Testing to determine if a person had a stroke

I had a stroke at the age of 39. I am currently 41.  I had a stroke in my sleep. When I woke up the next morning my left arm was completely numb and had lost complete strength. I thought perhaps it was maybe caused my a pinch nerve or something. Then my daughters came home and made dinner, they asked me to watch the dinner in the oven. By the time my daughter came back into the kitchen dinner was burning in the oven, and I had no remembrance of her even asking me to watch what was in the oven. Then in class my daughter was laughing at me, I turned and looked at her and asked her why she was laughing at me. My daughter said, "You're slurring your words." I told her I must be tired. I just came up with all sorts of excuses because I had no idea there was something wrong. When I returned home I went to my computer to look up my symptoms, and I realized I possibly had a stroke. That was on a Monday. I went to Doctors on Duty on Friday. The doctor ordered a CT scan and blood work.  When I went back to Doctor's on Duty, the doctor said when someone has a stroke there is a black dot, and he could not find one on mine. However, the blood work came out abnormal. He said, "It looked like I had a mild stroke. and If I feel dizzy or strange to go to the hospital right away. He said, to take a aspirin daily. He said if I don't get the feeling back in my arm he will then send me to a neurologist to see if there was any nerve damage. It took about a year to get my arm working alright again, at times I feel pains in my left hand, I noticed I have short term memory loss, and hard for me to focus on any one thing, and I tire easily. My question, is there a test that I can take that can determine if there is scar tissue in my brain from the stroke I had?

[slim76]

an MRI w/ contrast would probably be the best test for determining strokes past or present.

[sara12345]

Your posting made me think about my own stroke at age 56, totally out of the blue.  The bottom line here is:  A stroke is something that can damage your sense of judgement or awareness of what is going on.  So it is very important that the people around you notice odd behavior and get you to a hospital ASAP.  They really recommend that you call an ambulance.  If you can get to the hospital for treatment within 3 hours, they can help you.  

And you are more likely to have another stroke than someone who has never had one.

Instruct your family about the signs of a stroke.  Just go to any stroke website that will describe them to you.

I am normally very sensitive to the slightest change in my body, but that morning I woke up paralzyed on my right side and then could not tell the cleaning lady what to do in the detail that I wanted to give her.  I could still talk some.  I just had to point at things.

A friend of mine also had a stroke who couldn't talk all day and didn't realize anything was wrong with her.  At the time that she told me before I had my stroke, I couldn't help but be a little critical of her.  Both of our judgements were impaired from brain damage.

As to your question, it would probably be interesting to you to find out about your brain damage, but it doesn't really matter if they can detect brain damage or not.  You probably had some.  You can still keep working on your PT and skills and give it time, because you can keep getting better.

Three years later I am still needing 12 hours of sleep every night, or my 24/7 migraines since my stroke get severe.  I still have weakness on my right side.  And I frequently point out to my husband some detail that proves that my stroke is still affecting my cognitive skills.  He's just getting more and more impatient with me for harping on such little things.  Maybe your short term memory may not be as bad as you think--just a possibility.

I'm really sorry to hear about your symptoms but there is continuing progress for most people who work on themselves afterwards.  It may take help from family members, or some brain program or from a professional.

[black57]

My boyfriend had a stroke on tuesday morning, and i didnt know what was goining on with him. He got up fine that morning and layed back down, but i notice he was just twisting and turning so i was like what's wrong but he wasnt answering just shakeing his head no. So a few hours passed he was laying on his back throwing up wasnt moving, thats when i got scared i askd him did he wanna go to the hospital he said no.. He eventually went to sleep afterwards came back in to check on him he had then wanted to go.. And tuns out after taking all the test including the mri he had done had a stroke on the right of his brain. So now he is currently not moving his right arm or right leg he have to do theropy to back working like it was n he is only 24. This is sumthin new to me i just hope n pray he have a good recovery!!