A jobless 26-stone mother is going blind after drinking 28 cans of Red Bull a day.

Lena Lupari, 26, from Newtownabbey in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, has gained so much weight from having seven litres on a daily basis that her brain has swollen.

The mother-of-three, who consumed more than 3,000 calories from the drink every day, was unaware of the damage she was doing until she collapsed in June.

Scroll down for video

Lena Lupari, 26, (pictured) consumes more than 3,000 calories from drinking 28 cans of Red Bull every day

Doctors discovered she had developed a condition known as Idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH), which she claims was a result of her being overweight.

Ms Lupari, who was spending nearly £6,000 of her benefits every year - or £450 of her £1,800 monthly hand-outs - on the high-calorie energy drink, says she was addicted.

'I used to drink 28 cans of Red Bull in a day and I'd only have a meal at night but it would usually be something fast-food like a takeaway or a packet of pasta,' she said.

'I've got three young children, one with special needs, and didn't have time to make anything.

'I'd been suffering from migraines and headaches for about five years but I just ignored them and took painkillers.

'Then my vision went and I couldn't even lift my head off the bed and I ended up in hospital for six days.'

Medics says she has to lose seven stone in order to keep the symptoms at bay and since she was hospitalised on June 18, she has entirely cut out Red Bull from her diet and lost two stone.

But Ms Lupari she wants the NHS to help her lose the extra five stone - or the 30 per cent of her bodyweight - that will avoid the need for medical treatment.

'I don't want a gastric band or surgery but I think they should offer help for someone with this and to motivate them - something like a boot camp,' she said.

'Losing the weight doesn't mean it will go away forever but it means I won't need surgery.'

Intracranial hypertension (IH) means abnormally high pressure inside the skull, which may happen suddenly or build up over time and is quite rare.

Idiopathic IH means there is no obvious cause for the IH but it is most commonly seen in overweight women in their twenties and has been linked with certain medications including the contraceptive pill.

The most common symptoms are severe throbbing headaches and changes in vision due to swollen optic nerves.

A 250ml can of Red Bull contains 80mg of caffeine, which raises the heart rate and patients with high blood pressure or coronary heart disease and hypertension are advised to avoid it.

The drink also contains taurine, a building block of protein normally found in meat and dairy products, which is considered beneficial in small doses.

Austrian Dieterich Mateschitz, 55, who invented Red Bull, is now a billionaire. He stumbled on a health tonic in Bangkok and launched his version in 1987 with claims that it revitalises the mind and body, increases endurance, improves reaction and concentration and helps eliminate toxins from the body.

For more information about IIH, please visit IIH UK

A 250ml can of Red Bull contains 80mg of caffeine and the equivalent of seven teaspoons of sugar - Ms Lupari was drinking seven litres of it daily at a cost of £6,000 a year

She collapsed in June and was diagnosed with Idiopathic intracranial hypertension