My three days in the hospital

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by hoopsguy

Very sad to hear this, JPhillips. Hopefully the doctors are able to provide some more clarity this time around than last time.

What would they need to do to prove their theory?
How big of a deal is it to be on blood thinners? Are you worried about that process, or the fact that you've now had two episodes in the past two years?

I think they'd have to do a scan while an episode is happening. Hopefully they won't be able to do that! I don't think the blood thinners are a big deal, but I had come to terms with the first episode and now it's all back in front of me again. It's as scared as I've ever been. I had medical issues when I was in college, but I was largely alone and I didn't worry about what could happen. Now I see my daughter and it makes facing mortality a lot worse.

btw- Thanks to everyone for your support. At the end of the day there are a lot of people to lean on and at least for me it makes it easier having a little bit of anonymity. I'm from the mid-west and we don't generally share much.

[Drake]

Originally Posted by KWhit

Glad you're okay!

The exact same thing happened to me a few years ago. I only had to spend 1 day in the hospital, but had the same tests done (including the tube down the throat for the ECG heart view).

I had the same speech difficulty and crazy tingling in one side of my body. My tongue went numb and about 5 minutes later had the worst headache of my life - just on one side of my head. They thought it was stroke at first too, but all test came back normal.

So ultimately they diagnosed me with aura migranes. I've had one episode since then but nowhere near as bad (no speech problems for one thing), but the doctor did mention that I should probably cut back on caffeine as that can make migranes worse.

Of course, I am typing this from Starbucks, so...

When I had those symptoms, it turned out to be encephalitic meningitis. I lost a month in the hospital (December 2002). I was an odd case of meningitis because my symptoms started in October -- I spent a week in the hospital, they did what amounted to about $250k in tests, including two spinal taps, all of which came back negative -- but didn't develop full-blown meningitis until December.

You guys are more on top of things than I was, though. When I got dizzy, stroke-y, my whole body when tingly and/or numb and the massive headaches, I just went and took a nap until the symptoms went away.

Glad to hear you're being proactive, JPhillips. If symptoms persist or anything new crops up, don't hesitate to take yourself back to the hospital. I was extremely lucky (per my neurologist) that I didn't have any long-term damage from trying to "tough it out" and/or "not alarm my wife".

[Subby]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

If you're gonna check out early, I'd want it to be from something like apoplexy to an extreme conservative revolution, not some b.s. like this () so do what you gotta & keep this under control, then live long & prosper.

[Subby]

Hang in there, JP.

Getting old sucks - I am still in major denial about being 40. Good job staying on top of this stuff...better than putting your head in the sand.

[molson]

Shit. Ya, it's great that you're attacking it as best you can, it may seem second-nature to you, but way too many men, even those with families, are just in denial about this kind of stuff and ignore it. Of course, your reward for being so proactive is you get to be worried about it more. But like any stressful even, the key is just getting as much time between you and it as possible, every single second will help, so anything you can find to distract yourself is as good as medicine as far as the mental aspect. And sure, you, like everyone, will have health shit to deal with in the future, but still, every second you get further away from this will put you in stronger and better mental place.

[JPhillips]

Has anyone had any experience with ocular or basilar migraines? The more I read about them the more it sounds like my symptoms. In particular the headache and nausea that I attributed to the new medication would line up perfectly with those types of migraines.

Needless to say, that would put my in a much better state of mind than multiple TIAs.

[rowech]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Has anyone had any experience with ocular or basilar migraines? The more I read about them the more it sounds like my symptoms. In particular the headache and nausea that I attributed to the new medication would line up perfectly with those types of migraines.

Needless to say, that would put my in a much better state of mind than multiple TIAs.

I get migraines with aura which I believe are similar to both of those. Ocular I think are the aura without the actual migraine and if that's all it is, count your blessings.

I've had them since I was five and typically get one once a month. There are some warning signs that I've learned to pay attention to through the years...

1. I will get very hyper as I get close to having a migraine.

2. I have to manage the release of my stress so it comes down slowly and not all at once. Often I get them when massive amounts of stress come to an abrupt end.

3. I must watch my intake of dairy - in particular a lot of cheese over the course of a couple of days will often produce one.

4. I will have very repetitious dreams a night or two before I get migraines. It will sometimes be I'm having the same dream over and over or I'll have dreams that have different starts buts always end the same way.

As for the aura, one of the best ways I can describe it is when you're looking at one of those 3D books looking for the hidden images. After a while that same type of look will be in your eyes. It will typically start just as a quick sparkle, almost as if you looked into light just a little too fast. But if you move your eyes and refocus you will constantly see that speck in the same location. Slowly, it will expand to become essentially blinding. Unable to focus, I never drive with it as it's just not safe. After about 15-20 minutes its insane the flashing/sparkle effect and then after about another 10-20 minutes (30-40 total) it will slowly start to fade away and then presto the pain begins -- typically on one side of my head.

They usually last 8-48 hours for me and when I was younger, I would get sick every time. As an adult, it's maybe once a year I end up throwing up from them. Amazingly though, it makes so much of the pain disappear almost instantly.

I have no clue if any of this will help you or not but maybe you'll find something in there to help or that will sound familiar.

[sterlingice]

I'm nothing at all near a doctor, but that almost sounds like a food allergy that is triggered when you accumulate a certain level

SI

[JPhillips]

The flash of the vision effect here: http://www.allaboutvision.com/condit...r-migraine.htm looks like what I experienced.

The speech problems of this LA reporter are almost exactly what happened to me and she's been diagnosed with ocular migraines.



I have doctor's appointment Thursday and this is going to be the center of discussion.

[Butter]

I remember seeing that video before, it's scary stuff. Here's hoping that you can keep this in check.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Has anyone had any experience with ocular or basilar migraines? The more I read about them the more it sounds like my symptoms. In particular the headache and nausea that I attributed to the new medication would line up perfectly with those types of migraines.

Needless to say, that would put my in a much better state of mind than multiple TIAs.

Hi J, I honestly felt from the first moment that this sounds like a severe or particular type of migraine. I get an occasional migraine, and there are similarities (the hand tingling, vision issues). Although truth be told, my symptoms look a lot more like some of the responses to you than yours, which seems more severe (but, also, I would really classify my migraines as very mild in comparison to most).

I wish the best for you, and hope that this isn't as serious as it sounds. But better to be proactive as you are doing than to ignore it, as has been said by a number of others here already.

[Chief Rum]

BTW, migraines are very difficult to actually diagnose, judging from the research I have done. There are many potential symptoms and few of them happen to nearly everyone, where you can really nail down what is going on. And tests are hard to do and generally inconclusive. The symptoms are the type, too, that show up for a number of other potential maladies.

The girl I am seeing suffers from terrible, debilitating migraines (unfortunately) that can wipe her out for days. Be glad you don't have those, as they have definitely had a negative effect on her life.

[Dodgerchick]

Good luck tomorrow!

[JPhillips]

Saw my PCP and he seems confident in the ocular migraine diagnosis. I'll see the neurologist next week. Being able to better describe the event helped a lot according to the doctor. After the first one I was too freaked out to say much of anything definitively.

I may be the only person thrilled to have a diagnosis of migraines. That's a whole lot better than TIAs and waiting to have a major stroke.

[CrimsonFox]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Saw my PCP and he seems confident in the ocular migraine diagnosis. I'll see the neurologist next week. Being able to better describe the event helped a lot according to the doctor. After the first one I was too freaked out to say much of anything definitively.

I may be the only person thrilled to have a diagnosis of migraines. That's a whole lot better than TIAs and waiting to have a major stroke.

i get those every year. They suck

[hoosierdude]

Interested to know how JPhillips is doing now! Hope you are doing better man. To all the others with migraine and stroke issues.. I hope things are better for you all as well. Scary stuff.

[Ksyrup]

Reading this thread, it immediately made me think of Craig Worthing's on-air mini-stroke on WFTL, a south Florida AM talk radio station. This was a late night show and I happened to be listening in the car as I was driving around town. This happened in the early 90s.

It was crazy listening to this in real-time as he was trying to be a professional through it all but unable to open the show and completely flummoxed about what was going on. As one of the YT posters who was in the control room that night said, he had a mini-stroke caused by a Transient Ischemic Attack.

Craig Worthing Radio Clip - On-Air Stroke - YouTube

[JPhillips]

I'm good. I was a little shocked that a bot brought this thread back to life.

I don't have migraines often, although my last one was in February when my Mom passed. I can feel them coming on now, so I know that I'm going to need a little time for the worst of the symptoms to pass. The aura sucks, but isn't scary. The inability to speak still freaks me out, but that doesn't always happen

Mostly what I've learned medically is that the brain is weird and we still don't know much about how it works.