Medical opinions

[krashdragon]

Okay,To start with... to all of you that are about to post "That sucks!", I know and please don't post or PM it... I do better with out it.

I know you love me and I love you too............ No not that way, back off TWN! But I really do better with out all the "That sucks" posts and PMs. I"m looking for real world experiences. Doctors and lawyers love to give ambiguous answers and I'm 3,000 miles away.

I KNOW internet advice is worth what you pay for it but I also know we have EMTs and Nurses here who may have real life experiences with similar situations.

My wife has high blood pressure.

My wife is in Florida on business and Monday her blood pressure hit 280 over 100 (No thats not a typo.... 280 over 100) by the time she was gotten to the hospital it was down to 234 over 104.

She had a "small" stroke She lost some mobility on her left arm and her left foot "feels like a block of concrete".

She is staying with her sister until she is feeling up to flying home.

Some history on my wife, she is a survivor!

When she was 3 she was playing with matches and lit a couch on fire... while she was on it.

At 4 1/2 she dropped the doll that she had all through burn therapy and ran down the hill to get it... and when the bus took off she was under the wheels.

About 15 years ago she almost died from a brain aneurysm, and later the doctors could find no sign of it.

She has had high blood pressure since she was 21 (she is now 56).

Her blood pressure has been over 200 more than once.

My question (knowing all cases are different) is what are the chances of another stroke (10%, 90%), with therapy haw much can she recover? And any other info you want to pass on.

One more thing about quitting smoking..one of my friend's and her husband both had laser to help her quit.

It worked for both of them. No idea why, I just saw something on tv that said there was no proof, however,

it worked with two 3 pack a day smokers.

The biggest problem was that she is used to having something in her hands, so she does a bit too much snacking.

Good luck and prayers for both of you.

Mary

 

[Fencer]

My grandmother was appearantly feeling bad after comming home from grocery shopping and sat down on the sofa. She left the groceries on the table. They found her dead on the sofa massive stroke (no priors) and the groceries on the table.

Sorry for the buzz kill, just real life experience.

 

[worldbound4now]

Okay,To start with... to all of you that are about to post "That sucks!", I know and please don't post or PM it... I do better with out it.

I know you love me and I love you too............ No not that way, back off TWN! But I really do better with out all the "That sucks" posts and PMs. I"m looking for real world experiences. Doctors and lawyers love to give ambiguous answers and I'm 3,000 miles away.

I KNOW internet advice is worth what you pay for it but I also know we have EMTs and Nurses here who may have real life experiences with similar situations.

My wife has high blood pressure.

My wife is in Florida on business and Monday her blood pressure hit 280 over 100 (No thats not a typo.... 280 over 100) by the time she was gotten to the hospital it

was down to 234 over 104.

She had a "small" stroke She lost some mobility on her left arm and her left foot "feels like a block of concrete".

Some history on my wife, she is a survivor!

When she was 3 she was playing with matches and lit a couch on fire... while she was on it.

At 4 1/2 she dropped the doll that she had all through burn therapy and ran down the hill to get it... and when the bus took off she was under the wheels.

About 15 years ago she almost died from a brain aneurysm, and later the doctors could find no sign of it.

She has had high blood pressure since she was 21 (she is now 56).

Her blood pressure has been over 200 more than once.

My question (knowing all cases are different) is what are the chances of another stroke (10%, 90%), with therapy haw much can she recover? And any other info you want to pass on.

Rogue...

Did your wife have a hemorrhagic (bleeding in her brain) CVA (crebrovascular accident) or an ischemic ("dry stroke".. a clot in a bad place) CVA? If it was a hemorrhagic CVA, please be very cautious with the advice to take an aspirin daily from others on this forum until a neurologist has cleared her from being high risk for further bleeding. You stated she has a history of aneurysm. It is possible that a tiny aneurysm in her brain ruptured and caused her to have this stroke. Most lay people are not aware that a stroke is not solely caused from a clot or bleeding.

With a history of aneurysm, labile blood pressure (cycles from hypertension to normotension to hypotension), long term tobacco use, and increased stress from her endochrine system awry related to her perimenopausal changes, she is at great risk for another stroke. How great? Well, I'm not sure that anybody can answer but she has SIGNIFICANT risk factors.

Risk management is the key. Be sure she has her blood pressure decreased slowly. A sudden drop of greater than 20% can cause another stroke. The vascular structure in her brain is used to the constant pressure on the smooth muscle that lines the vessels. Suddenly removing that pressure can cause the vessels to spasm and cause another stroke. Usually this is great concern in an emergency room setting when they are treating the high blood pressure aggressively with some of our critical care medications. A slow, steady, outpatient drop in her pressure is the standard in this part of the country. She is a week out from the initial insult to her brain so I'd hope this gradual maintenance is being monitored and completed.

STOP SMOKING! STOP SMOKING! and I know you already know it, but STOP SMOKING (payback for you making fun of me for falling over at WFO last year).

Purchase your own blood pressure cuff (any local pharmacy) and check her pressure daily, at the same time of day, seated in the same environment, and log your results. It will help your physician trend out her BP and determine the best action to take.

Give her a lot of TLC, make her feel comfortable, and keep the stress off. Maintaining a strong sense of spirit is imperative to eliminating stress in her life and helping her maintain a strong body image/self concept during her recovery.

As far as flying is concerned... Most commercial flights are pressurized to an atmospheric pressure equivalent to 7500ft above sea level. I believe it is against FAA regulations to have a pressure lower than 1572 pounds per sq ft (similair to 8000ft above sea level). The old fear was that if there was a sudden drop in cabin pressure (the passenger cabin integrity is impaired) the blood vessels would suddenly experience a rush of blood and could cause a hemorrhagic stroke (to simplify it). Similarly, if there was a sudden increase in cabin pressure, the blood vessels would shrink up small and possibly cause an ischemic stroke. Modern aircraft have such redundancy and reliability that this type of event has pretty low chances (I wish I could provide numbers... pilots out there help me out). Driving her home is a bad idea. Long hours sitting still in a car put her at risk for blood clots in her legs, which could break loose when she gets up to move around and cause a heart attack or another stroke. Also the risk for a motor vehicle collision is probably greater than a sudden change in cabin pressure. Have her fly home but tell her to get up every hour and walk the length of the plane and reduce risk of blood clots in her legs (DVT - Deep venous thrombosis).

I've spent the last decade working in the acute care setting as a nurse (mostly emergency and trauma). If you have any specific questions about medications or desire other info, please PM me. I owe you a favor for the help you provided to me.

Best of luck!

Worldbound4now (Peter)

 

[Rogue]

Rogue...
Did your wife have a hemorrhagic (bleeding in her brain) CVA (crebrovascular accident) or an ischemic ("dry stroke".. a clot in a bad place) CVA? If it was a hemorrhagic CVA, please be very cautious with the advice to take an aspirin daily from others on this forum until a neurologist has cleared her from being high risk for further bleeding. You stated she has a history of aneurysm. It is possible that a tiny aneurysm in her brain ruptured and caused her to have this stroke. Most lay people are not aware that a stroke is not solely caused from a clot or bleeding.

The doctors determined that she had a build up in her neck that caused it that isn't currently operable. The doctors have her on a "baby aspirin" a day

Risk management is the key. Be sure she has her blood pressure decreased slowly. A sudden drop of greater than 20% can cause another stroke. The vascular structure in her brain is used to the constant pressure on the smooth muscle that lines the vessels. Suddenly removing that pressure can cause the vessels to spasm and cause another stroke. Usually this is great concern in an emergency room setting when they are treating the high blood pressure aggressively with some of our critical care medications. A slow, steady, outpatient drop in her pressure is the standard in this part of the country. She is a week out from the initial insult to her brain so I'd hope this gradual maintenance is being monitored and completed.

It is back down now so I assume the doctors did it this way and she is monitoring it.

As far as flying is concerned... .... Have her fly home but tell her to get up every hour and walk the length of the plane and reduce risk of blood clots in her legs (DVT - Deep venous thrombosis).

I'll tell her, she should be coming home next Monday.

Purchase your own blood pressure cuff (any local pharmacy) and check her pressure daily, at the same time of day, seated in the same environment, and log your results. It will help your physician trend out her BP and determine the best action to take.

She has two here at home but didn't take either with her, She tends to monitor it closely then after a couple months of no problems lets it drop out, I'll need to keep on her about it.

Give her a lot of TLC, make her feel comfortable, and keep the stress off. Maintaining a strong sense of spirit is imperative to eliminating stress in her life and helping her maintain a strong body image/self concept during her recovery.

I plan to, I was going to cancel going to WFO but she wants me to and I arranged to have our daughter come over and stay with her while I'm gone.

STOP SMOKING! STOP SMOKING! and I know you already know it, but STOP SMOKING (payback for you making fun of me for falling over at WFO last year).

:****:

I plan to go over this with her when she gets home and if she will quit I will.

 

[Thug]

Hey Rogue just as an aside the information given here or anywhere else for that matter is a guide only and any and I mean any medical info should always be check out by your local friendly Medical professional. I thought that was a give and not taken as gospel?

 

[Rogue]

Hey Rogue just as an aside the information given here or anywhere else for that matter is a guide only and any and I mean any medical info should always be check out by your local friendly Medical professional. I thought that was a give and not taken as gospel?

Well usually I try to do the exact opposite of what I'm told here!

Surprisingly a lot here is the same as what her doctors have said , but I got my real questions answered which were real life observations and I now have a better understanding of different types of strokes.

 

[Thug]

:good: Surprisingly a lot here is the same as what her doctors have said" Funny that?

 

[BobG]

My wife had a stroke about 3 years ago. She was 44 at the time. I saw the tennis ball size dead spot in her brain during the MRI, there were a bunch of small ones in there also.

The only way we knew what happened to her was it affected her cognitive reading ability. Hers did not effect any motor skills as we could see.

Hers was caused by High blood pressure, being really out of shape, and bad kidney function.

Also she hated Drs and therapy so much, I convinced her to go back to college in lieu of therapy.

It at first was a struggle for her, of course, Both getting her Meds right, and retraining her brain to get her short term memory and cognitive ability back.

She had head aches for about a year after, and her cognitive reading abilities are mostly back, not the same but back.

Since she went back to college her reading and word pronunciation was retrained at a college level ability. Before she mispronounced many words, I do not see her doing that now.

It is still hard for her but she knows how to study to succeed.

She is passing college with not a bad GPA for someone who was afraid to go.

We joke now that even with a half a brain she could still pass college.

There subtle things about her that are different, some of her phobias are gone. I will be damned if I will remind her of what she was afraid of.

The one thing we do say this was a warning shot for her to change her life, how she was living it.

Hope it works out well for you and your wife.

Bob

 

[CALSI]

My question (knowing all cases are different) is what are the chances of another stroke (10%, 90%), with therapy haw much can she recover? And any other info you want to pass on.

No doctor here. My Father had a major stroke two years ago. Could not eat, walk, speak. Therapy, hard hard hard therapy. He can now eat, walk and speak a little. He is happy to still be among us. I strongly believe it is the therapy and she needs to go as soon as possible to a center that specializes in stroke victims. It may take some time and the worst enemy with stroke is patience. You need a lot of it. My father says he gets frustrated because his mind is telling his legs to do something and then they won't work. Remember my father had a "MAJOR" stroke.

Chances of having another stroke is hard to say. The doctors will more than likely put her on a blood thinner (you really need to keep track of the numbers) you'll understand has you go through the process. Therepy, blood thinner, high blood pressure pills, she'll be with you for sometime. My dad has been with us for two years and he is looking better every day. Remember this is a man who we were thinking about letting go. The brain is amazing! There is a lot of support groups and forums that could answer your questions more than I. Go to a stroke caregiver support group. You'll find most of your answers there. Good Luck

Karen

 

[CALSI]

If stopping smoking is considered I have a recommendation: Chantrix. It is a relatively new prescription that I just used to quit smoking. It works. It counteracts the effects of nicotine on the pleasure sensors. Anyway, it works. The only side effect that I experienced was a change in the way some things tasted. Mostly, it was drinks. My favorite diet Mt. Dew no longer tastes good. Oh, well. Anyway, ask your medical professional about the stuff.

Second vote for Chantix. It is a new drug and has had great success. Some insurances cover it. So be sure to have your pharmacy call before just saying no it's not covered.

 

[VMax_03]

rouge,
i'm i south fla if you need forum support for your mrs...

it almost sounds like your mrs had a 'tia' transient ischemic attack...

as has been said, recovery from her signs and symptoms can easily be 97-100%

the danger is that a 'tia' is a major warning sign... without major med/diet/lifestyle changes, the 'big one', or more tia's until the big one, are just around the corner...

dana

20 year street medic (retired)

Rogue,

It does sound like it may have been a TIA (minor stroke).

I had one several years ago followed by a heart attack about six months later. Unfortunately, I changed nothing in my lifestyle after the TIA and I sure paid for it. After the heart attack, I got serious about my health.

Reducing weight and smoking is a definite requirement ... along with better diet and exercise.

Your wife and you will be in my thjoughts and prayers. Let me know if I can help.

JW