In light of recent events that occurred in the otherwise lighthearted Polls only: No discussion thread, I just wanted to create a thread where we can actually talk about it. Not necessarily that specific event, but just strokes in general.
I certainly hope @Biotop is alright and is getting themself checked out. And thanks again to @Loach and @carnut for pointing it out.
My own mother experienced a “minor” stroke about 10 years ago and hasn’t been the same since. She was in her mid-60s at the time and neither she nor my father noticed anything at first; she woke up with some minor tingling on one side of her body the same morning she had a scheduled doctor’s appointment, and they didn’t think it was anything serious until after the doctor’s exam and he surprised them with the news. It has always been described as a “minor” stroke but her physical condition deteriorated afterwards and while thankfully her mind is still fully intact, she’s basically been disabled ever since. She immediately lost her ability to drive; she’s not driven a car since. She had treatment and physical therapy for several years but is still walking with a cane, and will for the rest of her life.
This stuff is scary, and it is very, very serious.
Again, I hope @Biotop is okay and it that’s not what is going on with them.
Once, when I was about 38, I was driving down the highway and I was struck with an insanely intense headache that immediately included an out-of-body feeling. I immediately slowed down and started to pull off to the shoulder and then decided my best bet was to head to the hospital, but I passed the exit for the hospital because some part of me was all about getting home and drinking water. Once I was past the hospital, the aura lifted. I got home, drank a big tumbler full of water, and crawled in bed. I was immediately asleep. (Not cool, btw.) I woke up with no headache and feeling normal.
I finally mentioned it to the doc a couple of months later and he was absolutely shocked that I didn’t go to the hospital. He pointed out that it could be a stroke and I could have died, and possibly taken others out with me, while driving in such a situation. Oh shit, thought I, he is so very right. Going to the hospital was drilled into me as expensive and to be avoided at all costs so I think that childhood training took over. But I should have gone.
I got my head scanned, it showed nothing, and 20 years later it never happened again. We still don’t know what caused it. I have always been prone to migraines, but this was nothing like those.
Still, after all is said and done, I’ve had both friends and relatives become severely disabled or die from strokes. Please, please, familiarize yourselves with the symptoms for both men and women, and please, please, hightail it to a hospital (not an urgent care) if you feel this. But don’t drive, call 911. Just do it. If you are driving. Pull over to the shoulder and call 911.
The possibility of a stoke scares the bejezus out of me. There is some kind of acronym, right, FAST? Face, something, something, Time? Hello my friend, Google…
Just got news that my daughter’s friend’s husband dropped dead of a massive heart attack and stroke. Man in his forties. I was like WTAF?! Sad, and real hard on his family.
So, googling my symptoms now, returns the information that I probably experienced a “thunderclap headache”. One of the things that can cause such a headache is, indeed, a stroke. So many things that can go wrong, at any age.
BTW, a guy I knew experienced a killing stroke at the age of 28. Sometimes children have strokes. Don’t mess around. Call 911 if you even suspect it.
It’s been about 3 years since my stroke. I went to bed and I think I was feeling relatively normal. I was abnormally tired so maybe it was starting.
I woke up to my alarm. As I was half asleep I couldn’t understand why I couldn’t hit the snooze button. When I woke up a little more I realized I couldn’t move my arm. It felt normal it just wouldn’t obey me. It was really important for me to go to work so I refused to think it was anything important. I took a shower. I thought I pinched a nerve. I was an idiot. I still didn’t call 911. I had my daughter drive me to the hospital. They immediately realized what was going on. Soon I was on a helicopter to a neurological center.
Why it’s so important is if it’s the type of stroke caused by a clot they can do so much to minimize the damage. Only if they get to it quickly. The bad news was I had a hemorrhagic stroke which could not be treated with medicine. The good news was it took about 3 months to come back about 99%.
A friend had a stroke in her early twenties, in L.A. in the 1980’s. She managed to call 911. She realized she was probably having a stroke. The EMT’s thought she was high on drugs because she was staggering and slurring her words (and young). They refused to believe she wasn’t lying when she denied being on drugs, and mocked her. They wasted a lot of time before they’d transport her to the hospital. She has permanent damage to her arm and leg, and wonders whether it could have been prevented had she’d been treated immediately.
Yes, it can happen at any age. A friend of mine was a senior in high school, when he dropped dead on his way to school. Heart attack and stroke. He would be in his mid-70s now. All those years gone.
That’s what I knew too, but apparently a couple months ago it was amended to BE FAST.
B - Balance
Is the person suddenly having trouble with balance or coordination?
E - Eyes
Is the person experiencing suddenly blurred or double vision or a sudden loss of vision in one or both eyes without pain?
F - Face Drooping
Does one side of the face droop or is it numb? Ask the person to smile.
A- Arm Weakness
Is one arm weak or numb? Ask the person to raise both arms. Does one arm drift downward?
S - Speech Difficulty
Is speech slurred, are they unable to speak, or are they hard to understand? Ask the person to repeat a simple sentence like, “The sky is blue.” Is the sentence repeated correctly?
T - Time to call 911
If the person shows any of these symptoms, even if the symptoms go away, call 911 and get them to the hospital immediately
If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that I could never be a doctor. I think they have a different mindset or something because I’ve pored over many a medical dictionary (etc.) and come up with the wrong answer pretty much every time. When I get the diagnosis right it’s because I had every symptom and you’d have to be an idiot to miss it.
But I also think that even if you’re a doctor, you can’t be sure you’re objective about what YOUR symptoms etc. mean. So you go to another doctor to get checked out.
I hope @Biotop checks out okay tomorrow. I know I have put things off. I don’t like seeing the doctor. But once I go through with it, I feel better. I rest easier, don’t wonder “What if that was really serious and tomorrow I’ll drop like a sack of potatoes?” etc.
I remember one time I was lying in bed in the dark. I rubbed my eyes and saw these bright flashes. WTF? Is that cancer? Lupus? Etc.? It turns out that they were phosphenes. And that’s not a death sentence. Now when I see them, I don’t worry. If I hadn’t asked years ago, I would probably have freaked out a thousand times, unnecessarily. So if Biotop checks out, maybe there will be information that illuminates future incidences, and that’s a good thing.
My stepfather-in-law (my wife’s stepfather) suffered two strokes about a decade ago, while he was in his early 70s. The second one seriously damaged his ability to speak – even after a couple of years of speech therapy, he’s limited to one or two syllables at a time, and it can still be very hard to understand him.
But, more disturbingly, the strokes changed his personality (though I’m not sure if it was the damage from the strokes, or frustration over the speech impediment). He used to be funny, caring, and one of the sweetest-natured people I knew. After the strokes, he became much more short-tempered, angry, and self-centered.
You are probably familiar with the case of Phineas Gage. Personality change…yeah.
I wonder if survival instincts kick in, partly. But I also imagine that if you lose function, it’s frustrating and maybe you lash out. Whoever is nearby becomes the lightning rod.
Indeed. He and my mother-in-law barely get along now, and I think it’s only the fact that they are both in their 80s, and both kind of in need of each other’s assistance, which has kept one or the other of them from filing for divorce.
My next to the oldest brother had a stroke at my oldest brother’s birthday party, but we didn’t realize it. He fell asleep in the chair for a while and then got up and drove back to town which was hardly unusual.
The next day he had to go to a city some distance away and crashed on the interstate. It was at a hospital there that they determined that he had a stroke.
When my oldest brother had West Nile Virus, my first thought was that he had a stroke, too. By the time the doctors figured out what he had, he was in a coma and stayed in it for two months. He never did recover much from that at all.
Could be, but the splitting headache makes me suspect something different:
Especially combined with age and no scarring/hypodensities on a scan afterwards.
Ischemic attack caused by a clot (which is almost always the case in a TIA) doesn’t usually give headache like that. If the headache is the most salient symptom there’s usually blood. Definitely worth a visit to the hospital.
Cite: my FIL who used to be a neurologist and my own training as a doctor.
Probably both. The case of Phineas Gage has remained a classical teaching case in neurology because it was severe trauma to the frontal lobe. There was no brain stem involvement, which explains how he survived. Frontal lobe lesions often lead to personality change, with either inhibition or disinhibition as the most prominent characteristic, the later often expressing itself as aggression or hostility, sometimes with sexual disinhibition as well.
Inhibition presents as apathy and lack of engagement with the environment. This was actually the goal of a lobotomy in violent/agitated psychiatric conditions, such as manic psychosis.
A lot of symptomatology in strokes is a mixture of the psychological consequences of function impairment combined with the neurological symptoms of the damage to the brain and the chemical imbalances that leads to.
If a stroke is suspected, do not drive the person to the hospital yourself. Call 911. When calling 911, say the word “stroke”.
Pay attention to when the symptoms began and what events led up to the event, and be prepared to clearly communicate this info to the medical staff. Track the symptoms as they occur, keep notes with times.
Do not give the person any medications, food, or drink.
Talk to the person calmly, reassuring them that help is on the way.
Station someone outside if possible to direct medical personnel.
Regularly check pulse and breathing. Initiate CPR if necessary.