Can a mini stroke not be a TIA? I'm confused

[Whisky2014]

My MIL told my husband and I last week that FIL was in hospital after suffering numb hands and I think a numb leg.
She messaged us to say they weren't sure what it was but everything appeared "normal" on test results when they'd tested for a stroke.
So he was released next day and we just thought it was some kind of episode but not sure what. My FIL doesn't like talking about any health issues and my husband wouldn't ask outright what's been going on.
Fast forward to this past weekend and FIL and MIL were up visiting us. I had an event with my MIL and she'd had a few drinks where I was sober and driving. On driving us home she let slip it was a "mini stroke" bit she actually said "But it wasn't a TIA".
FIL apparently has numb fingertips which he may never get feeling back for.
I'm just googling mini strokes and everything references TIA. So can a mini stroke be anything else?

I had a TIA previously and they called it a mini stroke in hospital. BUT that was because my stroke was Ischemic (the I in TIA) i.e. a wandering fat lump got stuck and not haemorrhagic (brain bleed). I suppose, if it was a mini haemorrhagic stroke then it wouldnt be a TIA.

Mind you, I am glad I had an Ischemic stroke and not a brain bleed. With Ischemic you just have to sort out the cause of the floating lumps. With a brain bleed it means there was a weakness that burst and that would scare me more!

Oh I see. Right ok so just reading you're reply has reminded me they did send him for a scan and apparently will get the results in 2 weeks time..well I guess 1 week now.
:(

A TIA is transient, ie all symptoms go away within 24 hours.
A mini stroke is a small stroke that leaves you with a small amount of deficit after 24 hours.

We recently had this conversation with our GP. My husband had what we we thought were TIA's, but the GP said if you have residual effects they're now classified as strokes. If the symptoms pass off completely they're counted as TIA's.

Sorry, just saw blueuggboots comment above.

Hi, I'm late to this thread but turns out my mum has had a mini stroke. It happened a couple of days ago but she didn't tell anyone until she'd been to the docs today & they referred her. Can I ask what sort of treatment you/your FIL had to have after? Do they do ongoing monitoring? Thank you. She's having more tests tomorrow.

Anyone who has had a TIA /stroke should be addressed to see whether there are any risk factors that need to be addressed (high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, obesity etc) if there are, then long term medication or other intervention might be needed. This is a good source of info if you want to know about recommendation of care
www.stroke.org.uk/resources/national-clinical-guideline-stroke-patient-version