Category Archives: Stroke

There are 2 main ways to define a stroke or cerebrovascular accident. Firstly, it can be ischaemic, caused by a clot in a blood vessel to the brain. This is the type I had. It can also be haemorrhagic, caused by a bleed in a blood vessel to the brain. Secondly, a cerebrovascular accident can be defined in terms of time. A transient ischaemic attack (TIA) lasts several hours and recovery is also within a matter of hours. Then there is the cerebrovascular accident, that can take up to several weeks to fully develop. The stroke-in-progression, that I write about on this blog, can take many years to fully develop. Note that the classification of stroke-in-progression is my own.

Progressing Stroke Group

Why did I create a progressing stroke group? There are strokes which do not fulfil the F.A.S.T signs and symptoms. I had such a stroke where the only symptom was my eyes focusing in different directions. It’s only after 4 days that everyone agreed I was having a stroke. By this time, it was too… Read More »

Symptoms – Seen and Unseen

Showing paralysis of the right arm.

The stroke had both seen and unseen symptoms. Healthcare professionals, family and friends were not aware of the unseen changes. They saw only the paralysis on one side of the body, the drooping of the face on one side and agreed I had had a stroke. What they didn’t know was that there were other symptoms that were not visible to the naked eye. These unseen changes signalled the progression of the stroke.

What Caused the Stroke

Showing dead right arm and walking with quad stick.

You will find the real cause of the stroke quite shocking. Most people think that high blood pressure leads to strokes and many people take medication to lower it. After all, high blood pressure (hypertension) is known as the silent killer (Secondscount, 2013). In an effort to lower my blood pressure I was put on amlodipine and ramipril and I had a stroke-in-progression.