It Could Have Been a Small Stroke

susiestar

Roll With It
I had the scariest weekend. I had a migraine all last week that would not go away. It is still here but not as bad. On Friday J came in to ask me a question and I couldn't speak to her properly. I had to really think to force out words. I had J call my parents to take me to the ER.

The hospital was great, and got everything assessed really fast. They gave me a clot busting medication and then sent me to a hospital 90 min away. My mom drove down and met me, and she stayed until today to bring me home.

Today the docs did the final testing. They couldn't conclusively say I did or didn't have a stroke, which is actually good. The migraine wasn't changed by the clot busting medicine, but the other symptoms got much better and then resolved. This means my body was likely trying to have a stroke or having a small stroke that was stopped in time before anything was permanently damaged. This was one of the scariest things I have ever experienced. I hope and pray it never happens again! Thank heavens for Jess coming in to talk to me when she did, and for not letting me just curl up to hope the headache would go away.
 

Calamity Jane

Well-Known Member
There's an expression in healthcare, "Time is Brain" when it comes to strokes, so it was so fortunate you got the clot busting medication fairly quickly. Thank goodness everyone was on their toes. So happy you're OK!
 

RN0441

100% better than I was but not at 100% yet
That does sounds scary. Glad you reacted quickly and are okay.

A good friend of ours had a heart attack several years ago. It was out of the blue. She had not been feeling good that morning and was laying on the couch and felt like an elephant was on her chest. When she looked in the mirror she just saw huge dots. She got to the ER right away and is fine to this day.

We just never know when something can go awry so acting quickly is the best thing we can do for ourselves! Glad you got through it.
 

GoingNorth

Crazy Cat Lady
Glad you got care right away, Susie.

Chronic migraine sufferers are at higher risk of stroke and disability from stroke, part of which I suspect is because ER personnel tend to attribute sx to the migraine and not to a stroke.

by the way, when I was getting severe migraines very frequently, I often had slurred speech with them. It was back when CT Scans first came out, and I was undergoing one looking for brain abnormalities due to the slurred speech, that I discovered that I'm allergic to Iodine based IV dyes.
 

donna723

Well-Known Member
I'm so glad you were able to get help quickly and didn't wait! Those "mini strokes" are strange things! Years ago my aunt had one with no physical symptoms at all. No pain, no nothing. She was sitting at her kitchen table writing checks to pay her bills. And even though she knew exactly what she was intending to write, her handwriting was coming out all scribbles! She called her daughter to come look at it and the daughter rushed her right to the hospital where they determined that she had suffered a light stroke. But if she hadn't been writing at the time, if she had been just sitting there watching TV, she would have not been aware of it until it got much worse.
 

susiestar

Roll With It
Thank you all! I am so glad the medicine worked. In reading the discharge papers it seems it was a stroke but the medicine worked so they didn't see any damage.

I am really annoyed with my pain doctor because the new patch she insisted may have caused or contributed to the stroke. The neurologist wants me off of it, but getting the pain doctor to respond will likely take until Wed or even Thursday. I think that is ridiculous given what happened.
 

Copabanana

Well-Known Member
Susie. I am so glad whatever it was, was caught and treated and that you suffered no ill effect. While this kind of thing has not yet happened to me, I was diagnosed with a chronic illness last year and do feel very, very mortal lately. I understand I think how this affected you and hope very much you are now fine and will stay that way.
 
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