Frightening experience and just don't know what to think.

[flatterycat]

So worried - as you may know I've been very worried about a BT due to odd symptoms. Then, after returning to work I had a nightmare yesterday. Was in a meeting at work when I suddenly developed what I thought was a migraine aura. I've had these since about 14 and don't get the headache - just the bright, flashing scintillating scotoma, which takes about 20-30 mins until it passes out of my field of vision. This time I had a sudden bright area in my right eye and couldn't see from that area and was blind in that patch. Trouble is it was only in one eye and wasn't like the normal aura. Normally when I have migraine aura, although it appears to be in one eye, it's not because if I cover each eye I can still see the aura.

Anyway I panicked and went to out of hours. They gave me a full eye exam, neurological tests and blood pressure. Then they decided that they wanted to make sure it was not a mini stroke. So, they then did a load of blood tests and an ECG! All of which was normal. Still, they have referred me to the TIA clinic! The doctor said she doesn't think it was a TIA but, because my eye symptom was different to normal and because my brother had a stroke at 35 (he's fine) they want to be absolutely sure. So, I spent hours sobbing yesterday. While I was there I also told her about my BT fears and she said if she thought I had a BT she would send me for a scan straight away. She said that nothing I presented with made her think that. (I even told her about my flashbacks). So, I'm waiting now for a call from clinic and just don't know what to think:weep:

How will they know whether it was or wasn't a TIA? They've also put me on aspirin for two weeks as a precaution. I'm female, 46 and have no known probs. my cholesterol etc is fine too.

Just feel frightened and yet through all of this I'm still scared it's another symptom of a BT.

Thanks for listening - helps to get it off my chest.

[cpe1978]

So.....sounds to me like you did exactly the sort of thing anyone would do and that the medical profession did exactly what you would hope they would do - take it extremely seriously in spite of the likelihood of it probably just being a migraine.

So your challenge here seems to be how do you trust what other people think.

[flatterycat]

Yes Chris. In fact there is a part of me that feels happy that they didn't brush me off as an anxiety sufferer. I am very worried, but also know that if they had sent me off I would probably have obsessed about it all.

[flatterycat]

Not heard from clinic yet and still worrying, but I suppose that's normal.

[flatterycat]

Had clinic appointment.

CT head scan all clear, scan of arteries in neck all clear. Eyes clear and ECG.
Bloods ok too.

Consultant was lovely at the TIA clinic. I even told her about the funny flashback I had been having and my fears of BT, even though I wasn't there for that. She decide to give me the head scan and said it would help reassure me.

At the end of the appointment she said she wanted to do a couple more bloods and then sent me up to the eye outpatients to see the cons. He scanned my eyes, said there were a couple of Mark's on back of eye, which is why he did the scan and was happy with everything.

I was at the hospital for 5 hours and I can't praise the staff enough - they really did check me out thoroughly. They think it was probably an occular migraine. By all accounts they are different to migraine with aura in that they effect one eye.

So, I need to get on that plan...
I'm going to see my doctor and agree the 6 week appointment that CPE talks about in his thread.
I'm going to stop googling as much as I can - this will be very hard, but I must do this.
Do daily mindfulness practice (which I started a while back)

I will still come on here, but my intention is to seek support with the above. A thread solely geared towards managing HA would be great.

Sarah xx