TIA SUPPORT Community Group
This is primarily a sub-group for stroke victims,,a TIA is a mini stroke and has its own conditions and own problems and it's own issues..
First off ..there has got to be loads of folks out there that have had experiences or who are dealing with TIA's ...I am sure there must be a least a couple of national associations that cater to this particular condition...I wish I was adept at the marketing end of this ,,not that I need to market anything,,but want to figure out how I can get this place noticed and involved in the national and yes International TIA community..
My story is probably not that different than yours..perhaps...for years I have had hypertension and my physical health was based on taking medication to address this issue...over the course of time..and living with stress for quite a while...conditions were ripe for something like this to occur and I seemed to fall into the target age range for this anyway....
In May of last year I went into hospital for what was thought to be a cardiac issue,,,which was cleared an I was released...about a month later I had a severe episode in my head and everything went off kilter and had some very serious balance problems and cognitive impairment issues,,, I went into hospital again and this time they went the neuro route,,,MRI revealed that I had had a small TIA..and it was really never explained to me at the time of this happening what all this was about...I wish I had obtained some counseling as this to me was a game changer....I was released with additional medications and very soon went back to work...The people at work were basically VERY UNSYMPATHIC to what happened to me and they refused to consider a work load reduction till I had got a specific authorization from my primary doctor..they insisted that I handle a full load equivalent to any other employee till that paperwork came down...
My job performance hit the skids and I could barely manage day to day...IT WAS DAMN TOUGH TO KEEP UP..a small incident occurred at the end of July which had more to do with a misunderstanding but could have easily been attributed to fallout from my impairment...(I was functioning at about 85% normal)...My boss became ballistic over this situation and I was terminated...they later I found out hired someone at about $4k less than I was making ..I considered going to court but to what end ??..Maybe I should have... but I didn't ..
Through a paperwork and change of insurance providers I lost out on Cobra...which I could not afford anyway.. the agency was fighting me on my unemployment as well...accusations and misrepresentations were flying fast and furious...I won my appeal...still I do not have insurance as insurance underwriters refuse to handle pre-existing conditions and my only avenue is to get employee based health coverage with a new job...
At age 61.. goooooood luck !!!... so that is my story...
My story is probably not that different than yours..perhaps...for years I have had hypertension and my physical health was based on taking medication to address this issue...over the course of time..and living with stress for quite a while...conditions were ripe for something like this to occur and I seemed to fall into the target age range for this anyway....
In May of last year I went into hospital for what was thought to be a cardiac issue,,,which was cleared an I was released...about a month later I had a severe episode in my head and everything went off kilter and had some very serious balance problems and cognitive impairment issues,,, I went into hospital again and this time they went the neuro route,,,MRI revealed that I had had a small TIA..and it was really never explained to me at the time of this happening what all this was about...I wish I had obtained some counseling as this to me was a game changer....I was released with additional medications and very soon went back to work...The people at work were basically VERY UNSYMPATHIC to what happened to me and they refused to consider a work load reduction till I had got a specific authorization from my primary doctor..they insisted that I handle a full load equivalent to any other employee till that paperwork came down...
My job performance hit the skids and I could barely manage day to day...IT WAS DAMN TOUGH TO KEEP UP..a small incident occurred at the end of July which had more to do with a misunderstanding but could have easily been attributed to fallout from my impairment...(I was functioning at about 85% normal)...My boss became ballistic over this situation and I was terminated...they later I found out hired someone at about $4k less than I was making ..I considered going to court but to what end ??..Maybe I should have... but I didn't ..
Through a paperwork and change of insurance providers I lost out on Cobra...which I could not afford anyway.. the agency was fighting me on my unemployment as well...accusations and misrepresentations were flying fast and furious...I won my appeal...still I do not have insurance as insurance underwriters refuse to handle pre-existing conditions and my only avenue is to get employee based health coverage with a new job...
At age 61.. goooooood luck !!!... so that is my story...
Back in late June or early July, I was IMing someone and I started deja vuing like mad. It wasn't one thing, it was over and over again. I'd think I wanted to type something, but I'd look at the screen and I'd already typed it, the person I was typing to had responded, and I had responded to that. My brain seemed to be doing things I wasn't completely aware of. I figured I was tired and went to bed. I was fine the next day.
The next time was a few weeks after that. This also involved written language. I was reading work emails and I couldn't figure out who they were from. I'd read the names and have absolutely no idea who that person was. And I had worked with these people directly a few days previously. This freaked me out pretty good and I came close to calling 911. Of course, I didn't and went to sleep for about 16 hours. I woke up the next day and again thought I was fine though things were a bit fuzzy.
After that, I started sleeping more and more. I got to where I was sleeping 20 hours in a day. I was about 60 pounds overweight, going through a nasty divorce, having a hellish job that required 50% travel, and was eating ribs, a loaded baked potato, and cheescake every night. So one morning I woke up and figured that I was going to die (I'm 54). I just looked at myself and realized this was not sustainable. As luck would have it, Bill Clinton was on TV talking about how he had changed his life to reverse his heart disease. He had been working a Doctor named Caldwell Esselstyn. The doc had written a book called "Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease" so I ordered it for my kindle and, to make a long story short, converted to low-fat vegan diet that very day. I was actually more worried about heart disease at the time but I now think I saved my a$$ from a hell of a stroke.
Here's a link to Esselstyn giving a lecture on his theories on heart disease. At the very end, he talks about micro-strokes/mini-strokes/TIAs or whatever you want to call them. It's fascinating.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYTf0z_zVs0
So the good news is that I think I averted a major disaster but I think I had a minor disaster with those two TIAs. My brain has been quite addled since then and my work performance was getting dismal. I have a very technical job and it was very hard to concentrate on anything for very long. The incredible tiredness all the time was also making things difficult. Finally, I got put on short term disability and am going through all kinds of tests. Hopefully this will confirm if it was a TIA or not. Bottom line is that I need to get my head cleared if I'm gonna go back and do my job.