Small vessel disease

Hello

I am male and 56 years old. Late 2021 I had a brief incident that lasted only a matter of minutes where my vision went double. As I stood up I collapsed to floor as I was spinning. After a visit to hospital I undertook various tests all of which were clear except for the Brain mri which shows moderate to severe microangiopathy. This condition , they say , is the reason for the mini stroke , tIa that they have diagnosed based on the clinical symptoms. With normal bp , no diabetes etc I am told this is probably genetic. I wondered if this is familiar to other folks on this forum? Also with the threat of further TIAs and strokes going forward does anyone have a tip with how to get in the right mind set to deal with that. Feels like a major game changer in life to have had this but the fear of more serious consequences is quite concerning. Any advise would be appreciated.

Thanks

Hi @Welclose sorry to hear you’ve been diagnosed with a condition which may lead to repeated TIAs.

I don’t have any experience with microangiopathy so can’t offer anything constructive in that regard, sorry about that.

We all live with the uncertainty of whether we’ll have another stroke/TIA, as a stroke/TIA can strike anyone whether they be young, old, fit etc.

My advice would be don’t dwell too much on the fear, do all you can to look after yourself, look at your diet and make improvements if you can, take any meds you’ve been prescribed regularly, exercise/move your body but most importantly live your life, enjoy your friends, family and loved ones.

We’re here if you need a friendly ear to chat with or support if you need to talk.

Some others on this forum may have experienced the same condition you have and I’m sure they offer their support.

Best wishes, take care

@Welclose welcome to the forum. I echo all that @Mahoney has said. As difficult as it is you should try not to worry & try to keep your stress levels down. Anyone is at risk of serious illness at any point the only difference is they don’t know about it. Live healthily & live your life as best you can.
Best wishes.

Ann

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Thank you for your message which is much appreciated.

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Agreed. Thank you. Good advise.

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As the others have said ā€œWelcomeā€ its a good bunch for support & morale boosting.
Advice on less common causes is often hard to come by. You could try the ukabif, there may be folk here or in Different Strokes face book group or try PatientsLikeMe.com - its us based and the ā€˜cost’ of joining is they aggregate the info for research
A uk one that says it gives you access to your own records but I’ve not tried yet is patientsknowbest.com

There are more listed on The 20 Best Alternatives to PatientsLikeMe - I don’t know how reliable it is but for rare conditions I’d look

Thank you very much for the info and links.