I had a scary weekend

I had a very scary weekend. What was supposed to be a nice long relaxing weekend turned out not to be. On Saturday I was at a friend's house and we were just hanging out, we BBQ'd and we had a few drinks. I had one Smirnoff Ice with dinner and was about half way through another one, it was over a period of a few hours, so I thought I was pacing myself pretty well. I got up and went to my friend's kitchen and was putting some ice cream in the freezer and everything went fuzzy and white and I felt my chin hit the floor and I was out. I came too and my friend's were standing over me. I thought honestly it was the alcohol and maybe my blood sugars just dropped too low. After lying on the floor for a few minutes I got up and moved to her couch. While I was on the couch I felt the left side of my body go weak. The left side of my face began to droop and I started slurring my words. I asked my friend if I was drooping and she said yes, so I told her maybe she should take me to the ER. So she took me to the closest which was Christian Northwest. It is just an ER not a hospital. When I got there I was drooping real bad, slurring and I was dragging my left leg and my left arm was dead at my side. They took me right back, they took blood but never took my BP which I thought was strange considering I was having stroke like symptoms. But anyway, they did a CT and it came back normal, they said that early in a stroke it might not show up on a CT scan. They decided I needed to be admitted and asked me what hospital I wanted to go too. I told them DePaul, but DePaul was under quarantine because of the chemical workers that had come in and contaminated the ER. So DePaul was not taking any patients so I had to go to Christian Northeast. The stroke symptoms kept coming and going every 15 minutes or so I would droop and get weak and then it would go away. That is not really typical of a stroke, so they thought it could be Bell's Palsy. Bell's Palsy typically effects the left side of the face only not the entire left side, it also usually effects the eye and it droops as well. My eye was fine. So it was pretty much a mystery until I could get an MRI. Because it was a holiday weekend the MRI department at Christian was closed Sunday and Monday, so I was stuck. On Sunday the symptoms improved, I only had the episodes when I would get up to go to the bathroom, when I would lay back down, the left side would droop and go weak. At one point I got up for about 10 minutes to wash up, brush my teeth and change clothes. When I laid back down I not only started drooping and had weakness I began twitching uncontrollably, luckily John was there and ran to get the nurse. The nurse called her supervisor who came up and she saw it and went to talk to the ICU doctor. Within a few minutes I was ok again. Four hours later after my brother complained because no doctor had been in to see me, the ICU doctor shows up. He did his evaluation and said there were no signs of a stroke and I was "too young to have had a stroke". Since I was stable and not in a critical state they would not call the on-call MRI team in to do the MRI. So on Monday I had no symptoms, and was on strict bed rest. I would have an occasional twitch in my left leg, arm and mouth but nothing major. On Monday they decided that my blood pressure was running too low and decided that I needed I.V. fluids. I got three bags of fluid, my BP was doing good so they took me off the IV on Monday night. On Tuesday morning my BP was low again it was 87 over 48. They took me right away that morning to have my tests done, finally people were at work. So I had my MRI, then an EEG, then they did an ultrasound of my heart, and a Doppler of the arteries in my neck to check for blockages. All the tests took like 5 hours and I got back to my room around 12:30. They let me wash up and eat and then I just had to wait for the results. At about 3:00 the internal medicine doctor came in and said that the MRI and ultrasound of the heart were all good and we just had to wait to see what the EEG and Doppler showed, but that I could probably go home. So I waited a few hours and no word so I called the nurse and she said they were waiting for the neurologist to release me. He showed up about a half hour later and said that the Doppler and EEG were all good too. He said that they were waiting on results from some blood work but I could follow up in his office for that and that I could go home. I am still weak on my left side but no further episodes. I have to go see the neurologist in a few weeks and my PCP in a week. They released me yesterday with a diagnosis of a small stroke, but no restrictions. I am back at work today, still weak but doing good. It was so great to sleep in my own bed last night, and to see my baby! He stayed with my sister so that John could be at the hospital with me and he had already spent the weekend with his grandparents and was missing me and then he comes home and I am not there really upset him. He has been through so much in the past few months and this did not help the situation at all. They wanted me to take an aspirin every day but I was afraid having had the gastric bypass that I could not have aspirin, I knew that ibuprofen was out and assumed aspirin was too. I called Dr. De La Torre's office this morning and they said it was fine to take an aspirin a day, which is a relief because the alternative was a prescription called Plavix which costs more and is not as effective as an aspirin. So I am on the mend, doing well, and trying to regain my strength. This was by far the scariest thing that I have ever been through. I was bawling the entire trip to the ER and then once we got there and I was dragging my leg I was in tears the whole time they were talking to me. So, one thing I am definitely never doing again is drinking alcohol. I have blood sugar issues anyway so really should not have drank the Smirnoff's anyway. Apparently a sudden drop in blood sugar can cause a stroke, they said my birth control could have caused it as well so I am no longer taking that. So that is my wonderful holiday weekend, I hope everyone else had a better time!

i have heard that drinking for us is usally out of the question. some doctors say never again and some say after a year but that if we dont have to better to not ever. and since it is something that we really dont need best to leave it alone.;
sounds like you really had a pissy week end. did you tell the neurologist that you had had wls and was drinking? i hope that was it and that you wont be doing that again.
love and hugs glad that you are home and well. and no one is ever too young to have a stroke , who ever made that statement is pretty stupid. dont know that i would want him or her touching me. lol

Sounds like you had a rough weekend, to say the least.  I am glad to hear that you are doing better and are back at work.  I myself had a drink over the weekend and I seriously couldn't put a thought together.  It was very strange.  I could think in my head what I wanted to say, but I couldn't get the word out.  After a few minutes I was fine, but I decided real quick that I would be laying off the alcohol.  Hugs,  Layla

It sounds like you're having TIA's and it's not something to take lightly.  The Dr who said you're too young to have a stroke is out of his mind.  You should see a specialist sooner rather than later.

Take care.

Karen

Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA)

What is a TIA or transient ischemic attack?

A TIA is a "warning stroke" or "mini-stroke" that produces stroke-like symptoms but no lasting damage. Recognizing and treating TIAs can reduce your risk of a major stroke.

Most strokes aren't preceded by TIAs. However, of the people who've had one or more TIAs, more than a third will later have a stroke. In fact, a person who's had one or more TIAs is more likely to have a stroke than someone of the same age and sex who hasn't.

TIAs are important in predicting if a stroke will occur rather than when one will happen. They can occur days, weeks or even months before a major stroke. In about half the cases, the stroke occurs within one year of the TIA.

What causes a transient ischemic attack?

TIAs occur when a blood clot temporarily clogs an artery, and part of the brain doesn't get the blood it needs. The symptoms occur rapidly and last a relatively short time. Most TIAs last less than five minutes. The average is about a minute. Unlike stroke, when a TIA is over, there's no injury to the brain.

What are the symptoms of a TIA?

It's very important to recognize the warning signs of a TIA or stroke. The usual TIA symptoms are the same as those of stroke, only temporary:

• Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body
• Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding
• Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes
• Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination
• Sudden, severe headache with no known cause

The short duration of these symptoms and lack of permanent brain injury is the main difference between TIA and stroke.

TIAs are extremely important predictors of stroke. Don't ignore them! If symptoms appear, CALL 9-1-1 TO GET MEDICAL HELP IMMEDIATELY. A doctor should determine if a TIA or stroke has occurred, or if it's another medical problem with similar symptoms. Some examples are seizure, fainting, migraine headache, or general medical or cardiac condition. Prompt medical or surgical attention to these symptoms could prevent a fatal or disabling stroke from occurring.

For stroke information, call the American Stroke Association at 1-888-4-STROKE.