A rare condition left a woman with such severe headaches that she had to consume three coffees, a caffeine tablet, and a Coke Zero every day just to get through the day. Sapna Bidwall, 45, an accountant from Milton Keynes, was diagnosed with Spontaneous Intracranial Hypotension (SIH), a type of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak, where a small hole in the outer membrane causes the brain to sag downwards, according to The Brain Charity.
Her symptoms began with severe headaches that progressed to vomiting and left her housebound for nine weeks. SIH affects five in every 100,000 people annually. To cope, Sapna relied on a daily regimen of three coffees, a caffeine tablet, and a Coke Zero, as caffeine can help constrict blood vessels and increase CSF production, according to complex spinal surgeon Gordan Grahovac.
Sapna first experienced headaches at age 42 in July 2023 while on a family holiday in Croatia with her husband Palvinder and daughter Diya, 13. She initially thought it was dehydration, but the next day she felt nauseous and began vomiting. She noticed her symptoms improved when lying down, a common sign of CSF leaks. After returning to the UK, her GP referred her to physiotherapy, but the sessions did not help. By December 29, 2023, her condition worsened, and she was hospitalized after telling her GP she felt like her head was bursting.
Scans including CT and MRI revealed she had brain sag, and she was diagnosed with SIH in January 2024. Doctors advised rest and caffeine to manage symptoms. Sapna said she never used to drink much coffee but started consuming caffeine throughout the day to avoid headaches. She also joined a Facebook support group for CSF leak patients, which led her to see private consultant neuroradiologist Lalani Carlton Jones in March 2024. After two myelograms, she was referred to consultant neurosurgeon Dr. Grahovac.
In June 2024, Dr. Grahovac noted the leak was small and might self-heal, but a follow-up MRI three months later showed it was still leaking. Sapna decided to undergo a thoracic laminoplasty procedure in March 2025 to seal the leak. During the three-hour surgery, doctors found the hole was 10mm wide. After surgery, Sapna woke up without a headache for the first time in months, even without caffeine. She is now 98% recovered and no longer caffeine-dependent.
Sapna told PA Real Life: "People really don't understand what a CSF leak is and patients are ignored. I know so many people who have been told they've just got migraines, when it goes deeper. I feel really sad about that because it's a condition that people are just so unaware about."
