Stroke at 33

[xoxoxoBruce]

One woman's description of having on New Years Eve, at 33 years old.

There was a cascade of input — triangles and sky and gravel sound and music on the radio and wind and the feeling of rough cloth near my hands. I could not make sense of it all; I did not know the small triangles were trees, the larger ones mountains, the sound tires crunching snow and Snow Patrol, the jacket Gore-Tex, and that my wrists were the things attached to things called my hands. They were colors and shapes and sound and touch and sensation and my brain was no longer sorting these things out. But when I saw the red snowblowers in the parking lot turned 90 degrees and doubled, I finally had a complete thought. I comprehended what I was seeing. Red snowblowers. Sideways. Strange.

That was what my stroke felt like: like I was separating from myself.

[orthodoc]

I read that article not long ago. It described many familiar things, things that occur when I have a classic migraine (the kind with visual field cuts and scintillating scotomata that precede the headache). The sense of disconnection, of observing without integrating, is very strong. Each time I have one, I'm acutely aware that the neurological disturbances don't have to resolve. Terrifying.

[xoxoxoBruce]

I was wondering if what she wrote was a particularly unique experience. Although everyone's mileage may vary, but from what you say it sounds like some of her symptoms are common then.

[monster]

Not a whole lot like mine. except the new year's eve thing

[xoxoxoBruce]

New Years Eve can be very stressful.

[lumberjim]

reminds me of that weird thing that happened with the nuns and the flasher.

apparently, whathadhappendwas, these three Nuns were ambling along a path in central park, when all of a sudden a flasher in a trench coat sprung from the bushes.

He threw open his coat and began swinging his rather impressive genitalia at the Sisters. The first promptly had a stroke. Then, strangely enough, so did a second.


The third refused to touch it.

[Stormieweather]

Originally Posted by orthodoc

I read that article not long ago. It described many familiar things, things that occur when I have a classic migraine (the kind with visual field cuts and scintillating scotomata that precede the headache). The sense of disconnection, of observing without integrating, is very strong. Each time I have one, I'm acutely aware that the neurological disturbances don't have to resolve. Terrifying.

Yes. The first few times I had this sort of migraine, I thought it was a stroke. Being physically off balance (as though the world was tilted), the feeling of being outside oneself and observing, the difficulty using the correct words, and the visual problems (shivery lines and black spaces) were absolutely terrifying. The strangest thing is that I rarely actually have pain with them. I said quite a few times in the beginning....I feel weird. Something is wrong.

[footfootfoot]

Have you been checked for having had a stroke? I hear about these "mini" stroke people have unawares.

[Clodfobble]

It sounds much more like a seizure than a migraine.

[Stormieweather]

Doc says it's a silent migraine.

Silent Migraine