TIA and Residual Symptoms/Affects Afterwards

[TIA HasBeen]

My question is, is it normal to experience continual affects of a TIA?   Some of what I have read here leads me to believe that a TIA is a stroke that totally reverses itself and all symptoms go away within 24 hrs.  Other postings indicate that if symptoms continue or periodically return, then that is an indication that it was more than just a TIA or that there are continuing problems.

The problems I continue to experience are occasional light numbness in the left side of my face, (nothing like the initial numbness on the day of the TIA which was on the Right side of my face), weakness and fatigue in my neck, right arm and right leg.   Sensitivity to foods and medications (that didn

[TOConnell]

Hello there.I am 37 years old, male, and I had my first TIA in January 2005. I was then diagnosed with high blood pressure and high(ish)cholesterol. I was not very careful and continued to smoke, not really tighten up on what I was eating, and not get enough exercise. I learned my lesson 10 Jan 06 when it happened again,much worse with paralysis down my right side taking 2-3 days to clear. While there I had a heart attack, had an angiogram,an angioplast, and a stent inserted in my coronary artery (90 pc closed I was told)In total I spent 3 weeks in 2 seperate hospitals. It took 4-5 months before I could return to work, and Im about 95 pc back to what I was.The problem is that my Basilar artery is degraded to the extent of what you would find in a much older person. This, I am told is a hereditary problem, compounded by external factors such as cigarette smoking,salt/fat diet and a slightly below average fitness level. Im on BP tablets, cholesterol tablets, and thinners. I gave up smoking, get regular exercise and (try) to be careful what I put in my body food wise.I still get symptoms (maybe side effects from the tablets, or my arteries reacting to same or effects of my condition) which nag at me almost daily.I get whats called 'shooting pains', sharp needle like pains in my head,neck, temples lasting maybe 30-40 seconds.Spicy foods sometimes give me woeful indegestion across my chest. My balance is still a bit off and I wake up very early and get very tired after 10 at night. My BP is tightly controlled but I have to be careful to keep it that way. Does anyone have the same problem with their Basilar artery? You value everything more when you get a fright like I got. God is looking down on us all methinks?
Tom

[OneScaredBuckeye]

I had what my doctor thinks is a TIA only three nights ago, though I didn't explain everything completely to him.  I got so scared when he told me it was a TIA and I've been terrified ever since.  Finding this forum is a big help to me because I don't feel so alone.  

I was lying in bed reading (I had been reading all day, though not in bed) and my husband asked if he should turn out the light or if I wanted to read more.  I told him to turn out the light.  

As soon as he did, I noticed my left eye was not "seeing" as well as it should be.  It seemed like there was a black "spot" in front of it.  I covered my right eye and I could see the window in front of me, but not the moonlight coming in through the slats.  I covered my left eye and I could see everything.  I tried covering my right eye again.  Same thing.  I didn't have a "blind spot" but I just couldn't see the light coming in.  The whole window was black, like a TV screen, though I could see it.  I turned and looked back to another window that had more light coming in and I could see, though my vision in my left eye was dimmer.  I know the blindness could have resolved in the few seconds before I put my hand over my right (unaffected eye) but it still seems strange to me that all I couldn't see was the moonlight coming in through the slats.  I thought if vision resolved after a brief TIA, then I'd see the moonlight dimly and see it just grow stronger.

I then ran, really ran, with no problems, upstairs and told a family member I might be having a detached retina.  Then, all was fine.  I went to the bathroom, went to bed and shrugged it off.  I saw the doctor the next day for depression and just mentioned the eye incident as an afterthought.  Now I find myself scheduled to have an echocardiogram and a carotid duplex as well as blood tests, which I'll have, of course.  The doctor also put me on daily aspirin therapy, 81 mg. day.  He said my carotid arteries and heart sounded fine, but of course, the distinctive sound of blockage is not always heard.

I've never been sick in my life except for mumps, measles, and chicken pox as a child and shingles in August, which cleared with no side effects.  I have no family history of cardiovascular disease (I mean none, not even all four grandparents families), am Caucasian, have normal blood pressure (about 120/60, sometimes a lower systolic), good pulse (about 50 usually), exercise an hour daily, eat almost no fat, salmon but no other meat, take vitamins, lots of fiber, never smoked, never drank alcohol, never took illegal drugs, never had migraines.  I am somewhat overweight and dieting.  I'm fifty-nine and look and feel thirty-nine.  People take for thirty-nine or forty.  I considered myself so lucky before this.  

I do have extreme anxiety and depression and have had for quite some time.  The doctor started me on Paxil 20 mg. and I was already taking Valium 10 mg. and Inderal 20 mg. once a day.  Even with all of this, I'm a total wreck of nerves.  No one in my family will talk to me about what happened or my fears.  They think I'm making too much out of it and maybe I am, especially after reading this forum.  But this is totally new to me and I'm just terrified.  I was relaxed, for me, when it happened, by the way, but still stressed.

I guess I am lucky.  So far, I have no residual effects.  I feel fine physically, just a wreck mentally and so, so afraid.  You do value everything so much more after this kind of scare.  I love my life and don't want to leave it.

Good luck to everyone on the forum and thanks for posting.  I feel I'm not alone in this and have friends even though I've never communicated with any of you.

Does anyone else find it odd that the moonlight was the only thing I couldn't see?

Again, good luck to us all and God bless us all.

[mnt1]

I was diagnosed with having had a TIA out of nowhere aged 29. All tests found nothing except for a PFO, my health generally very good except for a stressful job.

5-6 weeks on I'm still experiencing sporadic tingling (although this is improving), I get pins and needles very easily whenever I lie on a limb, plus persistent tinnitus in left ear, occasional left-sided headaches and also nausea when looking at a computer or TV screen for long periods of time.

The doctors haven't explained at all why i'm having symptoms still... TIA's are supposed to clear up almost straight away, aren't they?!

[OneScaredBuckeye]

I'm not sure if TIAs clear up right away.  If the doctors can't explain why you're having symptoms, then there's no damage and no ongoing problem.  Did the doctor put you on daily low-dose aspirin therapy?  Mine did.  I know that can cause tinnitus, but if you're on aspirin, you shouldn't stop it.  The other symptoms could possibly be anxiety over the TIA (I know I have anxiety), but if they can't find a reason for the symptoms, maybe you should see another doctor or ask for a mild tranquilizer since your job is so stressful.  I know cutting out caffeine (coffee, tea, chocolate, all soft drinks) helped me greatly.  It's really important to cut out caffeine, and that means all caffeine, not just reducing it.  Caffeine raises blood pressure and elevated blood pressure is the biggest risk factor.  Good luck to you.  I hope you feel better soon.

[Jazzyfizzle]

Hi Mnt and Buckeye

I was just diagnosed with the PFO after 4.5 years of terrible health (alot of backstory). My Neuro said that small clots are able to pass through to the brain and cause the TIA's. Is this what you were told also?

Jazzy

[OneScaredBuckeye]

I'm having my echocardiogram tomorrow and my carotid duplex on Friday, probably my bloodwork on Friday, too, so I don't have any test results yet.  However, I've read that small clots can form when one has a PFO or atrial fibrillation.  I think sometimes they close the PFOs and sometimes they don't.  Sometimes they prefer to manage the PFOs with medication.  Strange that people are born with PFOs and yet they usually don't cause any symptoms until adulthood.

Good luck with your appointment, Jazzy.

Buckeye