texasag

Well first off, I'll give a little background about myself. I'm a 20 year old male college student who is extremely physically active. I am a moderate alcohol drinker, but do not partake in any drugs. In August of 2006, I suffered a right side vertebral artery dissection at the C2 level.

When I first knew something was wrong, I was driving on a rural road back to my university and got this horrible pain in the back on my head as well as a feeling passing out. The passing out however felt different than anything I had ever experienced. I felt like I was dying. The pain went away and the "death feeling" went away after about 3 minutes and I continued on to my apartment at school. That night I partied a little, but when I awoke the next day I felt ok. In the early afternoon, I started to feel really dizzy and was sweating enormous amounts. I got taken to the ER. After numerous tests, including a CT, spinal tap, etc. nothing was found. They did however suggest a follow up with a neurologist. A few days later I went to the med center in Houston and got an MRI done with no though of something wrong. Basically, the next day I got a call and they wanted to do an angiogram because they found something. The discovered the VAD and I then went on plavix and baby aspirin for about 4 months and now I only take the baby aspirin. During the past months, I've just felt really stressed about everything and have had bad anxiety. One attack produced a throbbing inside of my head. I've talked to people and am doing very well now, but I'm just looking for people out there who have been though something similar to me. The only things that make me nervous now are beginning to workout again and alcohol consumption. I've changed a lot because of this ordeal and am by no means an alcoholic, but is it safe to say have a beer for dinner or a glass of wine? Thanks for taking the time to read this and I appreciate questions or comments.