Prue Leith, 86, reveals she's 'alive and kicking' after she was rushed to hospital with a suspected stroke

Prue Leith revealed she's 'alive and kicking' in an Instagram post on Friday, just days after she was rushed to hospital with a suspected stroke.

The former Bake Off judge, 86, was unable to speak while on holiday in Yorkshire, leading to her husband John Playfair frantically calling 999 after her speech became an 'incomprehensible jumble of disconnected words'.

After her worrying hospital dash, Prue has now confirmed she is recovering well as she gave fans an update.

Prue sweetly smiled in the post as she enjoyed the sunshine and enjoyed a dessert.

She wrote: 'For those that have messaged me, I wrote a piece of @theoldiemagazine about my trip to hospital a couple of months ago.

'I was fine shortly after and I am very much alive and kicking now!' 

The slurred speech followed a migraine attack which caused her to lose half her vision and bring on 'a bright circle of flickering, coloured lights' – however these were symptoms she had experienced before.

But when she could no longer speak coherently, a panicked John called Prue's doctor, expressing his worry that she was having a stroke.

Her physician asked her to perform typical at-home tests, like raising an arm or clenching a fist, which Prue was still able to do, and to check whether her face was drooping or anything hurt in her body.

Despite her answers not indicating she had a stroke, the doctor recommended calling an ambulance to be safe, with the paramedics asking similar questions as they drove her to Harrogate Hospital, as well as the A&E nurses waiting for her there.

At the hospital, she regained her ability to speak and underwent a CT scan for the suspected stroke, despite protestations that it was instead her migraine.

She was eventually released in the early hours of the morning after the doctors analysed the scan results and confirmed she had not had a stroke. 

'I knew all along that all I had was a migraine. But since the speech problem is a classic symptom of a stroke, and my extreme old age being a time when mini-strokes are common, everyone was determined to be safe not sorry,' she said. 

A stroke is when blood stops flowing to a part of the brain, affecting multiple functions like speech and movement.

There are three main types of stroke including an ischaemic stroke – when a blood clot blocks blood flow to the brain, a haemorrhagic stroke, which is caused by a burst blood vessel, and a TIA or 'mini stroke', which is when the symptoms last less than 24-hours.

The terrifying encounter was recounted in the Bake Off judge's column, Prue’s News, which will appear in the September issue of The Oldie magazine, according to The Sun.

Prue further spoke about her history with migraines, recalling a particularly unpleasant experience with the condition when she was nine that resulted in her speech going 'bananas', blurting out 'I want fish' rather than saying she was sick.

The national treasure decided to reveal her dramatic visit to A&E in efforts to highlight the important work the NHS does and compliment the staff that she encountered.

Although a patient may have to wait 'forever', when you are seen to, it is as if you are 'the only patient in A&E,' Prue said. 

The medics were all 'cheerful, sympathetic, polite, helpful and professional' and the nurse who took her blood was 'bright as a daisy' after a 10-hour shift covering a colleague who was off sick.