(JustPatriots.com)- In a now-viral Twitter thread, a lady alerted users to the many symptoms she experienced after having a stroke, which she says doctors neglected and initially “attributed to hormones.”
Tabitha McIntosh posted on the social media website Tuesday and said- I had a stroke last Thursday while eating a sandwich. I didn’t recognize it, nor did the folks I went to supper with four hours later, nor did the A&E [accident and emergency] doctor when I visited six days last.
The National Stroke Association and other top health organizations use the acronym “Face, Arm, Speech and Time,” or F.A.S.T., which was first used in the United Kingdom in 1998, to “educate the public on detecting symptoms of a stroke,” according to Beaumont Health, a Michigan-based healthcare system.
Beaumont Health says “acute stroke treatments are time-dependent.” Recognizing and responding quickly to stroke symptoms is crucial for proper management.
McIntosh said her face, arm, and voice were OK after her stroke. She did have additional symptoms, but she initially blamed hormones.
She said she suffered a sudden, days-long headache followed by visual whiteout” and attributed it to perimenopause. She said almost everything in a woman’s 50s is blamed on hormones. Symptoms have been ignored your whole life. You disregard them.
Johns Hopkins Medicine says perimenopause causes headaches.
McIntosh suffered limb-kinetic apraxia after her stroke or the inability to make precise finger, arm, or leg movements.
A&E sent her home since she had good speech, no drooping face, and straight arms. If they’d told her to close her eyes and touch her nose, she’d have stuck her finger in her eye.
Three days later, she knew there was an issue. Now she had proof.
McIntosh’s “evidence” was a sheet of paper with Pride and Prejudice’s first sentence written across the top and her failed attempts to type it. A nurse observed this and scanned McIntosh’s brain. She was taken to a stroke ward 11 hours later. The ambulance driver told McIntosh he’d never seen a walking, talking stroke sufferer.
Without a diagnosis, they’d send her home. “If I was less articulate, hadn’t provided documents, hadn’t remained calm, and wasn’t white and middle class,” she wrote.
Your stroke may be silent. Non-stroke specialists can’t detect whether a piece of your brain is dying because there are no symptoms. Long-lasting headaches need medical attention. Being a woman doesn’t mean it’s hormone-related. She said, “Trust yourself.”
Commenters praised McIntosh’s account and “useful” details.
