To go back to A&E or the GP?

[iLiveALifeOfSin]

Shamelessly posting for traffic.

So last week, I woke up with the start of a migraine. I get them every few months and have a stash of triptans in the cupboard.

When I woke up I felt really confused. Almost like I didn't know what was reality and what wasn't. Almost like the start of a panic attack, but this wasn't a panic attack.
As soon as I stood up I felt really woozy. Off balance and horrible. DH was on his way home from dropping DD off. So I didn't bother calling anyone. Anyway pretty much as soon as I stood up, the pain struck my head right above my eye and then over the course of a few hours the headache moved around various places of my head. When DH got home he said I was really off balance (I felt it) and the words that were coming out of my mouth were really slow and I took ages to answer his questions. I booked a GP appointment and DH took me. I had a bit of weakening on my right side and I looked dreadful so GP told me to go straight to A&E. (I have other medical problems so that probably played a part in GPS decision too.)

I went, they gave me sumatriptan spray and bloods etc. i was talking okay at this point and my balance has come back.
Ever since then I've had on and off difficulty swallowing. More so with food than drink but sometimes it's as if as soon as I go to swallow there's a mental block and I suddenly can't remember how to swallow. I'm also forgetting everyday words and I'm finding I'm second guessing things I'm doing. But now I'm aware of it, I'm sort of hyper alert and I don't know if I'm over thinking it. It's been a week now and I'm still a bit forgetful with words and the swallowing thing (which is worse in the evening) is still very much still here. A&E put it down to a nasty migraine.

The reason the GP said to go to A&E is I have SVT and LQTS, 2 heart conditions. And I have a raised D-Dimer. It's been raised for a few months anywhere from 600-2000s and they're unsure why. I've had X-rays and no clots found in my chest. I'm not sure if any of that is relevant.

Because of my heart conditions, and a previous cancer diagnosis I do get very anxious when it comes to anything health related, and I've had panic attacks before. Mostly when I was having chemo and surgery. And also when I have an SVT run, I get terrified and often also have panic attacks.

Im wondering due to the lingering symptoms if I need to be seen again? Or am I over thinking this and still recovering from this 'migraine?' The head pain was awful and lasted 4 days in total. I'm sort of torn as to whether these lingering symptoms are anxiety / a mental thing, or if I still have this migraine a week later?

Thank you. Sorry for posting in AIBU. I didn't get a lot of responses when I posted before in health.

I think you should speak to GP again tomorrow. You need a head MRI really because of your other medical conditions.

I have complex migraines which include some very odd symptoms -hemiplegia, cognitive issues, difficulty word finding and they can last for weeks or longer, so it's possible it's that but it's important to rule other things out asap.

Thank you, I'll do that.

Another thing I've had since is really really loud ringing in my ears. Not constantly but it's there a lot.
Guhhh. I'm really worried :(

@Blanketenvy

I don't have any head pain at all anymore either. The whole thing is very bizarre!

Yeah it can be very strange. People think migraine is a bad headache but some of my most awful migraines I have no head pain at all am just dizzy, disorientated, sleepy etc. Hopefully it is just that lingering but you do need to rule out more serious issues asap, if you can't get an urgent GP appt to back to a&e and just explain what you have said here.

I'd be worried that this might have been a stroke. I'd definitely be pushing GP to book me in with a neurologist and ideally try to get a brain scan ASAP. As PP said it could be many less serious things like weird migraines, epilepsy etc but it could be something serious so I'd definitely go back and push for further investigation.

If the episode wasn’t normal and followed a different pattern and recovery than usual for you, I would go back.

I have complex migraine, often with hemiplegic features, word finding and cognitive issues, they can last for several days and then there’s the ‘migraine hangover’ afterwards, which can be a like a slightly reduced version of the migraine itself. I had a strikingly similar episode a couple of years ago, except I forgot who I was or where I was for a short time when it started. GP sent me straight to the hospital with a suspected stroke/TIA.

I was seen in the AMU, who ran lots of tests and ultimately put it down to ‘atypical migraine’. I was under a lot of stress at the time and my other health issues were causing me to be very sleep deprived, so the internal medicine consultant prescribed total bed rest and gave me diazepam to be used for 3 nights to get some decent quality sleep.

I was allowed home overnight, but had to back in the next day for monitoring and also told if things didn’t improve to go straight back. With your history of raised d-dimer and if prolonged symptoms aren’t normal for you I would go back and push for more tests.

Thank you all.

One of my heart conditions causes me to have seizures (very rarely) so I'm now worrying that it's linked.

I've submitted an e-consult, the GP is usually pretty good given my med history. Was chatting to DH over dinner and I genuinely thought it was Sunday. Completely forgot that he went to work today. I've thought it was Sunday all day today.

I don't know what in earth is going on but I feel so surreal almost dream like. Ugh this is really, really grim. My heart hasn't gone under 105 today either. Probably because I'm worried about this. If I get too carried away and make my heart beat too fast it can put me into an SVT run. (I'm waiting ablation and pacemaker)

Just want to get back to normal 😔

My brother has all the same symptoms as a stroke when he has a migraine & Ieft with slurred speech & hangover symptoms afterwards. Do you have any idea what your triggers are or have you had any recent hormonal changes? I have only ever had migraine after giving birth or after my total hysterectomy.

It sounds like it could be something like Hemiplegic Migraine which is a migraine with stroke-like symptoms, confusion, difficulty with words, weakness in one side, head pain, off balance and as PP mentioned the migraine hangover, I've had all the above with migraine attacks, at times Ive lost the ability to recognise people and place and lost the power of speech. The hangover can sometimes be worse than the migraine.

Definitely chase up the GP and ask if they can refer you for a CT.MRI scan so they can see if this has caused any damage,

Related to the heart issues do you have a PFO (Patent foramen ovale) as that can be related to migraine? Im not sure if that could be related to your other heart issues, a heart echo might show this?

Could well be a hemiplegic migraine, but that's generally a diagnosis made after a normal MRI scan.