Vertebral Artery Dissection Help

[marandag]

I am female and just turned 29 in Sept. I had a baby 08/21/09 by a sceduled c-section(my beautiful healthy baby boy was breeched). I went into labor the night before but waited to go to the hospital for my scheduled appointment. After we were released from the hospital I started having headaches and neck pains.I called my ob Dr. and they said it was normal and to take a hot bath and 4 motrin. The headaches never got better. In Sep. I got really dizzy and started throwing up, it lasted less than an hour. I called the same ob Dr. back and the nurse told me to see a GP. I went the following day Thurs. 09/24/09 everything came back ok, but the Dr. scheduled me for an MRI the next Monday. I went in that Monday and was sent to the ER after because the results showed a stroke. I was in the hospital for a week while they took lots of blood, x-rays, MRI, MRA, and CT w/wo contrast, EKG, and ultrasounds. I had a VAD (verebral artery dissection) in the neck on the left side,but normal blood flow on both sides of the VAD. My right artery is very large and the left really small, the Dr. said I could have been born with them that way, he said some people have a dominant side. They do not know when or why it happend. They sent me home with Warfarin. They will re-do the CT and MRA 03/01/10.  I had a follow up with a Nerologist 11/2/09 and will see a Cardiologist 11/19/09.  Do I need to be worried?  Can anything else happen due to the VAD?  Can it heal?

[Nassim Abi Chahine, MD]

: ) forget about the VAD, that nothing !!
the staff was simply looking for a cause of your symptoms.
Can you tell me where the stroke was located ?

[marandag]

The stroke was in the cerebellum.  I think what stumped all the doctors was that I did not have any physical signs of a stroke.

[Nassim Abi Chahine, MD]

labor is  a very hard activity, and maybe the hardest done by a woman during her life. so a VAD being the source of a small embolism causing a small stroke is something not rare in the world.
avoid pushes, constipation, holding a cough or sneezing...... avoid lifting and holding your breath for your whole life, and the possibility to have a re stroke is extreemly low.

[lamsabdou]

Hello, I am a 51 years old female.. Recently I had some pain in my lower abdoman right side, the pain goes to my right back side, and to my right leg..pain is untolerable. doc said i might have a pinched nerver in my back,, even though those pain feel like pms cramps.. so what is your opinion doc of these symptoms..? thx in advance