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A relative has just had a "warning" stroke.
What happens next? Can they supply preventative medication or do we have to sit and wait for the next one?
Wife has gone to hospital so I'm at home with the kids wondering what to expect.
Depends why. Medication can reduce risk of further strokes, they may never have another of they may have a big one soon.
Can they supply preventative medication or do we have to sit and wait for the next one?
Yep, preventative medication is available.
they may never have another or they may have a big one soon.
Yeah that rule "they may have a big one soon" applies to the general population. No need to worry the OP needlessly. IMHO.
The rehab ward I was in mainly dealt with stroke. From talking to the well recovered patients and the nurses, it seemed that the minor strokes were usually well treated and recovered really well. Try Dr Death on here. He's a good friend of mine as well as an A&E doc.
Hope all is well.
Some useful support info here. Best wishes to your relative.
http://www.stroke.org.uk/information/index.html
http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Transient-ischaemic-attack/Pages/Introduction.aspx
Fill your boots with reading about that lot. Assuming that a "warning" stroke is a TIA.
by warning stroke do you mean a TIA(mini stroke) or a small bleed as they would be treated entirely diferently
Can they supply preventative medication
Yes.
My dad had one around 12 years ago and never had another - and made an almost perfect recovery - no loss of function nor slurred speech after about 3 months. Unfortunately he did have a small heart attack a few years later, from which he made a pretty good recovery. Unfortunately a rather innocuous-seeming bout of pneumonia did for him in 2009.
No idea if that is of use, but I guess I am saying that one stroke needn't mean another.
i wish your relative my best wishes to recover.
I think just about the only things that could have caused my dad to improve his lifestyle was having his brain or heart explode. It was terrifying at the time but all in all it's been a positive thing, as mad as it sounds. Obviously don't know if there's a lifestyle background here though. I wish you both all the best though.
Cutting a long story short,
My mum had one a few years ago. Laid up unconscious in a hospital for a couple of days, scared the proverbial out of me. When she came round, seemed initially fine, asked how we all were, then asked how her mother was. Her mother's been dead twenty years. (I replied something like, "oh, no change...")
Fast forward to today, she's largely fine. Outwardly you'd never know she'd had one, mentally sharp as she ever was (which is pretty bloody sharp). She has issues with hand-eye coordination (in that her hand isn't where she thinks it is and needs to adjust) and balance (turning round sharply isn't a good idea) but on the whole she's essentially back to normal.
The point I'm getting at here is, (in my experience) the initial few weeks after the stroke aren't indicative of long-term health. Try not to jump to conclusions too quickly.
Hope everything works out matey.
hey, it could be loads of things has he had a scan yet?
this was one of many wrong diagnosis i was given instead of the correct one which was lyme disease.
edit...doing very well on the antibiotics for those that had an interest.
i ve had a stroke.. november 16th 2009 11.16 am only slight ( lost vision for 15 minutes and disabling vertigo for a week) consultant said i was more likely statistically to have another and that it would take two years to get to max recovery level. 18 months on sight is spot on and i have a vertigo attack once a month.
no medication no routines to follow. lucky very lucky.
[url= http://www.stroke.org.uk/ ]Stroke Association[/url]
We deal with these guys a lot at work there's a helpline you can ring if you have any questions you want answering properly.
Hope everything is ok