TIA & Aneurysm Questions

[smpennington]

Hi Everyone
Its been a very long time since I posted.. I think I may even have had to get a new user name since its been so long.
Brief history. I had a BAV replaced with a tissue in 2005. I am young (31 ) and otherwise healthy.

Last week I experienced something odd, my head felt like it was being pulled to the ground by a magnet, and then my face, tongue and teeth on the left side went numb. It all went away in a matter of 3-4 minutes. I went to the doctors and they ordered a bunch of test, and sent me home with paperwork on TIA.

My question is: Have you ever had a TIA? If so, what were your symptoms? Also, did they find out why you had it in the first place?

Second, I have read that there is a significant correlation between people who have BAV and brain aneurysms. Have you ever been diagnosed as having an aneurysm in your brain? If so, how are they treating it?

Thanks again for all your support and feedback. I really appreciate it.

 

[olefin]

Hi,

Yes, I had several TIA's for the first 2 or 3 months after AVR. My symptoms... one eye had a "window shade" effect that covered over half of the eye. It was like someone had dimmed the lights. Only lasted for a minute or so. My cardio said it was probably from AVR surgery.

I can't answer your second question.

 

[Duff Man]

I'm pretty sure I've had at least one TIA... it felt like the entire left side of my head and some of my arm was tingling. To this day I have reduced sensation on my left side. No doctor was able to say for certain that I had one, but they sent me home with the TIA/Stroke pamphlets too.

I have factor v leiden, so that complicates what it could've been caused by but I have a BAV and an aneurysm too. I personally think the aneurysm allows blood to stagnate in it, making a ripe environment for clots. I do know that abdominal aneurysms tend to promote clot and sore formation in the legs, so it stands to reason an ascending aneurysm would promote the same in the head

I'm having an MRI of my brain soon... i'll let you know if it shows an aneurysm.

 

[Freddie]

According to my cardiologist, I did experience a TIA. The store went spinning, legs got weak and had to grab a near by shelving unit, left side of my face felt numb. The spinning only lasted a minute or so and my legs also recovered in that same time frame. I went to the ER 50 minutes after all this began to happen. The numbness in the face lasted over 2 hours. MRI was taken and came back negative and I was told by the ER Doctor all of this was probably due to dehydration and sent me on my way after 5 hours - it was only 22C (71F) on that day and my INR was 2.2. The ER Doc did not call my cardio.

 

[smpennington]

Thanks for your replies. I am scheduled for a MRI & MRA, CT scan and echo. I am so close to just canceling the mri, cause I feel like its a complete waste of money. I have really bad insurance and I will probably pay for all of it. I know that money should not be the only factor, but I guess I feel like the likelihood of them actually finding anything is slim anyway.. I am not sure what to do at this point.

Shannon

 

[normofthenorth]

First, I think a brain CT or an MRI is probably plenty. (I don't even know what an MRA is!)

MOST of my medical team when I was in the hospital believed I had a TIA, and I now think so, too. Maybe 3 night in the hospital, I woke up around midnight feeling retarded. When I started imagining myself pushing the button and telling the nurse what my problem was, I couldn't find the words to form a coherent sentence! So I lay there for a while racking my brain for words, until I "scripted" a sentence to explain myself. The first nurse asked me some simple questions, which I could answer. The second nurse, more experienced, asked me some harder questions -- like could I spell "WORLD" backwards, which was a huge struggle.

I had no other symptoms or discomfort, just the lost IQ points. An hour later, I buzzed to report that I felt all better. The experienced nurse asked me to spell "WORLD" backwards, which was no problem. Then she joked that she should probably ask me to spell "MISSISSAUGA" (a local city) backwards, which I then managed to do!!

I'd just started taking Metoprolol a few hours earlier, so I thought it was a drug interaction. But they kept me on the Metoprolol for the rest of my stay in the hospital, with no more incidents. A brain CT "found nothing" . I was kind of pleased to get the brain CT, despite the significant radiation dose, because of the recent study finding a high correlation between BAV and detectable aneurysms.

The team concluded that it was probably a TIA, though just before I was discharged, the resident Cardio (not a "team player") said "This was no TIA!" and removed the prescription for Metoprolol from my discharge kit! I was put back on it 2 weeks later after I had a bout of A-fib and high HR. Still no more incidents, and I dropped the Metoprolol recently, after a 48-hour Holter exam showed no A-fib.