Last Thursday evening I developed a really bad headache then my left arm went heavy and I lost the sensation in my left arm and grip went, I couldn't see properly. I went to get up off the chair and felt weak, so sat back down until it passed after about 10-15 minutes. Well anyway, since then I still don't feel right and have rang the GP yesterday morning but there are no appointments so have to ring at 8am this morning. I also had heart attack last year and have angina, but never experienced anything like this before. Would I still feel unwell even though it's 4 days gone if it was a TIA? Many thanks.
Hi,
you should have been given an emergency app. Should anything like this happen again please ring 999 as soon as you can.
I hope you saw the Dr today please take care and do keep in touch
Hi RubyRed,
Yes I agree with loretta, you should of been given an emergency appointment or at the least been informed to call the paramedics. TIA's usually clear up and you are "usually" symptom free and physically fit , by that I mean back to your normal self, You may feel drained (tired lack of energy for a day or 2) You may have experienced a double whammy....a mild heart attack and a TIA ? but only a doctor and tests can tell you definately. Believe it or not a migraine head ache can cause the same symptoms, because they couldn't find anything on my suspected second TIA an emergency doctor was leaning towards a migraine, something I have never suffered in my entire life, the doctor went on to explain to me that just because I have never had one doesn't mean I will never develop one, I didn't and I still don't believe him (Maybe the Doctor was correct- but I personally don't think so)
Now that I took the long way around in answering your question, I'll add a short answer, nothing is impossible and maybe you could feel unwell for several days.
I was informed by emergency staff that a person can suffer angina/heart attack ,TIA or Stroke at the same time. TIA's can usually last up to an hour ,not in all cases my first one did, second one lasted around the same time as yours but I also had an angina attack with it. After my swcond one I felt back to normal after the 15 minutes but as time went on my memory started to go down hill and sometimes I have trouble putting sentences together and I don't even know if this is related to TIA but my toes seemed to have curled down as well,they feel weird, I have full movement in them but they just feel funny and now cramp up if I force them down to see how much strength I have in them, ocassionally have balance difficulties but not regular enough to worry about.
hope this has helped you a little but please next time call an ambulance, don't worry about your doctor as he/she may well send you to the ER anyrate.
Thanks for your replies, I have an emergency GP appointment this afternoon.
Thing is I've been having strange sensations in my face since it happened, it's like numbness, tingling and a crawling sensation really hard to explain and a burning crawling feeling on top of my head and been very tired and walking balance isn't right so I haven't been out for a few days.
Never ever had anything like it, I did have an angina attack the week before this all happened but used my gtn spray and it eased it. I would have thought that all the medication I take for my heart would give me some level of protection against a TIA/Stroke.
Anyhow, I will pop back in after my GP appointment to let you know what happens.
Once again thanks for your replies.
Thank you Loretta, I will update after my GP appointment this afternoon, thinking back I should have called for an ambulance I was on my own aswell.
Thank you samuels, yes over the last few days among other things that are out of sorts I've notice my balance/walking is 'off' 'on' type of thing. Well, I'm not 'right' as in what's normal for me.
Much appreciated.
Hi RubyRed,
Good luck with everything, I hope you get all the answers you seek . From what you are describing especially with the face,the numbness and tingling certainly fit the bill for a TIA but Your Doctor will definately confirm what is going on with your health.
My first TIA My partner asked what I was drooling for and I said I wasn't but when I wiped my hand where she pointed ..sure enough I was drooling..funny how I couldn't feel it but she could see it, She had to go to work, I assured her I was OK but about 1/2 an hour later whoomp there it was all down the left side , headache, slurred speech it was more blurred and one at least 2 occassions double vision and balance problems yet no facial drooping....As it was my first ever attack,I, like you just sat down and waited it out but after the initial episode I started to get my normal Prinzmetal Angina and GTN wasn't relieving it so I called the Paramedics. Explained to the ER doctor what had happened that day and I was taken for a CT Scan and admitted to the stroke unit where I spent 4 days. I had another turn about a year later and have had a couple of other minor ones this year. every now and then I struggle to make a sentence and can get half way through a conversation and I forget half way through what I was going to say or even what we have just spoken about 
. I don't bother telling ER anymore because of the migraine chat one of the ER doctors had with me, don't get me wrong, if it's severe enough I tell them but with on/off symptoms like mine at the moment I just don't worry about it
I know what you are saying. I too suffer TIAs and was sent by my Dr to hospital on one occasion. The specialist stood in front of me and all knowingly told me I had a migraine. I was shocked and suddenly angry. I told him what he could do with his migraine theory packed up my things and walked out with the nurse and all knowing so called specialist following. I ignored them and was taken home. I forget words, sometimes stop mid-sentence because the phrase or word has escaped me. If I am talking to someone and this happens I just ask them to bear with me my brain has just stepped out. I too drool on my right side I don't feel it my husband yells me. My eyesight goes too. I play the piano and sometimes just can't hit the right keys. Yes, it is frustrating and no it is not migraine. Do these drs think they are all knowing God's and we should just give up and obey? I have no faith in so called specialists or drs anymore. When I have a TIA I just rest until it gets better. Sometimes just hours sometimes 2 days. I make sure my glucose levels are in single figures and don't worry about TIAs anymore
Hi, Sorry I couldn't get back to you yesterday, here's an update........
Visited GP yesterday afternoon, described my symptoms/what had happened etc, and he said my speech was slow & slurred, thought TIA. He called an ambulance straight away, paramedics thought possible TIA.....first consultant at hospital thought TIA - had CT Scan & bloods straight away, was put on stroke ward overnight for observation, wired up etc. Evening consultant (different one) thought TIA. Although still problems with speech & left side numbness/weakness this morning when a ward consultant came to me, bloods & CT Scan all okay, diagnosed the episode as........Migraine. Said to go home, rest and symptoms will eventually go, that's how it's been left!!!
What is wrong with these called consultants? What is their fascination with migraine. Actual diagnosis is beyond them. I am so sorry for you. I have been in your situation and know how you feel. I told the consultant he wouldn't know a migraine if it bit him in the bum
He also wouldn't know a TIA or stroke if that up and socked him in in his face. I was so angry. Now I don't do anything when I have a TIA or chest pain. I wait for it to go
That's exactly how I felt this morning Loretta, angry. The only time I have a migraine/headache is when I have to use the gtn spray, but I take a couple of paracetamols straight after I've used the gtn & its gone. Never suffered with migraines!! Also not only slow/slurred speech but also having trouble with pronunciation, sentences etc.
I suppose because my bloods were fine and CT scan didn't show a bleed a migraine was all the consultant/specialist put it down to? I don't even know if it's possible to have a mini-stroke TIA without some form of abnormality showing up with these tests, in medical terms I mean - as I don't know a great deal about them, is that all they look for?? rather than considering the physical/cognitive functioning.....I feel these symptoms have been brushed aside. The consultant also gave me some pictures to describe what was going on in them and asked me what shapes were in the pictures!!! and kept tapping my arms and legs with a prong thing, I could barely lift my left arm and leg!!
I had a huge blood clot in my abdomen that was diagnosed as "migraine " until one morning my left foot was black I couldn't lift my left arm and couldn't speak. I was rushed to hospital, left on a ward for 5 days with student doctors prodding my leg and listening for a pulse in my left foot. They very cleverly declared there wasn't a pulse. I was finally moved to another ward and at 6pm the consultant came in lifted the bed clothes over my legs and declared he might not be able to save my leg. I responded that since he'd left me for 5 days he'd better save my leg. I had a massive blood clot that had broken up gone down to behind the knee on the left leg and in the thigh of the right leg. A huge blood clot in the saddle and bits had gone to my brain. I had another massive stroke because of the travelling blood clot and it was said I caused the blood clot by being severely obese. I was 12 stone!! My left side is permanently weak. But that has been classified as "migraine" !!!!!. I will have nothing to do with the quackery that is going on now. I was on warfarin for 5 years. It transpires I should only have been on it for 3 years but I was forgotten. I threatened the Dr to write to the consultant I was stopping warfarin at the end of the month. I did stop it and went on to clopidogrel. So believe me I understand. Unless the quacks are hit in the face with what is wrong it is classified as "migraine"!!!
Hi RubyRed,
Yes I feel for you, been there and experienced what you have just described.....Lord knows how the young doctors are going to cope in the future,If they can't pick up a TIA/Stroke now how in the hell will they be able to expand on their experience base in becoming a "good" doctor...
If a computer isn't available to give them the answer the patient has had it and will be sent home with a "migraine"
Hi loretta,
Yep same as me with the exception of my chest pain, I always get that checked out as I have had little surprises here and there every now and then with my troponins, I've had 3 NSTEMI's even though one doctor has a question mark on the third one. I believe I've actually had 4 NSTEMI's but because our hospital has undertaken the new high sensitivity troponin testing he believes 14 is negative on first and repeat blood test...
As for the TIA symptoms and the slight damage it has caused I just don't worry about the TIA symptoms anymore as I'm like you...Migraine headache !!where do they pull that one from...I've never suffered even a headache in my life until was put on GTN for my Prinzmetal Angina and then Paracetamol takes care of that...go figure eh, some doctors are just a joke and they wonder why people get narky with them.
Hi Samuels
I feel so grim. On my discharge notes it says if it happens again to have complete bed rest - what if it isn't migraine and is a TIA/Stroke I could be dead, plus I've also read a couple of articles this evening that state a TIA/mini stroke doesn't show on a CT Scan....I'm completely baffled.
Hi Loretta
I feel for you too, it isn't right to be treated this way. If I wasn't in so much shock at the time & could have conjured up the words quick enough I would have had a few things to say. Dangerous situation to be in healthwise and yet laughable at the same time with disbelief.
I have had care call installed in my home. Should I have a mini or full stroke I just have to get my husband to press a red button and an ambulance will arrive in 15 minutes. It is a good thing to have. Your social services can arrange it through the council. It costs me £7. A week paid every 3 months
I'm truly very sorry to hear this Loretta, what a complete nightmare and disgraceful treatment, and they couldn't see what was right before their eyes?? How can you be left like that with all you've been through.
The issue here is when you're 'labelled' with something and it's on your medical records even if it's an incorrect diagnosis....we're stuck with it, so everything that follows gets attached to that label. Nobody knows what anyone else is doing because we're seen by so many different consultants I had to repeat the same thing about my symptoms/experience about 9+ times over and over. I just want to cry.