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Transient Ischemic Attack is the technical term
for a transient blockage of the blood supply to the brain.
We usually use the term TIA because it's easier for people to remember.
Many patients describe this as a mini stroke.
It's important, though, to understand that this is not a minor problem
and really should be regarded as an emergency
that needs to be dealt with very quickly,
because patients are at very high risk
of going on to having a completed stroke,
which can lead to devastating disability.
(woman) The first symptom was the feeling of going to faint
and this very hot feeling that kind of whooshed over.
Very quickly followed by numbness down the left-hand side,
which really and truly I could have drawn an absolute line down the middle.
Everything on the left: legs, arms, head, toes, went completely numb.
That passed. Probably lasted about ten minutes.
And you just sit there and think, what was that? That's very odd!
I didn't associate it with anything.
I didn't immediately associate stroke symptoms, so did nothing about it.
Symptoms of a Transient Ischemic Attack or TIA, usually last less than an hour.
For most patients it will only be 10-15 minutes.
(Sally) The second one was the next morning
and it was much more minor, more mild.
I thought about it during the day and I thought, "That's the second episode."
"I think I ought to make an appointment with the doctor."
I again thought, "I'll do that next week." It was Bank Holiday weekend.
It's never a good time with the doctor,
so I thought, "It's not urgent. I'll leave it."
And the third one was the same again.
At my desk, almost the same time of day, 4:30 in the afternoon.
Almost identical. The same feeling, the same symptoms,
the same numbness, feeling of going to faint, hot, prickly.
And I thought, "I really have to do something about this."
There are several different symptoms,
but it's useful to use an acronym called FAST
to help patients remember the symptoms of a Transient Ischemic Attack,
TIA or a stroke.
"F" stands for facial weakness.
The patient may have drooping from the corner the mouth
or dribble from the corner of the mouth.
"A" stands for arm weakness.
So we ask patients to hold their arms up
and if one of the arms can't be held up, then they've got weakness.
"S" stands for speech disturbance.
So they may have slurred speech or they may have unintelligible speech.
And "T" stands for time to call for help
because this is a medical emergency and needs to be dealt with straight away.
In A&E I saw a triage nurse who again took down all my symptoms.
And actually saying them out loud made me realise what had happened to me.
So my diagnosis was almost being confirmed in my head as I went along.
But the hospital did also confirm it.
Patients are most likely to be affected if they're above the age of around 55,
and then the incidence becomes much more common in the elderly.
But in fact, TIAs can occur in much younger patients,
and so everybody needs to be aware of the symptoms for TIA.
I'm very shocked because there's no family history.
I don't have high blood pressure.
In fact my blood pressure at that point was usually quite low.
I didn't have a cholesterol problem. I carry a bit too much weight,
but nothing anyone worried about. Fairly fit.
I was completely shocked by the fact that it could happen to me,
which is perhaps why I denied it in my own mind to start with.
There are a lot of other symptoms that can mimic a TIA.
And so the first stage is to be sure that it is truly a TIA.
And then the second stage is an assessment of what's caused the TIA.
For example, is it primarily a problem related to the heart rhythm?
Or is it due to abnormalities within the blood?
Or is it due to abnormalities of the blood vessels?
In the majority of patients,
a combination of treatment for their blood pressure,
for their cholesterol and drugs to thin the blood
will significantly reduce the risk of them having a stroke.
The basic three things I would say,
one, it can happen to anybody at any time.
Secondly, be aware of the symptoms,
and hopefully the television and poster campaign will help that.
And thirdly, get help, and get quick help,
because I went to A&E, which meant I sat there for four hours
and had another one in the waiting room.
If I had perhaps called 999 for an ambulance,
maybe I would have been slightly more fast-tracked and dealt with differently.
The reason we think it's important
that patients with a TIA seek help immediately
is that within the next one week,
they have an 11% chance, so roughly a one in ten chance,
of having a completed stroke.
And if we can intervene in that first week,
we can reduce quite considerably the risk of them having a stroke.
If it's beyond a week, they still have an increased risk,
so that by a month,
between 15%-20% of patients will have had a completed stroke.