D. Michael Whelan: I suffered a stroke with no signs of damage. Then the seizures began.

I suffered a stroke with no signs of damage. Then the seizures began. Stroke patients need emotional as well as medical treatment.

I feel strings of rusty nails shoot up and down my right side. I’m on fire, struggling to breathe. My head and ears pound. Suddenly, it stops and I pass out. 

The next morning, I feel awful, but I function fine. I walk around and converse with my grandmother. It’s my birthday, and a friend is taking me out, so I shower and get ready. I can walk, talk, smile and make jokes. I only have a fever and a headache, neither life-threatening. Yet hours later, several seizures land me in the emergency room. It’s discovered that I had two major strokes the night before. How? I had carried on as though everything was fine. 

My memory reset after only a minute. I’d ask someone to repeat themselves because I hadn’t heard them, but once they did, I’d forgotten what we were talking about.

Had I known I’d had a stroke, I would have gone to the hospital. But shouldn’t part of my body have gone limp, or my face drooped? Shouldn’t I have slurred or had blurred vision? Despite the moderate buzz in my head and ears, I was 100 percent. 

I also didn’t match any at-risk criteria, or the common conception of a stroke victim: 55 or older, overweight, a smoker. I was a lean, active 20-something who didn’t smoke, didn’t do drugs and rarely had a drink. I did not have high blood pressure or high cholesterol. I didn’t have diabetes or sleep apnea, didn’t take birth control or other hormone therapies. 

https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/stroke-no-signs-damage-seizures-began-rcna31250

---