So i spent 2 days in ER, this time as a patient and not as a therapist. It all started last week when I woke up at some wee hours with a very bad, sharp headache and a nausea. The headache was unusual as the pain was behind my eyes, not that usual cold/flu induced headache. But it slowly went away during the day. Couple of days later out of the blue fingers on my right hand went completely numb. It lasted few minutes and then it was back to normal. Unpleasant feeling but it went away quickly. Then the next day while we were out with the kids my left hand went numb and part of my face. It lasted a minute or two and went away. But it started to worry me so I thought to have it checked out. The next day however, my back went numb, then the numbness quickly spread to my shoulder, arm, fingers, face and mouth. At first i thought that I am having a stroke but the symptoms just didn’t quite add up. Nevertheless, my wife called 911 and they were quickly here (at our home). They did a general checkup but couldn’t determine anything specific so they decided to take me to the ER. On the way there, things turned much worse. I started to hyperventilate and become confused. For moments I didn’t know where I was, who this guy with me in the van is, the letters and words started to not make sense. When we arrived I was increasingly disoriented, didn’t know where I was and who these people around me are. Then I realized that I couldn’t talk. The doctor showed me some every day objects like a pen, phone, keys and I didn’t know what they were. He asked me to read some simple words and the letters were meaningless jumble. I was completely unaware that they did MRI, CT, X-Ray and brain wave measurement on me, gave me an IV and bunch of other drugs. Nothing around me made sense and when asked, I didn’t know the place I am at, the date or my name. I wasn’t even aware that my wife was there and that she and a nurse helped me to the washroom at one point. I woke up in the afternoon the next day and slowly started to peace things together. Several neuro-doctors and nurses came by and told me what happened during the past 24 hrs. It is very strange to have a total blank in my mind, I don’t remember anything. They told me that I had some kind of a seizure, decreased blood flow into the brain. It happens sometimes, we all apparently have some seizure threshold, sometimes we reach it, often we don’t for whatever reason. Having worked a lot with stroke patients I was absolutely terrified knowing what could happen to me. But with a fantastic care from the ER staff at Vancouver General Hospital I am at home now and back at work. I can’t drive or ride a bike for at least a week due to occasional light dizziness and have to take meds for 6 weeks. Then there will be follow up MRI and with neurologist. But all in all, I am fine.
I had quite a few of the same symptoms leading up to it, which I kept to myself.
Finally, I took a hard knock where my vision and sense of equilibrium went 90 degrees sideways while driving my car to pick up my wife. I recovered in a couple of minutes. When I got to her I told her what had happened. I had the second one in my driveway and fell across the hood of the car. Like yours, she called 911.
In recovery I learned a few things.
High blood pressure is a culprit.
Also sleep apnea. Something like 70 % of first time stroke victims have it, undiagnosted.
I now have a CPAP. That thing is a gift. I truly hate it, but I now sleep 8-9 hours a night with only one or two trips to the head. I have a lot more bounce in my step.
I take blood thinner, bp reducers, treatment for gout, a statin and some other meds but I feel much better.
I recommend you talk to a sleep specialist; it has really changed my health.
Oh and I did PT for a while until I got my balance back.
Happy to hear you’re recovering. It’s not pleasant when something happens to you that you don’t understand. Take care of yourself and make sure you follow up with the doctors.
Good to see you’re back to regaining your health. Hopefully your upcoming Dr. visits will figure out what caused this episode and be able to stop it from happening in the future.
I hope you are definitely doing alright. I did a Syncope, New Years Eve Day. Nobody knows why though. All tests came back normal? I did fall during it and cracked my shin and got a big strawberry on my poor beat up Knee. Doing fine now though.
Glad to hear that you are doing better. Follow the doctors orders. We’ll send some prayers your way.
I have to use a bi-pap every night. Just got a new one 2 weeks ago after 7 years. It was getting noisy and kept waking me up. Sounded like the bearings in the motor were going bad. There are no words to convey how much I hate that machine but I use it. Tried almost every type of mask they have but can’t find one that feels comfortable. Oh well, that’s the way the meatball bounces.
Gentlemen, thank you all for the good wishes, much appreciated. Tomorrow is a blood test, then a visit to my GP, another MRI in few weeks and few more follow ups with a neurologist. It was very much a scary experience but things are ok so far, at least I feel good with a bit of a lightheadednes now and then, lasting just few seconds.