Sorry, but google came up short and this was a phrase in an email I just got from my mom, so I’m a little panicked at the moment. No medical advice, she’s seeing a doctor, got tests scheduled, etc. etc. I just don’t know what TIA is short for, but from context it sounds like a stroke-ish thing, only in the eye, not the brain. Is this right?
TIA = transitory ischemic attack. Link to e-health forum. Mini-stroke - less serious than a full blown stroke, but serious. My Mum had a couple which led to some lifestyle changes (increased exercise, change of diet, trying to reduce stress.).
Wishing you and your mum good health,
Le Ministre
Yep, I bet that’s it. She’s been feeling a sensation of compression in her neck when reading in bed, face down propped on her elbows, and reported her vision seems to dim when turning her head. Yesterday the acuity in one eye dropped sharply for 2 hours. Eye doc found eyeball, retina, and optic nerve and occular pressure all normal, suspects TIA in the eye from loosened arterial plaque from the neck or head and put her on aspirin until the rest of her tests can be done. (12 lead EKG normal; Echo cardiogram, a nuclear stress test, a doppler carotid scan, and some bloodwork all scheduled for early next week.) So it sounds like what should be done is being done and I should just think good thoughts and trust her medical team.
Man, she’s like, the most fit person I know! Yoga, running, weight training, fantastic diet, no excess body fat, nonsmoker for 20 years. If she’s a candidate for a stroke, I might as well off myself now! (Just kidding.) She’s my mum by marriage, so her health risks aren’t mine, but I would have thought her chances pretty low for this sort of thing.
Thanks for the info.
A TIA is a transient ischemic attack, as already stated. It is often referred to colloquially as a "ministroke. It is caused by a transient occlusion of cerebral blood flow causing stroke-like symptoms, although the symptoms by definition resolve in a TIA.
It sounds like what your mother experienced was amaurosis fugax, which is caused by the same process as that causing a TIA (ie a transient obstruction of blood flow) but occurs in the vessels supplying the eye or the optic nerve.
Ah, there we go. Eyes are my weakness as an anatomy student - I’ve been able to avoid learning about them until now.
Y’know, just yesterday, I was kvetching to my Anatomy and Physiology lab partner about how eyeballs are oogy, and I was not at all looking forward to that unit of A&P and how when I’m a nurse, eye exams are going to be the worst part of my job.
If I was a more superstitious type, I’d feel awfully guilty right now. It was exactly at that time that my mom was halfway across the country making an emergency appointment at an eye specialist. :smack:
…
Tiny Irritating Arterial-plaque?
Trying to Increase Assessments?
Time In Accounting?
On preview: Aw, prav, it’s okay! Question asked and answered, really!
Sorry, I deleted that after I reread the OP and realized you were talking about something serious that happened to your mother. I didn’t want to sound flip, but I’m glad you didn’t take offense. 
Best wishes to your mom, hope it turns out okay.