initial treatment for t.i.a.: having had a... - Different Strokes

Different Strokes

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initial treatment for t.i.a.

2stroke profile image
20 Replies

having had a t.i.a. were you given (a) aspirin

(b)thrombolitic medication (clot buster)

i went to hospital and did not get these!!!. have you???

have we missed out on proper medical treatment???

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2stroke profile image
2stroke
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20 Replies
Wittycjt profile image
Wittycjt

Are you in the US? If so they have protocols they follow if you come to the hospital with stroke symptoms within a six hour window from onset of symptoms and you are still symptomatic. I need a little more information to answer your question, Cindy in NJ

2stroke profile image
2stroke in reply toWittycjt

UNFORTUNATELY NO, IM IN THE U.K. SOUTH WALES. CYMRU AM BYTH.

THE ONLY PLACE TO GET A CWTCH.

Wittycjt profile image
Wittycjt in reply to2stroke

Cwtch?

2stroke profile image
2stroke in reply toWittycjt

A NICE CUDDLY HUG IN WALES.

GIVES THAT WARMTH LOVING FEELING.

A HUG IN ENGLAND. A CWTCH IN WALES.

EffieGee profile image
EffieGee in reply to2stroke

Can't even get one of those 2stroie! I'm in S Wales too and very disappointed with lack of medical care.

EffieGee profile image
EffieGee in reply toEffieGee

I saw an out of hours doctor and she prescribed amlodipine to lower BP. I decided to take aspirin just in case and seems like it's just as well I did.

oldman1952 profile image
oldman1952 in reply toEffieGee

Hi EffieGee, I feel sorry for you at the moment because nobody has informed you or given you an explanation regarding what you have had. However you might have been in some amount of shock and not have heard what if anything the doctors told you at the time of your TIA.

Let me give you a quick run through regarding the difference between TIA and Stroke.

TIA (Transient Ischemic Attack) is where a very, very small vessel in the middle of the brain either ruptures and a small amount of blood invades the brain tissue causing you some problems. Maybe blacking out for a few seconds, going dizzy or having a headache that lasts for a few minutes to a day. The other TIA is a small clot in one of the same vessels which swells and damages a couple of mm of brain tissue. Symptoms are mainly the same but as your blood pressure is reduced so does the vessels reduce back to the correct size and because the clot is so, so small that the body absorbs the fluid naturally or the brain cells that have died will not continue to affect you. You not need clot busting drugs.

Stroke on the other hand is very serious and needs urgent and immediate attention from a doctor that has been specially trained in post stroke protocols. There is what they call the window of opportunity, a 2 hour period that can reverse what has happened and in 95 % of stroke patients have a near full recovery. Here is the problem that you have picked up some really bad information from somebody that knows little about the human body or the treatment of strokes.

If you were to give a person thrombolysis with out giving them a CT scan you can kill them because if the person that has had the stroke has had a bleed and not an aneurysm the artery would not stop bleeding and there would not be anywhere for the blood to go to.

Treatment for a stroke in any shape or form is a stent. A wire is threaded through the jugular vein in the neck and is tracked to where is either the aneurysm or accident is. If there is a clot it is suctioned out by a very small bore cannula. Once the site has been cleansed a small piece of wire is inserted and a hollow tube with a mesh is slipped into place before the injured vessel and after the injured vessel. This stays insitu so that the blood can continue to flow. The stroke patient is closely monitored and if needed gets a specialist stroke rehabilitation team to continue to follow the patient until they are as fit as they are going to get in hospital and then the rehab continues into the community.

That is why you did not have any invasive treatment because with TIA's 99'9% of the time there is no lasting effects. Hope they gave you a little incite into TIA and Stroke. Regards Oldman1952

EffieGee profile image
EffieGee in reply tooldman1952

Thanks! That's kind of you.

EffieGee profile image
EffieGee in reply toEffieGee

You're right, nothing has been explained by any of the doctors. I have beeen reading up and joined various forums and that's where I got to learn about it. As you say, there is bad information out there and I've found much contradictory information too. I have a feeling that it's a stroke, rather than a TIA, though obviously I hope it's the latter. I had a CAT scan on Wednesday. Hopefully the consultant will let me know the result as soon as possible rather than waiting for an appointment in January. Unless what I'm experiencing is side effects of medication. I did phone the consultant about these physical symptoms on Thursday but he batted me off to the GP, whose next available appointment is next Thursday. I am trying to be proactive and positive but it's hard going. The best support I've had is from a self referral to the Stroke Association. I appreciate your reply.

2stroke profile image
2stroke

Wittycjt.

HOW MANY HOURS BEHIND US ARE YOU IN USA. ITS 1.22 AM HERE, IM UP LATE.

2stroke profile image
2stroke

Wittycjt.

I think its 1 hour per 15 degrees.on the globe.

Wittycjt profile image
Wittycjt in reply to2stroke

It’s right now 9:35 pm

EffieGee profile image
EffieGee

No, it wasn't diagnosed for 3 weeks, then clopidogrel was prescribed. I'm having after effects, or side effects from the med, can't get much he!p with it from doctors

2stroke profile image
2stroke in reply toEffieGee

EffieGee. I was advised to take them in the evening,so they take effect while im asleep.

I used to feel light headed when i took them in the morning.

EffieGee profile image
EffieGee

Thanks, this dizzyness and nausea is murder! I stopped amlodipine after 3 weeks as my BP had stabilised. It was the same readings on the drug and off the drug and there were bad side effects so my gp stopped it. I'm just on clopidogrel now and feel as bad. Yesterday I found a good YT channel by The TBI Coach and have started to practise anti dizzy and nausea techniques.

XsarnX profile image
XsarnX

Hi I had a t.i.a in October..i had pins an needles from kneck to face ...as I've had a bad shoulder thought it was a trapped nerve as you do ...woke up face was numb on left side an lip dropped...after going a and e and loads of tests ct scan echocardiogram 6 day heart monitor an MRI ..went back to t.i.a clinic got told I must of had a stroke few weeks or months before the t.ia which I had no idea about...im now on colpedogrel and avostatin ...still very confused... an had to quit running my local post office...question is if you have had either does the memory part of the brain what I'm told I'd damaged would it ever repair ..

2stroke profile image
2stroke in reply toXsarnX

XsarnX

From the reports ,it seems the site of the stroke on the brain is now defunct.and cannot be brought back.

if you lose it--its gone.

XsarnX profile image
XsarnX in reply to2stroke

Yes I thought that's what consultant said ... but you know family they think different ...

2stroke profile image
2stroke in reply toXsarnX

See on you tube.com----Effects of a Stroke on The Brain, Left vs Right----should explain a bit more.

best wishes.

2stroke profile image
2stroke

THEY'RE GOOD FOR GIVING KIND THOUGHTS TO ALL OF US.PEOPLE WHO LOVE AND CARE.

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