While symptoms went away within several hours, your concern that it could happen again did not. The good news is you absolutely can live a full life after a mini-stroke. Here's how. Like strokes, mini-strokes occur when a blockage occurs in a major artery to your brain, disrupting the flow of blood and oxygen.
A person's life expectancy after a mini stroke reduces by around 4% in the first year following the attack in comparison to people who have not had one. In the following 9 years, life expectancy reduces by 20%. These statistics come from a 2019 review .
Because mild strokes do not typically cause major impairments, recovery is usually fast. Sometimes recovery from a mild stroke can occur within 3-6 months. Other times it can take longer. There are many variables that affect the time it takes to recover.
Also known as a “mini-stroke,” a TIA is a temporary blockage of blood to the brain similar to a stroke. TIAs look like strokes in terms of signs and symptoms, but they are temporary. In other words, they leave no lasting brain damage or residual symptoms.
Get emergency treatment right away. Even if symptoms subside, you should be evaluated at a hospital, since a mild stroke can be a signal that a potentially more serious stroke is on its way.
Memory problems, poor attention span, or difficulty solving problems. Visual problems. Depression, anxiety, or mood swings with emotional outbursts. Difficulty recognizing limitations caused by the stroke.
Even after surviving a stroke, you're not out of the woods, since having one makes it a lot more likely that you'll have another. In fact, of the 795,000 Americans who will have a first stroke this year, 23 percent will suffer a second stroke.
Gains can happen quickly or over time.
The most rapid recovery usually occurs during the first three to four months after a stroke, but some survivors continue to recover well into the first and second year after their stroke.
You should limit sweets, cakes, biscuits and processed and fatty meats. It's important to also switch the saturated fats in your diet for unsaturated fats and to reduce your salt intake by avoiding high-salt foods like processed meats, salty snacks and ready-made soups, as well as not adding salt to foods.
A mild stroke is also known as a transient ischemic attack (TIA). A TIA is when blood flow to a part of the brain, spinal cord, or retina briefly stops. This can cause momentary stroke-like symptoms but doesn't harm brain cells or cause permanent disability.
"Mini Strokes" - in 40s and 50s
The likelihood of stroke increases with age, doubling for every decade after age 55, one-third of strokes occur in people younger than 65, with particular risk in young and middle aged women. In fact, women 45 to 54 years of age are more than twice as likely as men to have a stroke.
For example, 79% of people survive 2 years, 61% survive 3 years, …, 5% survive 16 years, and only 1% survive 20 years.
Chronic stress can indirectly cause a stroke or TIA (transient ischemic attack or mini stroke). For instance, chronic stress can lead to high blood pressure, which is a known risk factor for stroke and heart disease. Stress can also cause inflammation in the arteries all over the body.
For this reason, the 60 minutes after the onset of stroke symptoms are known as “the golden hour.” If treatment can be initiated within this brief window, the patient's outcome is likely to be better.
Give yourself plenty of time to recover from your stroke. It can take many months before post-stroke fatigue starts to lift. Accepting that it takes time to improve can help you to cope better. Find out how much you can do in a day and stick to it.
After six months, improvements are possible but will be much slower. Most stroke patients reach a relatively steady state at this point. For some, this means a full recovery. Others will have ongoing impairments, also called chronic stroke disease.
Stress can cause the heart to work harder, increase blood pressure, and increase sugar and fat levels in the blood. These things, in turn, can increase the risk of clots forming and travelling to the heart or brain, causing a heart attack or stroke.
Driving after a stroke
Whether you can return to driving depends on what long-term disabilities you may have and the type of vehicle you drive. It's often not physical problems that can make driving dangerous, but problems with concentration, vision, reaction time and awareness that can develop after a stroke.
If your stroke was caused by bleeding in or around your brain (a haemorrhagic stroke), you must avoid alcohol for at least the first three weeks after your stroke. You should then ask your doctor when it would be safe to start drinking alcohol again.
A stroke can cause several long-term problems, such as memory loss, loss of movement, muscle weakness, or speech problems. People who have had a stroke are also more likely to have another later in life.
Recovery can take anywhere from a few weeks to years. Some people may fully recover while others may have lifelong disabilities. A person who has experienced a stroke that has caused minimal damage to their brain may fully recover and require rehabilitative therapy for less time.
Recovery time after a stroke is different for everyone—it can take weeks, months, or even years. Some people recover fully, but others have long-term or lifelong disabilities.