Mini stroke

[mcginnisc]

How did they know it was an ischemic stroke? Did it show up on a ct scan or mri or something else?

Not a mini stroke.. I had an ischemic stroke on 8/1/16. They still do not know the cause of it. They did a ton of tests while I was in ICU, they have done full blood panels, etc...no cause was ever found. I see a Cardiologist every 6-9 months for rechecks and have since I was released from ICU on 8/4/16.

I lost my whole left side. It started with my left hand. It went numb, but I thought it was just asleep..then, my left arm went numb. Then, my dd ( 10 at the time) noticed the left side of my face was drooping). When my SIL got me to the hospital, my left leg went. My SIL said that from the time I hit the doors of the ER to the time I came out of the CAT scan was 6 minutes. They did a CAT scan and started yelling stroke kit as they ran me down the hall to a room with my SIL beside me as Dh had landed in DC 20 minutes beforehand and was trying to get back home after dd called him. They did CT scans, they did several MRIs with and without contrast.. The CAT scan showed the stroke in my parietal lobe on the right side of it. They were able to give me TPA and the ER physician told my SIL that they barely made it in time as they had about 10 minutes left on the "stroke timer" as strokes are timed for treatment.

[LiveWhatULove]

Will you be seeing the neurologist in a timely manner? Did she say why she did not order head imaging & carotid imaging? Did she not feel your symptoms could have represented a stroke?

I do not know your risk factors, and am not giving medical advice, however “mini-strokes” could (not saying it always means this) could be a warning sign of a problem that could cause a larger stroke. So I would want an evaluation done sooner than later, if you were my loved one.

There are several possible causes of ischemic stroke and although yes, atherosclerosis of our arteries caused by high cholesterol is a common cause of stroke, clots can also come from cardiac or the heart. This is screened for with an echocardiogram which I assume you have done occasionally to monitor the stability of your mitral valve prolapse.

Thank you for all of that info! So far my primary dr has me started taking cholesterol meds because it’s proven to help prevent strokes by 25%. And she is having me go to a neurologist. She has not mentioned anything about my heart and getting anything tested with that. I have a heart murmur and mitral valve prolapse and she knows that.

Please schedule an immediate appointment with a medical provider for any concerning neurological symptoms. If they determine your symptoms could represent a transient ischemic attack, it does not necessarily have to be emergent, but you need more urgent testing including head imaging, echocardiogram, blood work, ultrasound of your carotid arteries and perhaps monitoring for arrhythmias.

[Anonymous 1]

No, unfortunately they can't get me in to see the neurologist until late june! And I googled the dr and he has horrible reviews so I am going to try to see if I can get a referral for someone else! I haven't had an echocardiogram in years. I just don't understand why the dr wouldn't have suggested this. Ugh! I also have had burning in both breasts and feels like it is spreading to my chest so I got a chest xray but that came back okay. The dr told me to make sure I mention this to the neurologist as it could be connected but not sure. Have you heard of this? At first, my primary dr had me go to a gynecologist for the burning breast feeling. I have it every single day on and off all day long and now it feels like it's spreading to my chest.

Will you be seeing the neurologist in a timely manner? Did she say why she did not order head imaging & carotid imaging? Did she not feel your symptoms could have represented a stroke?

I do not know your risk factors, and am not giving medical advice, however “mini-strokes” could (not saying it always means this) could be a warning sign of a problem that could cause a larger stroke. So I would want an evaluation done sooner than later, if you were my loved one.

There are several possible causes of ischemic stroke and although yes, atherosclerosis of our arteries caused by high cholesterol is a common cause of stroke, clots can also come from cardiac or the heart. This is screened for with an echocardiogram which I assume you have done occasionally to monitor the stability of your mitral valve prolapse.

Thank you for all of that info! So far my primary dr has me started taking cholesterol meds because it’s proven to help prevent strokes by 25%. And she is having me go to a neurologist. She has not mentioned anything about my heart and getting anything tested with that. I have a heart murmur and mitral valve prolapse and she knows that.

Please schedule an immediate appointment with a medical provider for any concerning neurological symptoms. If they determine your symptoms could represent a transient ischemic attack, it does not necessarily have to be emergent, but you need more urgent testing including head imaging, echocardiogram, blood work, ultrasound of your carotid arteries and perhaps monitoring for arrhythmias.

[Anonymous 1]

How scary! I'm glad you are okay! It's so frustrating not to know what made this happen and how to prevent it. I have had several other times where I had this "strange feeling" and I'm afraid it's going to happen again because I had the strange feeling first and then I couldn't see chunks of things so my vision was weird and then I couldn't speak but my brain was able to think of things to say but it wouldn't come out and then it changed to my brain not being able to even think to form sentences. Then when I was able to speak again I wasn't making sense. I had been driving and thank god my son was able to take over and drive and he drove us home safely.

How did they know it was an ischemic stroke? Did it show up on a ct scan or mri or something else?

Not a mini stroke.. I had an ischemic stroke on 8/1/16. They still do not know the cause of it. They did a ton of tests while I was in ICU, they have done full blood panels, etc...no cause was ever found. I see a Cardiologist every 6-9 months for rechecks and have since I was released from ICU on 8/4/16.

I lost my whole left side. It started with my left hand. It went numb, but I thought it was just asleep..then, my left arm went numb. Then, my dd ( 10 at the time) noticed the left side of my face was drooping). When my SIL got me to the hospital, my left leg went. My SIL said that from the time I hit the doors of the ER to the time I came out of the CAT scan was 6 minutes. They did a CAT scan and started yelling stroke kit as they ran me down the hall to a room with my SIL beside me as Dh had landed in DC 20 minutes beforehand and was trying to get back home after dd called him. They did CT scans, they did several MRIs with and without contrast.. The CAT scan showed the stroke in my parietal lobe on the right side of it. They were able to give me TPA and the ER physician told my SIL that they barely made it in time as they had about 10 minutes left on the "stroke timer" as strokes are timed for treatment.

[Anonymous 1]

I wrote this kinda long thing back to you and then it disappeared! ugh! How scary for your sister! I am so afraid of memory loss and I already feel like I have brain fog now and it's hard to think of simple words sometimes. I usually am quick and witty with my thinking and speaking and now I'm not so much and that scares me so badly!!

One of my sister's has had several in the past, including having one during L&D of her last biological child over 30 years ago

For her, it's affected her memory primarily and they believe it was all related to her former mismanagement of her Type 1 diabetes. She had daily BS levels over 500 and A1C's well over 10.

She's far better now and manages her diabetes as she should.

I hope you'll be ok, OP.

[mcginnisc]

How scary! I'm glad you are okay! It's so frustrating not to know what made this happen and how to prevent it. I have had several other times where I had this "strange feeling" and I'm afraid it's going to happen again because I had the strange feeling first and then I couldn't see chunks of things so my vision was weird and then I couldn't speak but my brain was able to think of things to say but it wouldn't come out and then it changed to my brain not being able to even think to form sentences. Then when I was able to speak again I wasn't making sense. I had been driving and thank god my son was able to take over and drive and he drove us home safely.

How did they know it was an ischemic stroke? Did it show up on a ct scan or mri or something else?

I lost my whole left side. It started with my left hand. It went numb, but I thought it was just asleep..then, my left arm went numb. Then, my dd ( 10 at the time) noticed the left side of my face was drooping). When my SIL got me to the hospital, my left leg went. My SIL said that from the time I hit the doors of the ER to the time I came out of the CAT scan was 6 minutes. They did a CAT scan and started yelling stroke kit as they ran me down the hall to a room with my SIL beside me as Dh had landed in DC 20 minutes beforehand and was trying to get back home after dd called him. They did CT scans, they did several MRIs with and without contrast.. The CAT scan showed the stroke in my parietal lobe on the right side of it. They were able to give me TPA and the ER physician told my SIL that they barely made it in time as they had about 10 minutes left on the "stroke timer" as strokes are timed for treatment.

Oh honey...that sounds like a stroke. Your parietal lobe manages your senses so if you are unable to speak or speak coherently that is not a good sign. Your vision is also affected by a stroke. I had 20/20 before my stroke. I got my eyes checked 6 months later and found out that I then had an astigmatism in my left eye and now have to wear reading glasses 6.5 years later. Definitely get checked asap. It baffles my mind that your physician is not being more proactive with the things that have occurred. I also have MVP. In additon, I have genetically high cholesterol and high blood pressure. Neither of those were the cause according to the tests I underwent. I would be strongly advocating for more testing like CT scans, CAT scans, MRI's, and maybe a TPE ( scope down throat to look at heart). I had ALL of that done while in ICU when I had my stroke. They left no stone unturned trying to find the source.
It was very frustrating not to know the why of it all. I do slightly freak if my hand goes to sleep now. I speak out loud to hear if my voice is normal, I shake my hand and then breathe a sigh of relief when my hand goes back to normal.

[Lemons]

Please schedule an immediate appointment with a medical provider for any concerning neurological symptoms. If they determine your symptoms could represent a transient ischemic attack, it does not necessarily have to be emergent, but you need more urgent testing including head imaging, echocardiogram, blood work, ultrasound of your carotid arteries and perhaps monitoring for arrhythmias.

A CT scan of the head should be immediate, don’t you think? It’s a quick test and she would get instant test results.

[LiveWhatULove]

Once again, I am always hesitant to give medical advice, but i will give personal advice, if you were my loved one, and you described these symptoms to me, days later, I would contact your care provider with the following message via the patient portal or the phone::

I appreciate the referral to neurology, however they are unable to get me in for some time. I am very concerned that I had a TIA, could you please order an MRI of my brain to see if I have had a stroke; carotid artery duplex to see if I have any carotid arterial disease, and an echocardiogram with a bubble study to look for any sources of a clot and to re-evaluate my mitral valve, due to a history of MVP. Thank you so much.

And if that provider said no — I would take this list to another doctor.

No, unfortunately they can't get me in to see the neurologist until late june! And I googled the dr and he has horrible reviews so I am going to try to see if I can get a referral for someone else! I haven't had an echocardiogram in years. I just don't understand why the dr wouldn't have suggested this. Ugh! I also have had burning in both breasts and feels like it is spreading to my chest so I got a chest xray but that came back okay. The dr told me to make sure I mention this to the neurologist as it could be connected but not sure. Have you heard of this? At first, my primary dr had me go to a gynecologist for the burning breast feeling. I have it every single day on and off all day long and now it feels like it's spreading to my chest.

Will you be seeing the neurologist in a timely manner? Did she say why she did not order head imaging & carotid imaging? Did she not feel your symptoms could have represented a stroke?

I do not know your risk factors, and am not giving medical advice, however “mini-strokes” could (not saying it always means this) could be a warning sign of a problem that could cause a larger stroke. So I would want an evaluation done sooner than later, if you were my loved one.

There are several possible causes of ischemic stroke and although yes, atherosclerosis of our arteries caused by high cholesterol is a common cause of stroke, clots can also come from cardiac or the heart. This is screened for with an echocardiogram which I assume you have done occasionally to monitor the stability of your mitral valve prolapse.

Thank you for all of that info! So far my primary dr has me started taking cholesterol meds because it’s proven to help prevent strokes by 25%. And she is having me go to a neurologist. She has not mentioned anything about my heart and getting anything tested with that. I have a heart murmur and mitral valve prolapse and she knows that.

[Deleted User 1977]

You're under so much stress from worrying and concerns, that may also be contributing to the brain fog you're experiencing.

Be your own medical advocate. If you have any concerns or are uncomfortable with a doctor, speak up and say so. Never feel you're in the wrong for doing so.

Does your health insurance require you to get a referral from your pcp to see a specialist?

I wrote this kinda long thing back to you and then it disappeared! ugh! How scary for your sister! I am so afraid of memory loss and I already feel like I have brain fog now and it's hard to think of simple words sometimes. I usually am quick and witty with my thinking and speaking and now I'm not so much and that scares me so badly!!

One of my sister's has had several in the past, including having one during L&D of her last biological child over 30 years ago

For her, it's affected her memory primarily and they believe it was all related to her former mismanagement of her Type 1 diabetes. She had daily BS levels over 500 and A1C's well over 10.

She's far better now and manages her diabetes as she should.

I hope you'll be ok, OP.

[Anonymous 1]

No the insurance doesn't require it but it seems like the doctors require it to be seen. I am sure the stress of all of this doesn't help but I have been under huge amounts of stress my whole entire life. I sometimes even think did this possible mini stroke happen because of all of my stress in my life...like I faked it so well my whole life and now I have just crashed or something? I was seeing a therapist but she was not helpful so I finally cut ties. I hate starting over. It's just another thing to do as well just like all the extra dr. appts. My husband has MS and can barely walk and my daughter has a heart condition. We have a cardiologist appt for her tomorrow morning and for the first time ever, I truly don't know if I can go. I have so much anxiety and yesterday I felt so off all day long and it was a similar feeling right before I had the mini stroke so it was scary and I'm just exhausted.

You're under so much stress from worrying and concerns, that may also be contributing to the brain fog you're experiencing.

Be your own medical advocate. If you have any concerns or are uncomfortable with a doctor, speak up and say so. Never feel you're in the wrong for doing so.

Does your health insurance require you to get a referral from your pcp to see a specialist?

I wrote this kinda long thing back to you and then it disappeared! ugh! How scary for your sister! I am so afraid of memory loss and I already feel like I have brain fog now and it's hard to think of simple words sometimes. I usually am quick and witty with my thinking and speaking and now I'm not so much and that scares me so badly!!

One of my sister's has had several in the past, including having one during L&D of her last biological child over 30 years ago

For her, it's affected her memory primarily and they believe it was all related to her former mismanagement of her Type 1 diabetes. She had daily BS levels over 500 and A1C's well over 10.

She's far better now and manages her diabetes as she should.

I hope you'll be ok, OP.