BrumJim
Forum Stalwart (won't take the hint and leave...)
- Location
- Selly Oak, Birmingham
Posting here, not for a resolution, but just because I feel like I am amongst friends.
Had a 'moment' on Tuesday night (06/12/22, for the record).
As I was getting up from the table in the kitchen to clear up after supper, one eye went awry, staying in the same place and then heading in a completely different direction from the other. This affected my coordination and balance, and after a couple of minutes of trying to sort out the kitchen, my wife persuaded me to go into the lounge.
On the way there I was very unsteady, as you would expect anyone to be who had two images in their brain, but when I got to the lounge I collapsed on the floor and became semi-conscious. My wife called the ambulance, which arrived in less than an hour.
During this time I snapped out of my semi-conscious state, and, fully awake, sat on the sofa. However my eyes were still uncoordinated. I was OK to watch the football with either eye, but with both, everything was doubled including the score, ball, players, etc. Ambulance arrived and decided that I should be in hospital, so took me there. Arrived at the big QE hospital in Birmingham (just up the road from us) and straight into an A&E room.
After that, things progressed. I entered a state of semi-consciousness again, and with the symptoms pointing to a stroke, the doctor contacted my wife to gain permission for some drugs. He came back to find me fully conscious again, so didn't continue with the treatment. However later on that night I again became semi-conscious, either unable to answer the questions, or just not able to talk properly, falling asleep in this state some time after 00:30. During this time I was put in a tube, which it later turns out was a CT scanner.
Next morning I woke up in A&E feeling fine around 06:00, and with eyesight returned to normal. I was transferred up to a ward, given breakfast, and monitored. A whole herd of doctors and other medical professionals turned up later that morning to pass their judgement on me. I was able to stand (feigning a stumble to their lack of amusement) without any trouble at all. The obvious diagnosis from the symptoms was a TIA or mini-stroke. However at 51yrs old, 6ft tall and 78 kilos, and with a cycling hobby, I did not fit the profile of a stroke victim, and there is no history of early heart / circulation conditions in my family. 3 grand parents died in their late 80s / early 90s (the other of Cancer in late 70s) and my Mum in her 80s is still going very strong with no major health problems of this sort.
So they kept me in for a couple of days to monitor me. The single high blood sugar count from one of the tests was explained away as an anomaly (one single high result amongst a full set of compliant ones), the CT scan showed nothing, and there were no other results from tests that showed anything out of the ordinary. I slept for a good chunk of Wednesday. Thursday morning I felt a lot better, showered, changed, and sat by my bed reading The Big Issue and completing some of my Christmas cards.
Lateish on Thursday afternoon they sent me home. I have three further outpatient appointments; a bubble echo, an MRI and a 24hr heart monitor. I'm on 4 drugs (2 off, Aspirin and the associated stomach preserver, are just for 2 weeks), and have been banned from driving for 4 weeks.
Walked home (I live less than a couple of miles from the hospital door), and slept longer than I usually do. But by Friday I felt fine, if a little "wired" from the whole experience. Saturday was again a bit manic, Sunday more measured.
So now I am in mystery land. It wasn't a TIA, as there are no environmental factors that could explain it, but it was a TIA as there is nothing else it could be.
Had a 'moment' on Tuesday night (06/12/22, for the record).
As I was getting up from the table in the kitchen to clear up after supper, one eye went awry, staying in the same place and then heading in a completely different direction from the other. This affected my coordination and balance, and after a couple of minutes of trying to sort out the kitchen, my wife persuaded me to go into the lounge.
On the way there I was very unsteady, as you would expect anyone to be who had two images in their brain, but when I got to the lounge I collapsed on the floor and became semi-conscious. My wife called the ambulance, which arrived in less than an hour.
During this time I snapped out of my semi-conscious state, and, fully awake, sat on the sofa. However my eyes were still uncoordinated. I was OK to watch the football with either eye, but with both, everything was doubled including the score, ball, players, etc. Ambulance arrived and decided that I should be in hospital, so took me there. Arrived at the big QE hospital in Birmingham (just up the road from us) and straight into an A&E room.
After that, things progressed. I entered a state of semi-consciousness again, and with the symptoms pointing to a stroke, the doctor contacted my wife to gain permission for some drugs. He came back to find me fully conscious again, so didn't continue with the treatment. However later on that night I again became semi-conscious, either unable to answer the questions, or just not able to talk properly, falling asleep in this state some time after 00:30. During this time I was put in a tube, which it later turns out was a CT scanner.
Next morning I woke up in A&E feeling fine around 06:00, and with eyesight returned to normal. I was transferred up to a ward, given breakfast, and monitored. A whole herd of doctors and other medical professionals turned up later that morning to pass their judgement on me. I was able to stand (feigning a stumble to their lack of amusement) without any trouble at all. The obvious diagnosis from the symptoms was a TIA or mini-stroke. However at 51yrs old, 6ft tall and 78 kilos, and with a cycling hobby, I did not fit the profile of a stroke victim, and there is no history of early heart / circulation conditions in my family. 3 grand parents died in their late 80s / early 90s (the other of Cancer in late 70s) and my Mum in her 80s is still going very strong with no major health problems of this sort.
So they kept me in for a couple of days to monitor me. The single high blood sugar count from one of the tests was explained away as an anomaly (one single high result amongst a full set of compliant ones), the CT scan showed nothing, and there were no other results from tests that showed anything out of the ordinary. I slept for a good chunk of Wednesday. Thursday morning I felt a lot better, showered, changed, and sat by my bed reading The Big Issue and completing some of my Christmas cards.
Lateish on Thursday afternoon they sent me home. I have three further outpatient appointments; a bubble echo, an MRI and a 24hr heart monitor. I'm on 4 drugs (2 off, Aspirin and the associated stomach preserver, are just for 2 weeks), and have been banned from driving for 4 weeks.
Walked home (I live less than a couple of miles from the hospital door), and slept longer than I usually do. But by Friday I felt fine, if a little "wired" from the whole experience. Saturday was again a bit manic, Sunday more measured.
So now I am in mystery land. It wasn't a TIA, as there are no environmental factors that could explain it, but it was a TIA as there is nothing else it could be.
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