Question: Stroke or "complicated Migraine?" Symptoms persist.
Answer:
Full Question:
I was recently diagnosed as having a stroke
then revised to having a complex migraine. I am 47 years old and had only one
migraine in my life do to a chiropractic adjustment I had a year and a half ago.
July 23, 2005 I was out in the heat the day they said on the radio do not be out
for more than 10 minutes and due to the cows getting out I was out for 4 hours.
I became confused, couldn't remember the president or the year or the best way
to get back to the truck even though I new right where it was at. My husband
took my to the clinic 10 minutes away where they gave me 2 liters of fluids,
when I tried to stand up and walk I could not. I had weakness in both legs but
more so in the left. I Spent 6 days in the hospital with total left sided
weakness and on the 3rd and 4th day I had migraines. The pain in my head was not
one-sided, it was more like my head was placed in a vise and someone was
screwing it down at the temples. The light did affect it and so did the noise
but I have never had a history of them like I have been reading about. My only
history is that I have been over heated in the past and every time I go outside
even if it is in the low 80's my head starts to hurt. When I got out of the
hospital I got another migraine exactly one month to the day and my period never
came when I discontinued my Zovia (birth control pills). I know that hormonal
change can bring on a migraine and a migraine can bring on stroke symptoms but I
had the stroke symptoms then the migraines then went off the pill. Does the heat
have any bearing on any of this?? It is August 6th and I and still have some
left sided weakness, I can't spell and do math as well. I have now been on 25 mg
Topamax for 2 weeks and 50 mg for almost 2 but still have a headache with the
fullness in the left ear. Sheri.
Answer:
Dear Sheri;
It sounds like you've been through a lot lately. Certainly, stroke-like event is possible but you do not mention what imaging studies did or didn't show. 30-50% of strokes and TIAs will be accompanied by a headache. This can be migrainous or not. Also, heat-related headaches certainly do exist. Your residual symptoms might be stroke-related or a part of a "complicated Migraine," although this length of time seems a bit long. I would seek the advice of your local headache expert to sort these events out. There's a link below to our directory of recommended specialists.
Good luck,
Teri Robert and John Claude Krusz
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Published February 20, 2006
