Looks like I may have had a very minor TIA last night, got myself to A&E and checked out, 28 days of drugs and will get a neurologist appt. soon.

I guess it may end up having been nothing but I would be foolish not to take it seriously. Risk factors have increased for me since lockdown (booze/salt/exercise/diet all going a bit the wrong way) but not into “unhealthy” areas, I think, but I guess it’s not as simple as that.

Anyways I just wondered if others had experience. I’ll just be sensible and try not to overthink it for now.

As you know we’ve a bit of experience in this area after Anna’s stroke. Luckily she’s not on Warfarin but does now have to take lifetime med’s. DM me if you want to chat.

I kind of had one at 36(?) Basicly came out the pool at bluestone went to unlock sons bike and all Ballance went. Immediately laid down with head down hill (I’d had an unexplained rapid drop in blood pressure two years earlier).
Eased after a bit managed to slowly walk back to holiday cottage and slept for a day with strange taste in mouth.
Sometime after with some tests and MRI I have a scare in the ballance part of my brain.
Have been on clopidogrel and statin’s since.
Only real side effect can’t look behind me riding, makes me dizzy.
Wasn’t massively over weight but lost about a stone.

Good to hear you had it checked- fingers crossed it’s nothing. An ex colleague (as in I changed jobs) had a stroke in her early 60s. She was quite bad initially- slurred speech her husband couldn’t understand. After 6 months she was back at work and you’d be hard pressed to tell anything was wrong.

I’ve got ischemic heart disease shadowing me (Dad at 69, his sister same age, brother 71 and their father 67) and waver between worrying and not giving a damn. At least my sister is a few years older than me so I might get a bit of warning if its followed us!

Thanks all. Was thinking of a foreign trip soon, will look into the guidance.

No flying if it was a tia iirc

When I made the fork/spoon memoir comment in the cat thread I was originally going to say it could be your epitaph. Then I saw this thread and am glad I didn’t!

LOL NP 🙂

I didn’t have any obvious risk factors, I don’t drink, don’t smoke, slim etc, but that didn’t prevent me from having a stroke about 18 months ago.
Once I’d recovered, I had a load of tests to find out a possible cause. Apparently, I have a patent foramen ovale, which is a hole in the heart that shouldn’t be there, and about 25% of the population have it. Fortunately it’s a fairly easy keyhole op to close, which I had in March.
So, even if you think you’re low risk, don’t wait if you feel odd, or you’re with someone that doesn’t look like a typical stroke victim but is displaying stroke symptoms, phone 999.

Had 2 TIA’s and 1 stroke since the end of November. There have been challenges in keeping me in the therapeutic range of my Warfarin. On Atorvastin (statin), Warfarin obviously, Losartan (Blood pressure) and Bisoprolol (Betablockers). Apart from monitoring there’s not much they can do – I have clear arteries and my cholesterol isn’t high.

Initially it affected speech – first TIA I had some aphasia. Stroke and second TIA, I had slurred speech, significant facial droop and my right-side had temporary weakness.

Weakness has gone, but I have lost some fluency and faculty in my speech.

Mine was the TIA diagnosed by STW… do you have any causal symptoms?
Like irregular heartbeat? I had to take mine seriously due to having AF, so on all the shitty drugs pretty much forever now.
If I didn’t have AF, I don’t think I’d take the meds, but obviously at risk of a serious clot occurring, so wouldn’t want that, of course.
I still ride, but MTBing is damn hard!

Warfarin obviously

I was told warfarin was an old-style drug and there are much less side effects with newer drugs, like the one I’m on, dabigatran etexilate. (Anti-clotting meds, if anyone wondering)

I’ve had a couple of ablations for AF and have also been diagnosed with a genetic clotting disorder after a PE and leg clot. I’m on rivaroxaban and bisoprolol. Beta blockers make exercise more challenging but I have adapted well and still do lots of cycling.

I had a TIA a few years ago, main symptom was aphasia which was just very weird. No risk factors apart from a slightly high cholesterol. I wasn’t allowed to drive for a month, the only drug they gave me was aspirin. Had loads of tests, which was fun. They couldn’t find anything wrong with me at all. Been fine since.

Cheers guys. They gave me clopidogrel and atorvstatin.

My heart does speed up and then slow down sporadically, I had that looked at with a ECG 8 years ago and all ok.

Statins are just to lower cholesterol, I believe.
Yeah, its the beta blockers that slow you down, I’ve had the chest mount,ecg things a few times and cycling was putting a strain on my heart (“heart failure in 10-15 years”, yo!) so also on Digoxin which does something to keep the strength up when the beta blockers slow it. Then you injure yourself and have to add 3 more a day.. its like one of those trays with days of the week needed next!
Medisafe app for reminders recommended 👴🏼

I’ll give you a stroke for a Half Sucked Sweetie if it helps, Long Arms?

Ta DezB

Trog…clue needed!

I had my TIA just about 2 years ago, just shy of 54. The main thing for me was slurred speech and very slight aphasia. CT and MRI scans showed this was likely my 3rd or 4th incident, I knew nothing of the previous ones.
Like the other folks I started on Atorvastin and clopidogrel. The clopidogrel was great! My problem was a hereditary condition causing blood to pool and clot inside the heart chamber – the treatment was like having a proper old school decoke.
I then went on to Dabigatran like DezB… I was told later there’s not many folk on this – out of around 10,000 on thinners at that hospital there were just 5 on Dabigatran. I’m still on this twice a day.
Still felt fine at this point, riding again and (for me…) fairly well.
Make sure you stay properly hydrated with the blood thinners or you run the risk of damaging your kidneys.
I was then put on Bisoprolol and this did (and continues to) mess me up. It slows and controls the heart. If you rode fast before you’ll need to get used to party pace. And Reynauds. And weight gain. But you will still be able to ride.

I train ok on bisoprolol. It’s impacted my ability to do hills quickly as my HR maxes out about 20-25 beats lower than it used to. However, on the flat and for sprint efforts I’m just as fast as I was. I’m 49 and cycled 11000km last year. Talking to a cycling cardiologist he says beta blockers can be performance enhancing for some and you become very efficient within a certain HR range. This seems to be the case for me. However, some people in my cycling club could not tolerate bisoprolol and chose to come off it.

I’ve had 2 strokes, first at 45 ah the second two years later to the day.
First time got up feeling strange, rode to work and had to fight to stay upright on the bike, couldn’t write, looked like someone else’s writing, couldn’t type either. My mate gave me a lift home, went to bed thinking a good night’s sleep would sort me out, got up the next morning and felt more confused, when I struggled to eat breakfast my wife called an ambulance. Straight to hospital, was there for 3 days then home, few weeks rest and I was fine, statin, asprins for the rest of my life.
2nd one very similar situation, this time I drove myself to hospital, Scans showed it was the other side of the brain, recovery was much longer, about 3 months, affected me very differently to the first, kind of wiped out my emotions and reinstalled them, I describe it as your phone doing an upgrade, it looks the same but different. Impacted my marriage, ended up splitting up and left me struggling, felt very unemotional about things.
Had a monitor implanted in my chest to keep an eye on things. Transpires I have an irregular heartbeat.
Currently on Pravastatin, Edoxaban and Ezetimibe.
Biggest benefit is that I appear to have found some skill since the second stroke but then if my Brian’s had an upgrade what can you expect.

Interesting, cheers all. Going to a clinic tomorrow which is pretty quick.

A bit slow I would say. Stroke is one thing that speed is essential for – both in treating one and in reducing risk after a warning sign. But good you did get a clinic appointment in the current climate

I was told warfarin was an old-style drug and there are much less side effects with newer drugs, like the one I’m on,

I hate Warfarin, and yes there are a lot newer drugs with less side-effects to prevent clotting. However, I take Wafarin to prevent clots forming on my mechanical heart valve. Nothing else is licensed in the UK for this. It’s shit really as Warfarin is the cause of a lot of my problems anyway…

IIRC Al you said you thought you might have had mild covid a while back – this is a fairly disturbing report from the US:

“According to Dr Christopher Kellner, a professor of neurosurgery at Mount Sinai hospital in New York, “mild” cases of Covid-19 in which the patient was not hospitalized for the virus have been linked to blood clotting”

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jul/06/coronavirus-covid-19-mild-symptoms-who

Might be worth mentioning when you go for your appointment

“According to Dr Christopher Kellner, a professor of neurosurgery at Mount Sinai hospital in New York, “mild” cases of Covid-19 in which the patient was not hospitalized for the virus have been linked to blood clotting”

My sister in law had CV-19 which dragged on for weeks, so they took her into hospital for blood clot scans as that is a common issue with CV-19.

Ta @tjagain, I had a tickly throat at one point that didn’t develop, I don’t remember mentioning it here!

Well doc reckons it was a TIA, narrowing of a minor artery, nowt to do with Covid. I’m on drugs for life and need to cut down the booze. Quite a lot to take in, I’ve never been in hospital for anything other than an accident.

did you have the full range of scans? MRI or CAT plus a contrast medium injected?

Not nice at all tho to discover a potentially serious issue tho.

A lot to take it, but you’re here and can do something about it.

Despite his family history noted above, my Dad thought it wouldn’t affect him (his dad a heavy drinker, brother drinker & smoker, sister overweight and diabetic: himself- none of these). On the day he died he mentioned to Mum that he may have pulled a shoulder muscle the previous week swimming. He dismissed her concerns as “I know what a pulled muscle is, it’s nothing to worry about”. His blocked artery wasn’t one of the main blood pumping ones but one of the arteries that power the heart. If he’d done something about it like you have, chances are he’d still be here.

Cheers guys. No scams but they called today and are getting me in for ultra and cat/mri.

I am grateful to have had an early warning for sure.