Has anyone here been worried about strokes?

Hi there, I am age 28, male, I am overweight, 15.5 stones, i work at retail so on my feet all day but diet is pretty awful

I over did it yesterday with the mini chocolate flapjacks, I ate the whole thing. Must have been 15.

This morning as I was waking up from sleep I felt a sudden numbness on the left part of my forehead which lasted 5 seconds, I am worried it could have been a mini stroke, or a transient ischaemic attack. I was able to carry on normally and drive to work afterwards and I feel ok but the anxiety is making me wanna throw up, can't stop thinking about what that was.

Can anyone please help or tell me if I'm being silly and share your experiences. many thanks

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Originally Posted by JustBenn

Hi there, I am age 28, male, I am overweight, 15.5 stones, i work at retail so on my feet all day but diet is pretty awful

I over did it yesterday with the mini chocolate flapjacks, I ate the whole thing. Must have been 15.

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I have been known to scoff my own weight in chocolate and crisps but anxiety keeps the weight down for me...:unsure:

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This morning as I was waking up from sleep I felt a sudden numbness on the left part of my forehead which lasted 5 seconds, I am worried it could have been a mini stroke, or a transient ischaemic attack. I was able to carry on normally and drive to work afterwards and I feel ok but the anxiety is making me wanna throw up, can't stop thinking about what that was.

Can anyone please help or tell me if I'm being silly and share your experiences. many thanks

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I've had numerous strokes (all imaginary) including an episode where I woke up (suddenly) and momentarily thought I'd had a stroke and lost my sight. In reality I was wearing my blackout eye mask and my Kool Strip (which I'd gone to sleep wearing) had slipped down and was attached to my cheek. (which felt weird) :huh:

This doesn't sound like stroke to me as there would be a lot more going on and you don't have those symptoms, but if you're worried speak to your GP..

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Originally Posted by NoraB

I have been known to scoff my own weight in chocolate and crisps but anxiety keeps the weight down for me...:unsure:

I've had numerous strokes (all imaginary) including an episode where I woke up (suddenly) and momentarily thought I'd had a stroke and lost my sight. In reality I was wearing my blackout eye mask and my Kool Strip (which I'd gone to sleep wearing) had slipped down and was attached to my cheek. (which felt weird) :huh:

This doesn't sound like stroke to me as there would be a lot more going on and you don't have those symptoms, but if you're worried speak to your GP..

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Hey. Thanks very much for sharing with me, I used to wear an eye mask till I brought 100% blackout curtains and now I sometimes wake in the middle of the night thinking ive gone blind, have to keep a light source near me to confirm I have not haha freaks me out all the time even though I know it's the curtains.

I am still worried as health anxiety gets worse for me when it starts to get dark because i know I'll lay awake thinking about it, I am worried it will happen again. I don't want it to be a mini stroke. I hate this feeling, is there any chance numbness on forehead could be anything less sinister/not as serious, it's been 12 hours since and I feel normal, no headaches, or pains.

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Originally Posted by JustBenn

I am still worried as health anxiety gets worse for me when it starts to get dark because i know I'll lay awake thinking about it, I am worried it will happen again. I don't want it to be a mini stroke. I hate this feeling, is there any chance numbness on forehead could be anything less sinister/not as serious, it's been 12 hours since and I feel normal, no headaches, or pains.

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Health anxiety (or any other) is much worse at night because there are fewer distractions...

Numbness, such as what you experienced, is very common with anxiety and it can occur anywhere in the body, but the head is common because blood gets shunted away and into the parts of the body we need to help us run or fight. During (or preceding) my panic attacks, my entire head goes cold from my scalp down and I get numbness, tingling and all sorts. This is why ALS/MS features so much on this forum. It's fight or flight symptoms. When anxiety is chronic, these symptoms don't just affect us when we're actively worrying; they affect us when we're not because the stress hormones which are released into our systems don't get burnt off as they're supposed to do with fight or flight (run or fight - both involve burning off energy etc)

What Nora said - and also, I generally don't worry about any numbness that I wake up with because we sleep in all kinds of weird ways and cut off blood to this place and that. I've gained weight so my rings have gotten tight on my finger and last week I woke up with just one numb finger tip! As long as it went away right away and hasn't returned, I would not be worried about this. You likely were sleeping in a weird way and once you shifted position everything righted itself.

JustBenn, I've had a mini stroke (tia) and nora is right there's a lot more going on and there wouldn't be any question about whether you have had one or not.