I was standing in the shower, washing the shampoo out my hair when all of a sudden, it happened.

It started feeling like those small dizzy spells that I get when I sit up too quickly, but when the dark circle started closing in from the corners of my vision, I knew something was wrong. The haze usually comes close to the centre of my vision, but then it disappears. This was different. Instead of disappearing, the haze went straight to the middle of my vision, making me partly blind, and then dispersed outwards. As all this was happening, I felt my body sway unsteadily, not having a completely firm anchor on the ground. I grabbed the top of the shower cubical, desperate for support, when the haze came back completely and blocked my view. I didn’t feel my body drop, but it was clear that I was already conscious when I hit the ground; I could feel that I had fallen over.

Not having any previous experience like this before, I got back up in my stupid attempt to stand up straight again. Mum had heard the noise of me falling over and called out to me.

“What was that noise Nahni?” My mum called out anxiously.

“I fell over,” was all I could reply.

“Are you okay?” Mum questioned, still a little worried… It’s not many times that a teenager falls down in a shower.

“I don’t think so.” I called out to her. By this time, I was standing on my feet again, but not completely stable. I grabbed the top of the shower again and the haze came back to my vision. I had already lost the battle against the haze again when my mum called out, “I’m coming in”.

Next thing I knew, I was sitting on the shower floor. As I looked up, the haze finally receded to reveal my mother’s worried face. She’s a nurse, so she had experience in this area before.

“Nahni, can you see me?” Mum asked, using her knowledge in the nursing field to check that I was completely aware.

“I can now,” I said in between my hyperventilated breathing.

“Squeeze my fingers,” she said as she put her fingers inside my very shaky hands. I couldn’t feel most of my body, so I couldn’t move my fingers either. My whole body was shaking from head to toe, but not from fear or cold, but from the shook of what had just happened.

Mum, understanding that i couldn’t move, turns the shower back on and pours water from a bucket over my head, legs and chest. After a good 10 minutes, I could squeeze her fingers and respond to what she asked me to do. After this whole epixode and Mum had gotten me out of the shower, she took me to the hospital.

I never, ever want to go through that agian!