Newbie here, TIA last weekend, none of the usual FAST symptoms at all, ended up two nights in hospital MRI confirmed TIA, very little after effects other than slight weakness in left arm and lack of fine motor skills in left hand evidenced by terrible typing , which takes an age to correct. Follow up with the Consultant in 8 weeks after some other heart tests and a visit from a physio. The hospital staff were all absolutely brilliant. I am grateful that it wasn’t worse and the future remains positive. I’m a fit 69 year old and hope to get back into exercise again, but it is a worry.
How do you know if you’ve had a TIA I’m sure I have but I can’t go through that hospital torture again it made me really stressed and quite angry. I speak my mind when I’m backed into a corner and I think I managed to piss everyone on the nursing power team. Telling me “ im so clever for washing my face was a comment too far. Inside I was screaming and was devastated and heartbroken and here I was locked on a ward with very poorly people who for the most part were dementia sufferers it’s hard to have empathy and help someone when smearing the contents of their pad all over the ward, and the nursing staff have retreated into an office and won’t open the door the poor nursing assistants were working their socks off and were brilliant people doing a thankless job while being talked to like they were a lower class of human by [quote=“DerekF, post:1, topic:28560, full:true”]
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Newbie here, TIA last weekend, none of the usual FAST symptoms at all, ended up two nights in hospital MRI confirmed TIA, very little after effects other than slight weakness in left arm and lack of fine motor skills in left hand evidenced by terrible typing , which takes an age to correct. Follow up with the Consultant in 8 weeks after some other heart tests and a visit from a physio. The hospital staff were all absolutely brilliant. I am grateful that it wasn’t worse and the future remains positive. I’m a fit 69 year old and hope to get back into exercise again, but it is a worry.
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nurses that got into the job by getting a degree and never had a day on a ward actually doing the work that gives them the experience they need to communicate and the know how of what a person is inside the broken body work. They don’t hold hands with the scared old lady who has no idea what has happened to her and is scared to death of dying with no chance of seeing her family possibly ever again. They look at the people and you hear “ I’m not wiping arses that’s not my job, when I was a nurse was a very important part of my job, my staff nurses had me changing beds for weeks until I got it right. They told me I had when I chatted to the person who’s bed I was changing. And don’t get me started on changing pads and using bed pans that’s a whole other conversation. They don’t take into the fact that inside the broken non functioning bodywork is a strong woman who was riding a seriously naughty motorbike a week ago and regularly sits with a large group of locals and matches them pint for pint, don’t call me bloody sweetheart I’m not building a Lego castle I’m trying to figure out an escape route.
Anyway that’s me having a rant but I do have massive respect and real love for the assistant staff they are the salt to our earth.
I hate being like this and I will damned we’ll fight it to the very end of my life.
And if anyone ever asks my husband if I can stand going through the customs search I swear to god I’ll punch them.
Hi Derek-- As you are able–regular repetition of activities is what’s needed to bring back strength and motor skills.–even when it’s hard to do. It’s good you’re having some heart tests. I saw a cardiologist after my stroke, and they put a heart holter monitor on me. It picked up afib, that had caused the stroke. I had been totally unaware I had afib. So now that is being treated with a medicationl I’m sorry you had a TIA, but you have come to a great place. These folks on the forum have a wealth of personal experience . They have helped me a lot. Welcome. Jeanne
You’re first question about knowing if it is a TIA - I felt odd, was a little imbalanced and missed my footing on some steps and my left hand was tingly and I dropped some things, fortunately nothing important… They were my symptoms, which I explained lots of times to various hospital staff through various assessments. That led to a CT scan and then an MRI. The consultant would not or could not confirm it was a TIA until he had seen the results of the MRI. I’m sorry that you have had such a poor experience and I think it’s OK to rant, but would probably be best to try and stay calm with those that may be trying to help you. Be angry at the stroke and the situation rather than the people in front of you. It can be very upsetting. The hospital staff for me were absolutely fantastic although it can be upsetting on the ward when there are others that had clearly suffered more severely than me, but I recognised that I should be grateful and patient, calm and take one step at a time. All the best to you for the future, Derek
@DerekF welcome to the forum. Sorry to hear of your TIA but glad it hasn’t had too bad an impact on you. I had a stroke which left me with left sided weakness. I did lots of exercises like taking pegs off side of tub ,& putting them back on again & sorting out jigsaw puzzle pieces & thankfully got the fine motor skills in my hand back quite quickly. Still working on getting strength back in arm & leg is taking longer. Good luck for your recovery. This is a great forum for advice.
Thank you for your welcome, sorting jigsaws sounds good, I’m also trying to convince my wife that I should buy some more Lego Technic, which I am into, as well as being an amateur fountain pen restorer.
@DerekF, welcome to our community. I was a relatively, robust forty-four year old when I had six TIAs and a multilateral, bifocal cerebellar stroke in 2020. Ninety percent of the time, most of us don’t acknowledge we are using our brain until stroke strikes, or smites. After that, how we use our brain everyday becomes a focal point. I hope you are being gentle to yourself, and pre-planning plans.
Thank you for the welcome, I am grateful it wasn’t worse I’m a pretty fit 69 year old, not sure I could cope as well as a lot of people here are, impressive and humbling.
Hi Derek sorry to hear about your tia yes it frightening but it can be overcome at least you know what causes them I’ve had four and I don’t know what causes mine I’ve had the holter rest and my cartoriod artery checked getting no answers from tia clinic nor any joy from gp no doubt it will happen again afraid that I might have a major stroke perhaps I get answers then just keep positive and do exercises or legs to keep brian rewiring go at a slower pace brian needs a rest also
Hi all
Im new to this forum. I had a stroke six months ago and although I have recovered fairly well physically I still have a few problems with my balance and need a nap most days! @DerekF Lego sounds good for fine motor skills but I will keep to building it with my granddaughter at her house so her mother can cope with the bits on the floor.0.
Shwmae @FionaB1, welcome to the forum, and sorry to hear you have had a stroke. A lego brick on a bare foot is a hazardous thing indeed, but I have also come to the conclusion that every hoover bag of every household that has lego, must contain at least one or two pieces.
Welcome, I am a fan of Technic Lego and amazed at how clever the designers and developers are to create what they do. I am selfishly using my TIA as a justification to my wife for buying more !!
Thankyou for the welcome. I agree colouring is fun and I enjoy knitting and on line jigsaws - we have a cat who would probably just scatter the pieces of a real one all over the place1
Hi Fiona–I’m orry you had to experience a stroke. But you’re sure not alone. According to the World Stroke Organization, one in four people over the age of 25 will have a stroke in their lifetime and almost 14 million world-wide will have a stoke this year. So, there’s lots of us out there, and there are many good people on this website willing to answer questions and give support. I hope you’ll stay in contact. Jeanne
I’m sorry to hear your stories @FionaB1 and @DerekF . It sounds like you are recovering well and I hope it continues!
I am 34 and I had cerebellar stroke 5 weeks ago cause by vertebral artery dissection. While I regained motor skills and coordination within 2 weeks, I still suffer from balance issues and dizziness like you @FionaB1 . My physio is thinking of some excersises i can do to improve it. I can forward it to you once I have any info if you like?
Thank you @magdalenacz I would be most interested to see the exercises although as I had my stroke nearly 6 months ago now I expect any progress I make to be slower now
Jeanne
Jeanne