I have periodic Tia like attacks and the usual response in neurology is you are anticoagulated so can't be Tias.& If you have have so many without having a stroke they can't be Tias.I have AFib which changed to persistent in February.Last visit to a & e was beginning of march & by the time I got a telephone consultation with stroke clinic I had had a couple of months without so discharged with if they started again ask Gp to refer to neurology.Had paramedics out tonight as I was unable to raise left arm at all.All resolved in 15 mins so no point going to a&e.will contact gp tomorrow.
So could these be caused by the AFib.I had doplar etc in March ?
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Hi - anticoagulants lower your risk of stroke or TIA but they don’t eliminate the risk, the only way to know for sure is an MRI scan & they will only do that if physical exam indicates.
I’ve never heard of muscle weakness as a symptom of AF but anything is possible until proved otherwise in my book.
There are many conditions where the symptoms mimic stroke - I have one of them & when it kicks in I have one sided face drop, I can’t open my eyes or raise my arm above my head & I slur my words because my muscles just stop working which made diagnosis very difficult when I did have a TIA. I have to ensure that people know it’s not a stroke as it has freaked Paramedics & Docs out.
The way I knew it was different to my usual weakness was 1. I had a very strong smell which wasn’t there - olfactory hallucination which evidently is common 2. I felt very weird & disoriented 3. I ‘lost’ about 45 mins of time - I wasn’t asleep as I had someone with me but it was as if I had been. 4. According to my neighbour who took me to hospital my pallor was very odd - she knows what I look like when the other condition kicks in & knew immediately this was different.
If you have any more similar episodes do insist on a referral to Neurolgy.
It is scary when these things happen but hopefully it will be one of those unexplainable one off events.
A TIA is a stroke. It's just a mini-stroke and TIAs don't show up on an MRI. If it shows up, it is a stroke. I take Eliquis and the website says it's not 100% effective. If a blood thinner was 100%, they wouldn't give a test before you have procedures (TEE). If you are having symptoms, then you are on the right track to see a neurologist. Good luck!
But what tests before which procedure? TEE? Do you mean a TOE? US and UK tend to have different anachronism and procedures.
After CT scan which was done the same day to ensure I hadn’t had a major stroke my neurologist was informed and because I see him regularly anyway, ordered MRI scan because damage would show up. They found 2 small areas which he said were not of major concern but I had a follow up MRI about 6 months later.
The TIA was some years ago and I fully recovered within a few days and to my knowledge, not had any further incidents. I repeat for clarification - I wasn’t taking anticoagulants at the time of my TIA because I had ablation, was 12 months clear of AF and so persuaded my EP to agree to me stopping A/Cs. Well that was a big mistake.
Sorry not a one off.Has been happening since 2018.I have had Tias & had a blocked carotid artery cleared.Had scans & dollar in March.But they keep insisting can't be Tias as anticoagulant.
A quite rare condition called Myasthenia gravis - literally meaning extreme muscle weakness - diagnosed following my ablation as drugs and sedation used to treat AF exacerbated the condition. It started with Ptsosis - an inability to open eyelids, progressed downward so that now any muscle can be affected but affects eyes, face muscles, bulbar muscles, neck and arms usually. Interestingly about one third of Myasthenics tend to have arrhythmia. For some reason my left side is affected far more than right side but can be one or both sides of body affected.
The condition is caused by a lack of actecycholine - a neurotransmitter - which sends messages from the nerves - which doesn't get through to the muscles because the body's antibodies attack the receptors at the muscle end. When you expect a muscle to work and it just doesn't its an odd sensation. I usually get warning because I will tire so cannot do repetitive actions.
It's VERY hard to get a diagnosis as most doctors have never seen a case. My GP had never seen a case in 43 years of practice, thankfully my now GP has dealt with it in hospital. You need a specialist neurologist to diagnose. It took me seeing 5 Consultants before I got a diagnosis.
After 7 years I have become what they call medically stable so that Mg doesn't often interfere with average day to day activities but I need to be very careful to pace myself and am exercise intolerant so 90 secs of intense activity is my max - then I need to rest.
35 years ago my friend's daughter was diagnosed with Myasthenia Gravis at a very young age (15), after seeing lots of drs, specialists etc her mother jokingly said "and she can't whistle any more!" - quite by chance the specialist had been to a conference a few weeks before where it was mentioned that whistling became difficult if a person had Myasthenia Gravis!
I’ve never been able to whistle. I think I’ve probably had aMg so since my 20’s but never symptomatic enough to be a problem. It is thought it’s underdiagnosed. Thankfully treatments have improved since the 1970’s.
Thanks and I'm sorry you have this - glad that you're now stable.
This has thrown up questions for me. I was like this at 26 (GP diagnosed"stress"), severely weak, crawling upstairs, and in lots of pain but eventually recovered - to an extent - and have been managing symptoms all my life. I have, though, had times where I would say I was 'in remission' where I'd be stronger, even able to go to the gym and for long walks (but needing more recovery time than 'normal' people, and unable to have a long walk and then a full days work and evening out next day, for instance). I've had all kinds of complementary therapies over the years and one osteopath said I had M.E. I even trained in one therapy myself that helped to manage my energy levels, pain and weakness. In recent years I've had odd things happen where my legs just give way, and walking became difficult a few years ago. I can walk but it's often a struggle as if I have to force my legs to move. Then came a swallowing issue. It used to be that my neck, shoulders and arms were most affected but now it seems to be hips and legs.
I thought if it was Mg or anything like that it would be diagnosed, and it wasn't. so looked at other things - I do have an autoimmune disorder, I researched myself, got tested and was right - and settled also on Pernicious Anaemia. I have had improvement to a point with B12 injections, but due to the abysmal testing and lack of knowledge about that, I have never been completely sure if that's really the underlying issue, or if the injections just help whatever the issue actually is.
Symptoms & experience sound very similar to my lifetime symptoms but I wasn’t diagnosed until my symptoms were exacerbated by Bera Blockers and sedatives during ablation.
Because it’s supposedly so rare doctors don’t consider it. Contact Myaware for information on the different types of Myasthenia & how they are diagnosed very differently. There are very few specialists competent to make a clinical diagnosis.
Thanks.I had a very bad reaction to a betablocker - never took another.
I've reported my symptoms repeatedly but this has never been suggested. In fact in primary care they just ignore. I don't know if I do have it but will certainly look into it further.
Not one off for me.Been having them for years.first referral to Tia clinic insistence seizures.a few tests no evidence.then I suppose we should do a doplar.At this scan I was told not to go home and had a carotid endarterectomy within a week. when they started again diagnosis migraine although no other migraine symptoms.3 in 7 days in March .tests & referral to stroke clinic.Telephone consultation definitely not stroke but not sure what.As I had had no attacks in 4 months agreed to discharge & Gp to contact neurology for referral.Back on the merry go round.
Sorry, I was responding to the OP. I don't spend much time here and it's sad because I know there is a lot of good info. but I am in the US and don't understand about half of what is written. lol Here is the online definition of a TEE. "A transesophageal echocardiogram (TEE) is a special type of echocardiogram. It is usually done when your doctor wants to look more closely at your heart to see if it could be producing blood clots. Like an echocardiogram, the TEE uses high-frequency sound waves (ultrasound) to examine the structures of the heart."
Please don't let the fact that the USA and the the UK use different abbreviations deter you from visiting here! Many people from the UK who are new to the forum don't know either, which is why a 'pinned' post was made available to help. Look at
Most internet medical sites are American so they will adhere to the American spellings of diseases / hormones / organs not the British ones. In Britain the procedure is TOE because of the "o" in oesophagus. In America TEE because they do not have that "o". Mostly the spellings are the same but this is one of the exceptions.
Yes we know that oesphagus has the O missing in US. Another good one is EKG and I have never understood why you spell cardiogram with a k. lol Echo Cardiogram ergo ECG. but heh who cares if we understand.
I may be going the wrong direction , but trapped nerves in neck can affect limb movement. I have 2 bulging discs ( I did not know at the time) which caused me a problem with raising arm all they way once, but it went on for months. The nerve at C-4 and C-5 were being trapped on right side which caused the problem. One of the symptoms was a sort of tingling on the shoulder a bit like pins and needles but more vague, it's there somewhere but you can't tell quite where it is as though it is moving around.
I have no experience of TIAs but I think you are doing the right thing in going back to your GP so that you can have more investigation; my late mother had several TIAs, each with different symptoms (these were not all together); blindness in one eye, unable to read the time, unable to make sense of print, confusion to name a few. She didn't mention difficulty in moving her limbs but that could have been because she was in her late 90s and had some difficulty moving in any case. She had AF but chose not to take anticoagulants and her GP agreed. Please let us know how you get on with your GP.
I’m on Coumadin and have had two TIA’s and a stroke, I’m ok. Both TIA’s were in my left eye. First one a gray curtain went across eye, the second one was a bright light and circle with blue around it and lasted around 15minutes. The stroke, my left arm felt numb and tingly. ER doctors said to keep my INR at 2.5 - 3.5 and to take aspirin every day.
Aspirin causes stomach ache, I’ve tried to take it several times, but just can’t take it. I’ve wondered why this happened since I’m on Coumadin. Scary!
Thanks I guess you are not from the UK.I looked up Coumadin & it is warfarin. Most people in the UK have been switched to Noac .They are not supposed to need monitoring & dose adjusting.. so I wonder how they know they are working.I do hope you are ok now if not you have to make a noise.
In on anticoagulants and had a TIA a few months ago. I suspect the anticoagulants helped prevent it from tipping into a worse event. My cholesterol was far too high, so now on statins, more exercise and improved diet. Hoping next cholesterol test will continue to show improvement.
Sorry not being selfish and not wanting to rude.This has moved so far off my original question.I would still appreciate comments on my question but I will have to switch off getting notifications & check manually.
I had a very small Tia about 6 months ago, at least that’s what they think it was. No symptoms showed up on CT scan, no blockage in neck, blood tests all clear. I was on Rivaroxaban at the time, which they changed to Edoxaban after that. I had no headache, tingling or numbness. Was in the swimming pool at the time, and had stopped for a min, looked down and didn’t know whether the arm I was looking at was mine. Couldn’t touch my nose or open my locker. Got the bus home ok. Who knows!
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