Signs Of A Mini Stroke (transient ischemic attack, or T.I.A.)
Beth Bonness was at a hair salon and thought she was telling her hairstylist about her recent trip to Rome. But when the Portland, Oregon, resident looked at herself in the mirror, her mouth wasn’t moving. At the same time, Bonness said she saw “snowflake-like lights” to the side of her left eye, and her right hand curled into a claw. Bonness’ hairdresser asked if she was alright and if she needed help. To Bonness, it sounded as if her hairstylist was underwater. The strange episode only lasted a few minutes.
Bonness, then 49, finished her hair appointment and met her family for dinner at a nearby restaurant. She told her husband what had happened after they got home. Soon after, Bonness went to the emergency room to get checked out. It was there that she was told she was likely having a transient ischemic attack, or T.I.A., which occurs when blood flow to the brain is temporarily blocked. Bonness’ blood pressure was very high. So, she was given blood pressure medication and told to take it easy for a few days.
Each year, at least 240,000 Americans, like Bonness, have T.I.A.s, but this number could be higher since symptoms can appear suddenly and quickly disappear. As a result, the symptoms go unreported, according to the American Stroke Association (A.S.A.).
A TIA, also known as a ministroke, can occur at any age, but it mostly happens among adults 55 and older. Bonness said there was a part of her who thought it could be a stroke, but as a busy working mother, “there wasn’t a lot of air space for the quiet warning signs to percolate.”
It’s common for people to brush aside T.I.A. symptoms because there’s no pain involved, according to Dr. Hardik P. Amin, an associate professor of neurology and medical stroke director at Yale New Haven Hospital St. Raphael Campus in Connecticut.
“Usually, if there’s a pain component, that’s going to send folks running to the hospital,” Dr. Amin told AARP. “Here, it’s more like a loss of ability to do something.”
A TIA does not cause permanent damage, but the warning signs should not be dismissed because they require immediate medical attention, according to a scientific statement from the American Heart Association (A.H.A.). The A.H.A. reports that nearly 1 in 5 people who have a suspected ministroke will have a full-blown stroke within 90 days.
Early Warning Signs of a TIA
Doctors say the warning signs of a T.I.A. are the same as those for a stroke. The A.S.A. added that diagnosing a T.I.A. is challenging because the symptoms are temporary, lasting from only a few minutes up to 24 hours. Nonetheless, medical professionals agree that stroke symptoms should not be ignored.
The following are the five most common signs of a T.I.A.:
- 1. Balance Difficulty And Weakness. A TIA can cause loss of balance or coordination, trouble walking, dizziness, and weakness. According to Dr. Amin, weakness usually occurs on one side of the body.
- 2. Loss of Vision. People may experience blindness in one eye or both eyes. Some people describe a complete loss of vision in one eye as “a nightshade coming down over one eye. “If it’s temporary or if it’s lasting, that is an emergency,” Dr. Amin told AARP. People may also have double vision, also known as diplopia, where they see two images of one object, Dr. Larry Goldstein, the co-director of the Kentucky Neuroscience Institute, explained to HuffPost.
- 3. Face Drooping Or Numbness. Facial drooping, or losing muscle control over one side of your face, makes it hard for you to smile or move some parts of your mouth because you might experience numbness. This T.I.A. sign can resemble Bell’s palsy, a condition that results in a similar kind of facial paralysis. Even if this is the only T.I.A. sign, doctors say it’s still important to get checked out because a stroke can lead to other symptoms as well.
- 4. Arm Weakness. Something as simple as picking up objects may be difficult to do because of a weak arm. This symptom usually occurs on one side of the body. “Sometimes patients just think, Oh, I just slept on it funny. I’ll try to shake it off or just kind of work through it and see if it just gets better on its own,” Dr. Amin told AARP.
- 5. Slurred Speech. A TIA can cause slurred speech or mumbling “where it sounds like the patient’s got marbles in their mouth,” Dr. Amin told AARP. The person may also say something nonsensical or have trouble understanding other people.
Treating a Stroke
Time is of the essence in the event of a stroke. So, receiving medical treatment right away can lessen a stroke’s long-term consequences. The good news is “the risk of having a stroke can be decreased dramatically with targeted treatment,” Dr. Goldstein told HuffPost.
Doctors say the type of stroke a patient has determines the course of treatment. One common treatment for strokes is Alteplase, a drug used to break up the blood clot that may be preventing blood flow to the brain. People who are given Alteplase within four-and-a-half hours of the beginning of a stroke are 1.9 times as likely to have a favorable outcome, according to a joint report of the A.H.A. and A.S.A.
Another treatment is a mechanical thrombectomy, a minimally invasive procedure that removes blood clots from the brain after an ischemic stroke. There was a 70 percent improvement in patients who had the procedure within six hours of the stroke occurring and improved functional independence three months after the stroke, the joint report said.
To ward off future strokes, Dr. Amin says doctors can run scans of the brain and blood vessels, evaluate heart function, and screen for cardiovascular risk factors that increase the risk of stroke.
“Treating conditions like plaque in the arteries, heart arrhythmias, hypertension, diabetes, and others can dramatically lower the risk of a future stroke, which could lead to significant disability or even death,” Dr. Amin told HuffPost.
How To Recognize Signs of a T.I.A. or Sroke
Besides being called a ministroke, a T.I.A. is also called a “warning stroke” because there’s a chance to prevent it. To recognize the warning signs of both T.I.A. and stroke, the A.H.A. says to remember the acronym F.A.S.T., which stands for:
-
Face drooping
Arm weakness
Speech difficulty
Time to call 911
Dr. Amin strongly advises people who experience T.I.A. symptoms to call 9-1-1 even if the symptoms stop before you get to the phone.
Source Links:
https://www.buzzfeed.com/anikanayak/mini-stroke-signs-symptoms
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mini-stroke-signs-symptoms_l_660d9427e4b09f580bc65ff5
https://www.aarp.org/health/conditions-treatments/info-2023/what-are-the-symptoms-of-a-ministroke-or-tia.html
https://www.heart.org/en/news/2023/01/19/stroke-symptoms-require-emergency-treatment-even-if-they-quickly-disappear-new-report-says#
https://www.stroke.org/-/media/Stroke-Files/Ischemic-Stroke-Professional-Materials/AIS-Toolkit/AIS-Professional-Education-Presentation-ucm_485538.pdf