Share you TIA experience with me! Is mine atypical like doctor says?

I am a 29 year old female I was at work and started feeling a little strange nauseas..so ate a muffin about 15 min passed and I started feeling weird again and then my right eye went blurry and I tried to go sit down and 're focus and then I had a slight tingle in my right hand ...and I work at a hospital so was letting my boss know I was going to er and hr was 120 and I was trying to say can you call my husband I tried saying his name I could think it but not say it ...all was over with no other issues in 40 min ...all test were good ....

Hi Nevi. Listen to me very carefully.

I had 2 TIA's before I had the "big kahuna" I called the hospital both times. I was thinking and talking to them on the phone while the ambulance was on the way. I was numb in exactly the same area all 3 times. The first 2 times, I was sound asleep in the bed and woke up that way. I shook it off before they got there within a few minutes. I was thinking the whole time. When they got there the first time, since they didn't see my lip drooping or any other signs of stroke, they left it up to me whether I wanted to go to the hospital. 

I figured "They are the professionals. They aren't concerned, why should I be?" So I didn't go. I felt fine the next day, so no follow-up with my Doctor.

The next time, exact same experience. Numb from the top of the left side of my body head to foot. Called hospital, this time it was 3 months later. Shook it off again. 

They admitted me to the hospital for tests.

Found nothing out of the ordinary. 14 hours later sent me home. They did say

my left carotid artery was enlarged. (Later when the bigger one happened, with more testing, they found my left carotid had an aneurysm in it.)

About 3 months later, I was in an IEP meeting. That's a special educational meeting for my son. Everyone was chatting with whoever was next to them. I felt my left lip tingling and going numb. I've had migraines since I was 6 yrs old. I'm 58 now. I'd had a migraine for 2 days before this meeting. I was pretty stressed out (high blood pressure, unknown to me). A headache, stress, and high blood pressure, tingling, numbness, and lack of control of bodily functions. All symptoms. I was still thinking and talking, saying I'm not feeling well. You guys need to call someone. It took 3 times before someone heard me.

By the time I got to the hospital, just minutes later, I was so numb from the top of my head to my feet, they could have cut off a limb and I wouldn't have felt it. I was talking not well, and thinking clearly the entire time.

You know your body. You know something wasn't ok. If a Doctor argues with you like that again, ask them if they could talk or think clearly when they had their stroke or MS or whatever it is. Don't give up. Most of this is preventable. The last time this happened was it. 

I was in Rehab for a month. It happened the last of June 2017. If I had been watching my blood pressure, cholesterol, exercise, and stress better I wouldn't have lost most of my independence in moments.

Don't quit until you find out what it is. Change doctors if you have to. Everyone is different. It's been 31/2 months now. Still numb in all the same places. I'm walking, driving, and spending a lot of time in therapy, at Doctor's visits, and trying to manage my pain. You can read my other letters before this if you are interested. 

But DON'T GIVE UP! You are your own best advocate. Remember, QUITTERS NEVER WIN, WINNERS NEVER QUIT.

Hang in there, and let us know what you find out. Also, All doctors don't always have the same opinion. Practicing medicine...remember?

Find one who will figure it out.

                                                God Bless, Lori

 

UPDATE:

I went to a stroke specialist who took it very seriously and said was either a TIA or a small seizure.

They did MRI of brain and neck and all arteries veins were very good she said. Many tests later she deduced that it was a focal seizure. Focal seizures can give the EXACT same symptoms as a TIA.  You can think and be aware through them and this doctor said the way BOTH arms didn’t go out and I sort of sunk down into that one side sounded like this kind of seizure.  I told her it felt like I was folding up slowly, like you see a dying bug do, curling in on itself.  She said my leg held me up because I snapped out of the seizure before I collapsed all the way or I was just seizing and wasn’t going to get any lower. I was holding there.

We went through a seizure test, which was one of the wildest things I’ve ever experienced visually. They flash these lights at you and it makes some people’s eyes crack up- mine did. They found nothing (which is not always indicative of no seizure issue..some people have normal tests) and she said my seizure was a one off and that can happen. The week before my seizure I had been ill with a virus which she said most likely did it.

Thank you SO much for all your feedback and I hope this update helps someone else that experiences something similar.  

Thank you so much. That is very kind of you.

My weight, blood pressure and cholesterol are all good but I wasn’t as active as I would like, so I’m trying to improve that now. 

One thing that bothers me though, is 6 months on and I still sometimes get nervous when I drive etc that it could happen again.  I think losing control of my body scared me a little. it’s something I don’t say to others really accept my husband but it does from time to time make me feel uneasy.  

Thanks again everyone.

Oh Nevi, I so understand that feeling. It's like a form of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. I just remind myself that when mine happened, I was around people, and not behind the wheel. Also, it happened slow enough that I still had enough cognitive thinking ability, that had I been behind the wheel, I could have pushed my emergency blinkers on and pulled over.

I also ask God to watch over us every day, and I do have faith that although those fearful thoughts try to press in from time to time, He will protect us and keep us in the palm of his hand.

There was a time a few years back, that I had a strange burst of vertigo and nerve pain that happened suddenly from the base of my neck.  

I was driving at the time with my kids. It was at night, in an area close to home. I remembered later as I thought about it how the area I was driving in was empty on both sides of the street. Normally this road was very busy. I felt really protected by God in the situation, even though I was fully checked out by my Doctors and treated with no caution given about driving, I did fight a lot of fearful thoughts concerning getting behind the wheel again. 

About 3 months after, The Lord started highlighting some scriptures that touched on where we should let our thoughts flow. James 3:17 especially helped..."But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy." 

This scripture comforted me when my thoughts and emotions began to be filled with fear because, with all the descriptions listed, fear was absent. Also remembering how a very busy road had been empty of traffic, I knew He protected me and my kids.

I'm sure you will be fine, and I'm going say some prayers for you. God Bless you and take care.

Lori

  

Hi,

I found the statement that you cannot think during a stroke quite surprising. During my TIA I was fully conscious of everything going on and that the tests being done were for stroke. I was also able to show my mum how to call my hubby on the mobile phone. So I guess it depends entirely on the nature and severity of the stroke. Mine was Ischemic so no brain bleed and no permanent damage. Just a wandering bit of crud getting stuck somewhere it shouldn't.

But I am now 5 months post TIA and post endarectomy and I have a killer scar to show for it!

But onwards! I am above the grass so it is a good day!

L

Hello I’m 48 yrs in peri menopause I’m not sure what happens to me but Monday i was at my desk and all of the sudden my right eye was getting blurry and a few minutes later i was working on my work computer and all of the sudden my I counldnt process my work I was completely lost in my mind I could not think . I got up and my hand got tingle and my face on the right side . I call my husband and i was able to have a conversation . I call 911  and when I got to the hospital all my tests and CT scan were normal . I’m getting a MRI and see if that was a TIA. Please help I’m having such ansiety