Mother, 32, nearly killed by multiple blood clots in lungs and leg after GP prescribes ‘wrong’ contraceptive pill

A mother claims she ‘could have died’ after developing blood clots just weeks after her GP prescribed the ‘wrong’ contraceptive pill. 

Emma Tuthill, who lives in Ayrshire, began taking the Pill again in March — six years after giving birth to son Kaiden. 

But in April, Ms Tuthill’s heart rate suddenly spiked and she collapsed at home. 

While reassured by medics nothing was amiss, days later the 32-year-old suffered a seizure that left her struggling to move.

Rushed to A&E, scans revealed she had a life-threatening blood clot in her leg and a pulmonary embolism in both lungs. 

The condition occurs when a clot forms in a vein, usually in the leg, before traveling to the lung where it gets stuck. 

Such blockages can prove fatal if the clot blocks the blood supply to the lungs. 

Ms Tuthill’s experience is believed to be a dangerous combination linked to her migraines and the Pill. 

General NHS advice warns women who have migraines with aura — where there are warning signs before the painful headaches strike — may not be able to take the combined pill as it can raise the risk of clots and even strokes.

Other health service resources go further, stating the risk posed to women who have migraines with aura by the medication is ‘unacceptable’ or that it shouldn’t be offered for these patients. 

Recalling starting on the Pill shortly before her ordeal, Ms Tuthill said: ‘I thought I’d be fine because I’d been on it so long in the past. Then one day I felt really cold and had had a migraine all day.

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‘I felt my heart beating really fast. I was brushing my teeth and knew I just didn’t feel right.

‘I came up to my bed, sat down and thought I was having a panic attack. Then I woke up and I was on the floor and my wee boy was holding my hand, asking if I was okay.’

Her mother called 999, but paramedics who treated Ms Tuthill told her that her body was simply ‘resetting itself’ after a cold, she claimed. 

Still concerned by her symptoms, she visited her GP the following day who echoed the paramedics’ explanation, Ms Tuthill said. 

However, just days later, she suffered a seizure while with her partner, 34-year-old William Dickson, who then rushed her to University Hospital Crosshouse in Kilmarnock.

She said: ‘William called the ambulance and the paramedics said my oxygen levels were dangerously low.

‘After my seizure when I came around, I felt like I couldn’t breathe. It was like someone was suffocating me, it was horrible.’

‘I was extremely unwell at first but on day four of being on the high dependency unit the doctor came to me and said I could’ve died. 

‘He told me that it sounds like a provoked clot due to the contraceptive pill.’ 

Seizures, sudden bursts of electrical activity in the brain that affect how it works can be triggered by blood clots.

While this is most commonly reported with blood clots that appear in the brain there are cases where medics have linked them to a pulmonary embolism.

Medics believe these seizures are triggered by the brain experiencing a sudden loss of oxygen or dramatic change in blood pressure due to the blood clot in the lung, which causes brain cells to malfunction. 

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) — which polices the safety of drugs used in Britain — notes the combined Pill, which is also often taken as acne medication, can increase the risk of blood clots.  

However, its ‘benefits far outweigh the risk of serious side effects’, it adds. 

NHS figures suggest around one in 20,000 women on the combined pill, but who do not have migraines, suffer a stroke each year. 

For comparison, just one in 100,000 women who are both not on the pill and don’t have migraines, are thought to suffer strokes. 

But NHS resources says this rises to at one per 3,500 among those who experience migraines with aura, also known as classic migraines. 

The reaction is believed to be due to how oestrogen — a hormone in the combined pill — boosts the number of clotting substances in women’s blood. The Pill contains oestrogen and progestogen.

At higher levels, this raises the risk of a clot forming anywhere in the body and — if  this becomes dislodged and travels to the brain — can trigger a stroke. 

Ms Tuthill said she feels ‘failed’ by medical professionals.

She claimed her GP didn’t warn her about the risks associated with the combined pill and had even previously prescribed medication to help treat her migraines.

Ms Tuthill added: ‘My own GP phoned me to apologise because it turns out I shouldn’t have been put back on that pill because I suffer migraines. She said “I have to clinically apologise”.

‘I was raging. I feel like I was failed by the paramedics too who missed all the signs. You can’t play the blame game but it seems wrong.’

She added: ‘My leg is still extremely swollen, I can’t stand for long. I get out of breath very easily. I can just about walk up the stairs. 

‘I have to go back to the hospital to see if there’s any long-lasting damage to my heart and lungs.

‘It makes me feel terrified that I could’ve died that day, especially because they’re still there in my lungs.

‘If you don’t feel right, go to your GP and ask to be checked out. I didn’t have any visible signs until I was already in the hospital.

‘I feel disappointed it wasn’t caught earlier. You put your trust in medical professionals and I could’ve easily died. I feel lucky to be alive.’

NHS figures for 2022/23 suggest there were almost 3million prescriptions for the combined pill and more than 4million for the mini pill, which just contains progestogen.

Around a quarter of all women aged 15 to 49 are on either the combined or progesterone only pill.

But the Faculty of Sexual & Reproductive Healthcare estimates around 1 per cent of women using the contraceptive are at risk of suffering blood clots. 

Known side effects of the drug — proven to be over 99 per cent effective at stopping pregnancy — include nausea, breast tenderness, mood swings and headaches.

Rarer complications of the combined and the mini pill, however, can include a slightly heightened risk of breast and cervical cancer.

Research also suggests 40 per cent of patients who die from a pulmonary embolism complained of nagging symptoms for weeks before their death. 

For every pulmonary embolism diagnosed in time, there are at least another two where the diagnosis was missed and resulted in sudden death, according to the charity Thrombosis UK.