Terrified. Was it a TIA / Mini-stroke?

[WhatAWeekend]

Name changed to avoid outing self.

My DH had a terrifying episode on Saturday night. He had stayed up watching TV and woke me up in the early hours by thrashing round the kitchen. I came down to tell him off but quickly realised he wasn't really himself

He was talking absolute jibberish, slurring his words, very clumsy, lost hand-eye co-ordination, and was really confused. He was talking to me and thought he was making sense, but actually it was just a jumble of words, most of them not even connected.

I genuinely thought he was having a stroke so called an ambulance (felt like a plonker; the person on the phone clearly thought he was just drunk but I knew it was much, much different to when he is drunk) and the paramedic who came was as bemused/concerned as I was. He did some basic tests and then called an ambulance crew to transport DH to hospital.

By the time we got to hospital (maybe an hour after the initial call?) DH was lucid but was still very confused. He kept asking me to repeat what had happened and would occasionally ramble about unrelated things.

Because he was lucid and acting relatively normally by this point we obviously weren't high up the priority list and were in A&E for hours and eventually sent home without seeing a doctor (the wait would have been more hours and the nurse recommended a rest and seeing his own GP today)

Saw GP today. He was very patient, very thorough in observing DH and listening in detail to what happened, but says we'll probably never know why it happened and should try to relax and assume it won't happen again. He's ordered some blood tests and uhm-ed and ahh-ed over whether to book a CT. In the end he hasn't booked the CT, saying the chance DH had a Mini-stroke/TIA are 'virtually nil' due to his age and otherwise good health.

I'm still concerned. I know this GP has done years and years of training. I know I should just trust him. But Saturday night was terrifying and I really, really don't want it to happen again. Everything I find online suggests that young people can and do have TIAs and that TIAs are often warning signs before a bigger stroke. WWYD? Should we go back and request the CT? (Any risks of a CT? Why wouldn't he have asked for one?) Get a second opinion? Anything else?

If you got this far, thank you I needed to get that off my chest!

Epilepsy? A simple partial fit can be like this

That was mentioned as a possibility. How would we find out if that was it? Or if it was likely to happen again?

How horribly frightening for both of you.

If you are still concerned go back to your GP and ask the questions about the CT scan - the risks and the chances of the CT scan showing anything up if it was a fully resolved TIA.

How old is DH? Have the symptoms fully resolved? How long do you think the the whole episode lasted?

My Dsis had an episode where she couldn't speak coherently to her OH. They called an ambulance and diagnosed a possible TIA. Then she had a few fainting episodes and was finally diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat and fitted with a pacemaker.
The lack of bloodflow when her heart wasn't behaving was enough to mimic the symptoms of a TIA/mini stroke.

There are two options

1. Go back to GP and ask for a referral to neurology but not a lot for neuro to go on and eye witness accounts are often most useful
2. Wait and see - no further issues = fab. further issue = more evidence

Worrying for you but if it were me I'd ignore and hope it didn't happen again

Thank you all

DH is 34 and usually in very good health. This is why the GP has discounted the idea of a TIA at the moment.

The incoherence/clumsiness lasted between 30-60 mins. The confusion about another 3-4 hours. He's still exhausted/weak (worried?)

I think you should go back to the GP. This may have been a TIA or a seizure or something completely innocent but the story sounds concerning and obviously you're very worried.

I showed the thread to my DH (medic) and he said if this had happened to one of us he would be requesting a CT scan or referral to a rapid access TIA clinic.

Hope it turns out to be nothing though.

I'm a GP and would refer to rapid access TIA clinic for sure.
They would organise a scan.

Thank you. I'll discuss it with DH tomorrow and see if he wants to go back to the GP (don't want to mention it now as trying to keep bedtimes stress free in case any of it was stress induced).

I just re-read my OP and thought I should add that, despite my continuing worry, I was REALLY impressed with the way we were treated throughout this whole situation. The GP today was lovely, very thorough, very reassuring. I have huge respect for him and everyone else working in the NHS. Questioning doctors in this way doesn't come naturally to me and I don't want to seem like a nagging wife, but I am very concerned.

If any of you are doctors, how would you expect someone who had a TIA to act in the days after it?

OP-

My DH had a stroke aged 29. He was and still is very healthy. He is a professional athlete for crying out loud! He thankfully is OK two years on but has lost half of his vision permanently.

I say get the referal. Tbh, the neurologist although lovely couldn't help and was just as shocked as every other medical professional. But it needs to be checked out. A mini stroke or TIA I don't think would show on a CT now though? Not sure.

Oh. And the cause? A PFO-basically a hole in the heart that a quarter of population have. Obviously most have no problems. He has since had an op to close it.

Thank you for sharing your story BB

You've all convinced me. Will discuss again with DH tomorrow.

Anyone know why a GP wouldn't recommend CT? Is it financial? Are there dangerous side effects?

My dad was taken ill with a TIA in work - in the hospital kitchen where he was working at the time! So he was fastracked into A&E and sent home a couple of hours later with a diagnosis, followup appointments, and a handful of meds (mostly aspirin I think).

Now he was in his late 50's, had smoked for years in the past, and was a chef (retired now, not the healthiest of professions) but the meds completely worked for him and he didn't have any more TIA's. I'd get your DH to push for a referral, just in case. You never know what they might find, and these days so much is easily treatable. Hope everything works out OK for him.

I know it is unlikely that a young person will have a mini-stroke, but I know a man of 28 and 48 who had them, the latter was a massive one, but did survive. My niece's DH also had a mild stroke in his 40s, and was in hospital for 2 weeks.

My 83 year-old neighbour had that sudden gobblygook coming out of her mouth one morning while her friend was visiting, luckily, who phoned the ambulance. She had an ultra sound on her left Carotid artery, and it was subsequently cleaned out.
Then , despite her not having any symptoms of heart problems, they decided to give her an echocardiogram, and she had a single bypass op.

My nieces DH is permanently on medication to avoid the risk happening again as still in his 40s

Don't ignore it. I would certainly want this checked out.