After a Stroke: Transient Ischaemic Attacks

One of the reasons Mum came out of the Independent Living Unit was because she was complaining of headaches and had some new stroke-like symptoms, such as slurred speech and numbness. The good news is that she has had a CT scan and there’s no sign of her having had a new major stroke. The bad news is that the Doctors are pretty sure she’s had a series of TIAs – a Transient Ischaemic Attack.

Otherwise known as a mini-stroke, these are caused by a temporary blockage of an artery by a blood clot. A TIA has the same symptoms as a stroke; it’s just that those symptoms are temporary and usually last for only 24 hours. TIA is a risk factor for stroke but it’s also common in people who’ve already had a stroke (I couldn’t determine how common – most TIA information sheets are concerned with TIAs as a warning sign for people who’ve never had one).

Dad informs me that Mum is still having TIA symptoms, although they are not as bad as last week. As usual, I’ll try to update the blog when I know more.