A Stroke with no known cause

Leonie
Leonieon Tuesday, March 30 2021
7 Comments

Hi. I had a stroke in my right carotid artery in Dec 2020. The ER doctor initially called it a 'tear' but subsequent doctors say it is a 'blockage'. The MRI showed a 6cm blockage which the cardiologist said is permanent. The vascular surgeon declined the referral so I assume that means it can't be repaired or perhaps is too risky given my minimal symptoms. I am still waiting to see a neurologist.

I lost the vision in my right eye and my left is short sighted (I didn't know that till the right stopped working). I get dizzy a lot but I don't have any other physical symptoms. It bothers me to know that my artery is blocked and I don't understand what happened. My heart is fine, (pristine was the word he used), I have low BP and cholesterol, no diabetes, not overweight, non-smoker and good diet. 

I wish I knew what caused this because I am afraid of it happening again. I hate that it takes so long to see a doctor and still walk away with no answers. Perhaps I'm asking the wrong questions. Any suggestions for what to ask the cardiologist at what will be my last appointment tomorrow afternoon? My GP was wonderful but unfortunately has just moved away and I haven't made an appointment with a new one yet. I'd appreciate any suggestions on who to talk to and what to ask that might explain why I had this stroke.

7 Responses

Hi Leonie, I'm sorry that is very hard. I think the best person would be a neurologist and you say you are still waiting to see someone. My husband had a (second) stroke on 16th January and we are now waiting for appointments with a cardiologist, a neurologist and also a haematologist (that's because he has now had two unexplained clots). Incidentally the interventional radiologist would not intervent to try to remove his clot because they were concerned about his risk of bleeding. So basically they did nothing. Good luck x

That is indeed a hard problem to solve. I rarely know people having a stroke with no known cause.

Re-Mapping the Page.

Hello, I read your post and wanted to let you know my son too had a stroke as a baby with no known cause.  He also had a stroke that impacted the same artery as well as the left temporal lobe.  What followed was a number of scary years where he had lots of seizures and uncertainty about what would follow.

I wanted to write to you to let you know it has been 12 years now with no further problems within the brain.  He still lives with the symptoms of a stroke but after years of therapy he continues to improve.  

I have found just continuing to be positive and find a good neurologist.  A good neurologist can provide the support and answers that help.  My son now sees a neurosurgeon and has regular MRI's to monitor things every 6 months.

Kerri

Hi Leonie

I know how you feel.

It took doctors nearly 8 months to find out the reason why I had a stroke at 42.

I was a mess mentally wondering if would have another one again because we didn't know the cause.

They sent me to see an Immunologist ,cardiologist looking back at my health and so on.

thanks to doctors still wanting to find out reason they got me to do a lot of blood tests.

At one of my appointments I had another doctor and he said Ill test you for this condition its rear but I properly won't have it and guess what I did have it.

Thanks to him I finally found out why I had a stroke .

Antifosfolipidsyndrom was my diagnosis.

You have to do tests I think 3 of them weeks apart to properly diagnose.

I have to be on Warfarin for life,rather that than keep on having strokes.

This might not be what you had but don't give up trying to find out.

I am also now seeing a clinical haematologist.

But my anxiety worrying about it happening again did get better after we finally worked out why.

It at the same time answered a lot of my health issues when I was younger and it all made sense.

Clots in my legs years of trying to fall pregnant for years(lucky to be a mum to two boys 8 years apart)

and so on.They even went back looking at my births and the reports on the placentas of my children.

Wishing you find an answer don't give up and a pair of fresh eyes looking at your case different ideas and so on just takes one test.

All the best

Monika

 

 

Good morning everyone. Stroke hit 8years ago without any cause. 4years ago after a cluster of mini strokes a cardiologist did the “bubble test” and found the hole in my heart,Such a relief as my fear of another stroke was high. I went over to Monash in Melbourne  to have the closure.cardiologists are still happy with the surgery. Obviously I had lived 80 plus years without a heart problem.  The stroke had come via my heart so Closure was a necessity.  JENNY

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you all for the advice. The conditions mentioned above have all been ruled out. I did discover I have Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, basically my heart beat goes up a lot when I'm standing and down when I sit, but this isn't usually associated with stroke. My cardiologist missed it so I'm waiting to hear back from him about what it means for me and my overall health. For now just trying to eat well, get some exercise and not worry about it all too much.

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