it’s important to not wait around for more than one sign to appear.

Source: NHS