Cerebellum Stroke??

[skiffi]

Hello, I'm a 40 year old female, 5' 8", 150 lbs.  I like to jog and walk 3-4 x wk and in the spring ran a 1/2 marathon.  My blood pressure is usually around 90/60 and my cholesterol is in normal range.  I do however have a heart murmor.  On July 4, I got dizzy/light-headed and my right arm felt numb.  I couldn't pull myself up from the floor.  I felt pretty disoriented and ended up going to ER.  They sent me home and said it was likely a panic attack but to talk to my Dr.  My doctor ordered an MRI which came back showing a small lesion (about 8 mm)in the cerebellum.  The neurologist said he thinks I had a small stroke but we are repeating the MRI in 6 weeks.  I have had 2 other days in which I felt similar way since, but I have also been getting blurred vision and headaches almost daily.  I talked to the doctor about these symptoms but was advised to take an asprin a day and wait.  Do 40 year olds in good health have strokes?  Are these symtoms of strokes?  What kind of questions should I be asking after the next MRI?  If it is a stroke is there anything I should be doing to prevent future problems?  I'm thinking about getting a second opinion but will wait until the 2nd MRI.  I also have some concern that if it's a tumor we should have acted faster.  Any thoughts?  Thanks for your advice!

[dewald55]

They told me I had a headache(did not feel one) and sent me home when I actually had a brain stem stroke..I got home and had another, but this one was down and out on the floor...My cholesterol was normal, my sugar was normal, my bp was 124/80...You could be in excellent shape but when the MRA(Juicy/Glow in the dark version of an MRI) is done, it could reveal that you got small arteries from heredity....Yep, dear ol' mom and dad...
Not anyone's fault, but if you had a stroke..I would be concerned about your blood pressure being too low and causing the dizziness and vision problems....Although I thought I had a normal BP at 124/80..Every doc I seen now said that even that is too low and need to pump more oxygenated blood "upstairs" because of any impairments....You have the right spirit though...ASK !!!!!  I felt I was a nuisance by asking, but it is worse going home with unanswered questions....ASK...Get involed with yourself....Marathon eh?  Gave me the willies about boot camp many eons ago..Hahahahahah
Beat the pants off your stroke girl !!!!I'm not giving up either

[cmorera]

Doctors are still denyign i had a stroke, thats 6 years ago.  i guess they have to actually do work if I have a stroke instead of 100 second consultations.  oh and also they might have to pay something too, but that might caus the HMO shares to go down :(

[Jim V]

Well...I actually had one...a stroke of the cerebellum, that is.  It took a PCP visit, and two presentations to the ER over a couple of days to get them to determine it, even tho I knew what was going on (pay attention to your body, I say).  The PCP and first ER doc were convinced it was an inner ear infection.  BP, BS, Cholesterol were all normal, btw.

So, 3 months later, after 1.5 months inpatient rehab and 1 month of gallavanting around in a wheelchair, I'm starting to pull it together.  I should fully recover, but it's a battle.

Maybe some of these docs should go back to school?

[MilanMiller]

My daughter (13) was recently diagnosed with a stroke in her cerebellum from an MRI.  The doctors are telling me they believed the stroke happened before she was born, because we can't identify any instance where she suffered from any neurological symptoms.  The reason the MRI was done, was because she has been suffering from daily headaches for 3 months.  The neurologist thinks these headaches are migraines and not related to the stroke, but he also says that the headache symptoms she describes are not typical in migraines.  Could her headaches and cerebellum stroke be related also?  I'm concerned that the doctor is being too quick to assume the stroke occured before birth when he also says that an MRI can NOT show the age of a stroke.  As I read here, it seems others have suffered from headaches with a stroke, yet the doctors tell me that headache is not a symptom of stroke.  It's all confusing.

[coo25]

I am a 44 year old woman in good health -  low cholesterol, low blood pressure, normal weight, and not taking oral contraceptives nor do I smoke - and I had a stroke 3 months ago.  I went to go to bed, and felt a weird sensation in my head, and stood up and started falling down, felt very disoriented, slurred speech, unctrolled movements in limbs, vomiting, and alot of pressure and load noises in my ears.

Was taken to the hospital via ambulance and the ER did a CT scan and some blood tests and the CT scan showed no tumor or bleeding - so the assumed it was an inner ear infection and sent me home.  I went to the PCP and Neurologist two days later and had an MRI 5 days later and they saw a stroke in the cerebellum and signs of a mini stroke that they classified as 'old'.  

I fortunately did not have ongoing loss of speech, or weakness in limbs etc...but have suffered from weird dizziness and electric shock feelings in my head. They seem to get better - but then get wrose again....Dr's are saying it is maybe anxiety --but is not.  I have had anxiety before and these are different.  Also often seem to feel like eyes are blurring some.  I have had 4 MRIs and they are not showing anything beyond the stroke.  Had checks for artery dissections and a weird inner ear issue that were all clear.  I am hoping the recovery continues and I will start to not have these feelings in my head over time.

Just writing to let you know that seemingly healthy women do have strokes,  Through many tests, they think I have too much C Protein in my blood and also have a wavy stem in my heart that could be the culprit where blood sat and built into a clot that then moved to my head.??  

Here are hopes for everyone to recover to their fullest

[mariedar]

Hi -- I wanted to let the list know that a PFO (a congenital hole in the heart) can sometimes be the cause of a cerebellar stroke -- it happened to me.  I'm 47 and had an operation 3 yrs. ago -- after the surgery I had 3 days of intense vomiting.  2 wks. later I had a cerebellar stroke -- the symptoms were vomiting, vertigo, and complete loss of balance.  The ambulance got me to the ER, and the ER drs. at my NYC hospital were great.  The CAT scan and MRI revealed the cerebellar stroke (the doctors called it a "significant stroke).  After I was discharged I had 8 mths of rehab and finally was able to walk without a walker.

Months later my neurologist set me up for a test where the drs. put a tube w/ a camera down the esophagus into my heart, and it showed the PFO (the hole in the heart).  The neurologist who sent me for the test then told me that he suspected a PFO because the stroke was in the cerebellum.  He said that the severe vomiting after my surgery might have widened the hole in the heart I was born with.  A Doppler test revealed bubbles in the circulation of the heart, which usually means a hole.  I had a PFO closure (where the cardiologist puts a device into the heart to close the hole).

I wanted to mention this to all of you because you should check with your doctor about the possibility of a PFO if you don't know why you had a cerebellar stroke.  The Doppler test is easy and non-invasive, but don't go through the heart test w/ the tube down the esophagus if your doctor dismisses the idea of a PFO.  I found that test very difficult.   Hope my experience helps!

[heavenlyitems]

I had a stroke in my cerebellum 4 months ago.  I let the symptoms keep on for almost five days. I am not picture perfect health but it just runs deep in my family history,  I have no blocked arteries.. I have small vessel disease and dr. said it can only be helped with an aspirin. I am not OLD, I consider myself young.  

[hbob]

I am 52 on June 30 I became violently sick throwing up, dizzy I could not stand up had to crawl just to get to the bath room and extreme head pain from the top of my head back to my spinal cord I have a plate in my neck and thought that was my problem it turned out to be only part of the problem, so I continued throwing up all through the night falling over when I tried to sit up in bed but having to throw up when I tried to lie down, my wife had left for work at 3:30am and had slept on the couch (not wanting to disturb me) and did not have a clue how sick I was until 11:30am the next morning I was about to pass out from the pain and there was nothing left to throw up.
She called an ambulance right away being I use the V.A. she had to call for permission first, as soon as I arrived at the ER I was stabilized then rushed on to their larger hospital in St.Louis I was told I had a cerebellar stroke went through one and a half months of rehab four months later I still suffer lack of balance, inability to walk a straight line, I have an anger issue, confusion, loose of memory.
In short keep an eye on your blood pressure mine was 125/113 my Cholesterol was normal I was being treated for the blood pressure.
Good luck to all of you.  

[MsJoy77]

I had a cerebellar stroke at age 30. Almost perfect health too and not on birth control. I realized it was a stroke because I had severe vertigo, vomiting, and could not walk. After I made it to the ER, they too thought it was an inner ear infection. Before the tried to send me home, the doc wanted to take just one more test. That test revealed that it was something other than an infection. Therefore I was admitted. I had a variety of CT Scans, and MRI, and two neurologists visited me the next morning with my results. There was a small tissue scar located at the back of my brain.

They decided to complete an Echo Cardiogram. The results showed a possible PFO. There were no traces of blood clots in my entire body after dopplers. A week later I visited the neurologists for a bubble study. They noticed a shunting and extra bubbles trickling after they stop the saline injections. Thats then they discovered the PFO and requested that I have surgery. Results also showed that I had low Protein C levels (causes the blood to coagulate easily). I was placed on Plavix for a while.

During my PFO surgery, they realized that I did not have a PFO...instead, I had a Pulmonary AVM! It is very rare but they were able to fix it while they were "Poking" around in there.

Hope this helps you!