An eastern Alabama man recently sat down for dinner and suddenly couldn't speak. Minutes later, his symptoms were gone.
For Anthony Noles of Valley, Alabama, a stroke came calling in the middle of saying grace one night,
"During the prayer, my words became slurred. I couldn't seem to pronounce my words fully. And I just kind of rambled on," said Noles. "That worried me…because that was totally different from anything I'd experienced before."
Noles made it through the prayer and then called a friend to drive him to the emergency room.
"From there, they ran all the tests of my brain, and they actually found the constrictions in the vessel," said Noles.
Noles' symptoms went away after a few minutes, but his doctor sent him to Emory neurologist and stroke specialist Dr. Fadi Nahab, who said that Noles was having a kind-of mini stroke. It's called a transient ischemic attack (TIA).
"You basically have a blood clot that is going up to a particular artery in the brain, and what it does is it blocks blood flow," said Nahab.
The symptoms of a TIA are the same as a stroke. They come on suddenly:
You may experience - numbness, tingling, weakness - vision problems - confusion - difficulty speaking - balance problems - severe headache
The symptoms last 10-20 minutes and then go away as clot dissolves.
"It's a warning sign," said Nahab.
TIA is often a tremor that comes before a major stroke hits. So, even if you feel better, you're still in danger.
"The most important thing with a TIA is understanding what caused that TIA. Was it a severely narrowed artery in the brain? Was it a narrowed artery in the neck? Was it a heart problem," said Nahab.
If a TIA is treated early, that can reduce your risk of a full-blown stroke by as much as 80 percent. So Nahab says treat a TIA like an emergency, even if it doesn't feel like one.
"The highest risk for developing a stroke after a TIA is often times within that first week. So you don't have much time when it comes to that. You really need to get that urgent evaluation," said Nahab.
Noles now considers his mini-stroke as a blessing in disguise. He's had no lasting damage, takes medication to lower his stroke risk and has lost 30 pounds. He says pay attention when your body sends you signals.
The bottom line, if you experience a TIA, you need to get medical help, even if the symptoms go away. If you do have a blockage, you may need surgery, or stenting to reopen the blood vessel, or you may be able to take medication and make some lifestyle changes to lower your stroke risk.
Monday, June 17 2013 10:08 AM EDT2013-06-17 14:08:03 GMT
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