Most excellent news - and a public service announcement.

[jenett]

They have released the excellent elisem from the hospital, and more than that, she has posted.

She did, in fact, have a stroke. However, both the CAT scan and the MRI show no residual damage. This is amazingly good news.

The reason why? Very rapid treatment (in specific, a drug called TPA, which to be maximally effective, needs to be given within quickly after the onset of symptoms (a couple of hours). And before that, they have to get you to the hospital, do checks to make sure it isn't something else, and so on.) It breaks up the clot, and does it fast enough that if you are fortunate, there may be no lasting damage. (It is wonderful living in the future, but we have to actually use the nifty technology for it to work.)

The PSA: If you, someone you love, or someone you just happening to be wandering by, are having signs of a stroke, and you're not sure if you should call 911... call.

More at Elise's journal over here: http://elisem.livejournal.com/1661214.html

And more on symptoms of stroke and some of the stuff behind why the rapid treatment works over here: http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/010240.html .

Signs and symptoms
The most basic bit of info from that link above is:
"Here are the rock-bottom signs and symptoms of stroke:

* Sudden onset weakness, numbness, or tingling, particularly one-sided.
* Facial droop, particularly one-sided.
* Slurred speech, or aphasia, or suddenly using inappropriate words.
* Unexplained blurred vision, particularly one-sided.
* “The worst headache of my life.” (Thunderclap headache.)"

(And if you want a quick commentary from Teresa as to what made her certain calling was absolutely the thing, http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/012798.html is also useful, in that way where you wish that no one else ever again needed to have that moment of realisation.)

[post public on Dreamwidth: feel free to link widely, if you wish, or repost the relevant bits]

Comments

[synecdochic]

So thrilled for the quick action, and that she's getting better. Much good vibes for rapid recovery of the aftermath!

[viklikesfic]

The funny thing is, those are my EXACT migraine symptoms (except for the droop). I would probably assume a stroke is a migraine!

[jenett]

What I've seen from doctors re: migraines (mine are/have been very different symptomatically: there's overlap in how they'd be labelled, but my migraine symptoms are not sudden onset, they're gradual, and I no longer get 'worst headache ever' with the migraine) is that any variation from symptoms you've had checked out before should be checked out by the emergency room/etc if it also falls into the stroke symptoms category.

[viklikesfic]

*nod nod* That makes sense. My migraines are fairly obvious--first the spots of vision missing, then I start switching words around, then the left side of my body goes numb, starting with the hand moving up through the arm and then into my face, tongue, throat, etc. All of that happens in about 15-20 minute span and then the headache kicks in and I know I'm "safe."

This is my brain post stroke...

[somewhatbent]

Really. In March 2007 at age 42. Only identified risk factor (after the fact) was a history of migraine headaches. Young people who have migraines but are otherwise healthy have a higher risk of stroke than their general population age group. The reason for this is not clearly understood, but the numbers are well documented. They are more likely to be the ischemic variety (blood/oxygen starvation) rather than hemorrhagic (bleeding in brain) and the prognosis is, in general, good for near/full recovery.

**If in doubt, CHECK IT OUT***

I was working the opening night of an Art Show and had been feeling 'kinda off' for a few hours. I figured it was an incipient migraine and tried to do my job, but ended up leaving early, sitting down in the dining room with a book and being found unconscious on the kitchen floor a short time later. Even at the ER stroke was nowhere near the top of the list of suspect diagnosis until my longterm neurologist saw me. *HE* recognized that my speech was not normal and fluent /for me/ which wasn't obvious to the ER personnel who didn't know what I'm usually like. (I have no memory of any of the first couple of days, and big holes in my memory for the next six months) It wasn't until *years* later a friend who had seen me at the art show told me she'd noticed my speech was less coherent than usual... she didn't say anything at the time because she thought I'd been drinking. (I rarely do, and NEVER when working) As it turns out, they found evidence of a dozen or so similar ischemic strokes. I'd had a mild but unremitting headache for about the previous six months and had developed a fine muscle tremor. Upon seeing the MRIs my docs immediately made the correlation between the headache and tremor and a dozen stokes.

My memory loss might have been less severe -- and my short-term memory is still pretty bad -- if I'd gone to the ER instead of home that night. It never occurred to me that I might be having a stroke even though my 'day job' had been in medicine for the previous 18 years. I've recovered a lot, and my neurologist is optimistic that I'll recover a little more. It's pure speculation where I'd be in recovery process if the lapse of hours had not occurred.

Since then, I've been back to the ER a couple of times with 'atypical' headaches. Thankfully, they were of no consequence, but my team of doctors, my husband and I now all live the mantra; If In Doubt, CHECK IT OUT!

Re: This is my brain post stroke...

[jenett]

Yeah. One of the reasons I've been keeping on top of the symptoms for so long is that I've had migraines since I was 15.

It's also one of the reasons I push self-awareness for anyone. (Even though it is a pain in the neck to convince people that something's atypical for you, even though it looks okay to them: went through that with the thyroid.)

It's worth noting here too that the research I've been reading recently suggests there might be a connection between migraines and hypothyroidism, at least in some cases.

It's hard to tell for me, since my level of stress dropped off hugely around the same time the thyroid treatment kicked in this time, but looking at the past patterns, the times I've had more frequent migraines have mostly been at times when I was also having higher TSH levels. At any rate, have only had a couple of slight migraine twinges in the last six months, and none since the weather settled in the fall.