Mini stroke?

[Mom2izzy]

I've seen "mini stroke" on these forums multiple times, both as a pre-surgery symptom and post surgery complication. What is a mini stroke? What does it feel like? And how do you know if you have/had one?

 

[chaconne]

I've heard it described as a small blood clot that goes to the brain causing temporary disabilites such as loss of vision or feeling on one side. The symptoms go away over time and therefore are characterized as "mini". One week after surgery I had half of the vision in my right eye blocked for about 12 hours. I still have a small blind spot in the right eye as a leftover. I think this event can be categorized as a mini stroke of a sort. I felt nothing other than blocked vision for a few hours.

 

[yotphix]

"A transient ischemic attack (TIA for short) and stroke are very similar. In fact, a TIA is also known as a transient stroke, or "mini-stroke." The difference between a TIA and stroke comes down to timing. By definition, a stroke produces symptoms that last for at least 24 hours. A TIA produces symptoms that improve after a shorter period of time (usually within 30 minutes)."

From: http://stroke.emedtv.com/stroke/tia-and-stroke.html

 

[Ovie]

I too have read about these mini strokes on here. Are they common?

 

[Shirley Dickey]

I had a TIA 2 days after having a heart cath.I lost vision and all movement on left side of my body , and found it very difficult to focus or comprehende simple instructions very fast. Was taken to hospital and spent 3 days doing test and then released, I had made a full recovery within 8-10 hours after the onset of the TIA, but also found out I was very low on potassium that required me to have an IV of potassium. they are very painful.
Shirley

 

[D.C.]

I had a tia a few days after I got home. Went blind in my right eye for about 5 minutes(no pain). I think I called the Dr. and ended up back in the hospital for 6 more days. They thought about going back in to have a look for possible loose tissue let behind. In a room with surgeon, cardiologist and about 10 techs doing an echo can scare the crap out of a person(more that the surgery). But after a few days they came to the conclusion it was a small clot.
Was having problems getting my INR right and was being advised my the local people that didn't have a clue. Talked to different people every day. Got that straightened out after that and the Dr's office in the city I had my surgery now takes care of my INR. I do home test now, but they talk to me every time.

 

[AgilityDog]

I had a TIA 3 days after starting coumadin for my a-fib, right after initial diagnoses, before my first surgery. It is common in early anticoagulation for a clot to loosen. Symptoms were tingling, numbness of face, difficulty speaking, confusion. Lasted about 5 minutes, with numbness lingering about an hour. I called an ambulance ASAP I knew what was going on.
My own fault. I had a dog show that weekend, and since my entire diagnoses came pretty much out of the blue, I was too stunned to agree to check into the hospital for lovenox shots as the cardio first suggested. Doctor had just had a patient die, so he didn't have time to sit with me and work through it. He WARNED me, though.

I wound up in the hospital that weekend anyway. Duh.

 

[bbuck]

I just had a "mini stroke" two nights ago. My right arm went to sleep.. .for approx. 3 hours. I had no strength in my arm at all, couldnt squeeze the doctors fingers. My wife called the cardiac hospital where I intend on having my AVR and they bumped up my consult to this week coming up instead of the following week. I'm guessing they think its important. I know it scared the hell outa me.
It also brought on a barrage of tests, and frankly, I'm over being at the doctors/ hospital and I havent even had surgery yet!
But as far as the mini strokes are concerned, apparently they are a warning sign, so if you are having them, you need to get checked out asap. I do believe that the symptoms very from person to person tho, so I'd do some research on them and or TIA's.

 

[SusQ]

Hubby (bbuck) had his carotid ultrasound and head MRI this a.m. Good news! No blockages and his MRI was clear. Woohoo!

But, we still no idea if it was a mini stroke, or a pinched nerve or what. Not sure if we'll ever know exactly what it was, but it's great to know that his arteries and veins all around are clear. I keep joking that his love of Miracle Whip and butter all these years have kept anything from sticking to his arterial walls. You have to laugh when you can.

 

[Julian]

TIA, Mini Stroke, Stroke I hate these things! I don't think I've had any of these but I fear that I may have one once in awhile. I've noticed several times waking up in the middle of the night not being able to feel my arms or arm because they were numb and sometimes I couldn't even move them like I would swing em' around like dead weight almost. After about 10 seconds I would start getting feeling back in the arm or arms. I truly think my limbs just feel asleep and were deprived circulation for too long while I was asleep and that's what led to such a severe symptom but its things like these that make you go hmmm.... I really didn't have issues like this before surgery so I wonder why my limbs are "falling asleep" so quickly now.

I would like to make a new category of TIA's called min TIA's. It seems like many people after heart surgery experience some kind of mini stroke after surgery. I want to go as far as saying that 50% of people experience some kind of stroke symptom in the first year after surgery but this number is not counted only full blown strokes are counted which is why the percentage is relatively low. Since surgery I've had some weird things happen with my vision and my body that I just can't explain. Thank God I have no lasting effects now being 6 months post op but sheesh.

 

[dcc617]

(why did I read this string with less than 2 weeks to go?) Ei yi yi

 

[Julian]

As an update I just got off the treadmill and noticed when looking at my cell phone that the text looked a little wavy like it would bend slightly and only in my right eye. I just thought it was moisture on the screen and made the images look slightly distorted. After I got on the computer and noticed that it was my vision and not moisture on the screen. I started to feel panicky for a bit, now about a half hour later it seems to have almost went away. The change in vision was very subtle but still noticeable, scary crap and the "what if" feeling makes it 10x's worse. Could if be small blood clot effecting the brain or eye directly? Yes. Could if be a "silent" migraine causing vision distortion? Yes. Could it be just extra moisture in the right eye? Yes.

All this right after posting on this thread just 2 hours before LOL.

Oy Vey!

 

[Ovie]

(why did I read this string with less than 2 weeks to go?) Ei yi yi

I hear ya. I immediately regret reading this thread. :x

 

[Lynlw]

TIA, Mini Stroke, Stroke I hate these things! I don't think I've had any of these but I fear that I may have one once in awhile. I've noticed several times waking up in the middle of the night not being able to feel my arms or arm because they were numb and sometimes I couldn't even move them like I would swing em' around like dead weight almost. After about 10 seconds I would start getting feeling back in the arm or arms. I truly think my limbs just feel asleep and were deprived circulation for too long while I was asleep and that's what led to such a severe symptom but its things like these that make you go hmmm.... I really didn't have issues like this before surgery so I wonder why my limbs are "falling asleep" so quickly now.

I would like to make a new category of TIA's called min TIA's. It seems like many people after heart surgery experience some kind of mini stroke after surgery. I want to go as far as saying that 50% of people experience some kind of stroke symptom in the first year after surgery but this number is not counted only full blown strokes are counted which is why the percentage is relatively low. Since surgery I've had some weird things happen with my vision and my body that I just can't explain. Thank God I have no lasting effects now being 6 months post op but sheesh.

I'm curious where you came up with this number 50%. If you've read that somewhere i'd like to read it because, that seems really really high to me. I know hundreds of people who've had all kinds of heart surgeries, some of the most complex there are with their hearts pretty much being rebuilt, and its pretty rare to hear of any of them having even mini stroke like symptons, even after multiple REDOs. Maybe it would be higher for some surgeries or meds, but IF I was getting ready for surgery I wouldn't go into it thinking my chances of having even a small clot or TIA are that high, I doubt even 25% of people having OHS have symptons like a stroke or TIA - from my experiences in life, family members or close friends or hanging around heart boards for a decade.

 

[escargome]

I would agree with Lyn. I believe that 50% is way high. I had AVR, my husband had triple bypass and many individuals whom we both know via social and work environments have had heart surgery of some type and have never experienced any type of stroke or TIA symptoms. I do however get an occasional visual migrane, but I can say without a doubt that since my surgery, my migranes have gone from at least two full blown episodes a week to maybe one visual aura in a year. So try not to worry to much.

 

[markp66]

There is definitely a higher rate of stroke after the first year. Many surgeons have told me this. This is why many people, even after tissue valves take warfarin for 3 months post op. A-fib is common after surgery when your heart is healing. However, my surgeon and other surgeons I've spoken to said that the risk after surgery is about 1-3% in the post op year. This then goes down considerably- 0.5-1.5% from then on. Obviously this goes up depending on age but it does in non cardiac patients too.

Feeling dizzy, lightheaded, headaches etc is also because the body is recovering and I'm sure many people have these symptoms after surgery. So yes, I agree with Julian, many people probably have had stroke like symptoms but this in no way means it's down to an embolism etc. As lyn said, I don't think anybody would go ahead with surgery otherwise!

 

[Julian]

Yikes sorry about the 50% stat. I was just proposing that we should have a "mini TIA" category not severe enought to be a TIA but still scay ass hell. I ment to say that I'm sure many people 1st year post op experience stroke like symptoms that never get the official title. And BTW im not really like the new browser in android ice cream i cant select words to correct when i mispell them. Oh andy wavy vision issue from last night has seemed to have been resolved.

 

[Julian]

My gosh my previous post was all whacked out im not liking android icecream sandwich right now at all.

 

[yotphix]

Hi Julian,

I wonder if what you describe as 'wavy vision' might just be some version of visual migraine, which is relatively common in the months after a valve surgery? For me, it's usually a sort of vibrating pattern of checkerboards. I had it before the surgery on a fairly regular basis, but the episodes just post surgery lasted for hours instead of the usual 20 minutes. I've since returned to my old pattern of them.
Another post recently described a numbness in one hand which was almost certainly a result of some impingement on the ulnar nerve during surgery, but could also be mistake for a 'stroke symptom'.

 

[Mom2izzy]

(why did I read this string with less than 2 weeks to go?) Ei yi yi

Yeah..regretting asking the question...