stroke? or what? - Brain & Nervous System Disorders Message Board

donnaC · 11-05-2006, 01:47 PM

Friday nite i fell alseep on couch and when woke up at 2:30 to go to my bed, my head felt weird, fuzzy and couldnt walk straight. Woke up yesterday an d my arm and hand was paralyzed. My sis thkns its a stroke. When I woke up tis morning i could lift my arm up but still cant bend arm.

my arm is completely numb from elboe to fingertips. whay to think about this? sorry for sp but trying top type one hand.

Canyondweller · 11-05-2006, 07:25 PM

You may have had a stroke though it would be unusual for just a part of the arm to paralyzed. It is nothing to fool around with though and you need to get to Dr. or ER. Since it happened during the night it is unlikely it was from trauma that damaged a nerve. You could be having clots. Why are you waiting? If I were you I would take a full strength aspirin though to help prevent a clot or help disolve one.

donnaC · 11-06-2006, 12:35 PM

thanks canyondweller for the advise. I took the aspirin and did go to the ER. You're right, what am i wiatng for. The doc ordered cat scan and came out normal for stroke. thnk god. It was whole arm. had no feeling at all from shldr to elbw and frm elbw to fngrs was numb w/no strngth. cldnt even shrug that shldr or lift arm. doc gave me mscle relaxers and gv me 2 more 800 mg neurontin. I'm already on 600 3xday. ER doc wrote script for 800mg 4 day. does that sound excessive? He only wrote script for 5 days so gues it wnt kill me.

Doc says she thinks it's a pinched nerve or peripheral neuropathy. Havent had mri on neck since 2004 so she told me to see my neurosurgeon and have him ordr one to see if it's from neck.

Now that I think of it, the pain in neck has gotten worse lately. Smetimes so bad, get sick from pain but not evry day. Had mva 2000 and alot of problems but lately just back, si joints & I do have neuropathies in legs/feet.

Sorry to scare all. Thanks for advise. God this is taking me 20 min to write, stl wrtng w/1 hand. Fingertips no feeling.

Canyondweller · 11-06-2006, 01:14 PM

I was put on Neurontin a couple weeks ago but didn't take it because I thought I was getting better with these spells where I get blurred vision, weakness and lightheaded feeling. Not that much pain but the thought is that I did something to my neck but they questioned if an MRI would really show anything. This has been going on for 2 months and I thought it was getting better but now it seems to have gotten worse. Just too many symptoms that don't go together but they came on after I had done extensive physical work(especially for an old woman) Glad you CT scan was OK. I don't know that much about Neurontin except it is widely used but don't know about quantities.
That seems like a lot. Usually they don't give you a prescription for many of any drug in ER as they want you to follow up with your Doctor. I have had that argument with them since my price is the same for 30 as it is for 15 in many cases. What muscle relaxer do you use? I think that would help me as I think these are spasms as it comes and goes, sometimes last for hours other times for a few minutes. I am going to ask my Dr. today for MRI of neck. I am scheduled for MRI of head and was going to ask for MRA of caratoids also. If he felt like I do he would want it. I know it is hard for you to write so just write the name of the drug you take for muscle spasms.

TKESMAC · 11-11-2006, 10:00 AM

Sounds Like The Blurred Vision And Light Headedness Could Be Related To Your Eyes. You May Want To Get Your Eyes Examined With The Eyes Being Dialated. Good Luck And Hope You Are Feeling Better.