Your Thoughts: Concussion and Stroke
 

What do people know about or think about the link between concussion and stroke? Has anyone had a stroke or TIA after their concussion? If so what did it feel like and what were the resulting conditions?

I woke in the night one month after my concussion with thunderclap-type headache (like nothing I've had before) and a droopy eyelid. Ever since that night I've had a multitude of symptoms, most prominent of all being seizure-like symptoms at night during sleep time. In the morning I have a hard time opening my eyelids.

(Sorry if this question has been posted before - I'm new and still not sure how to "search" for topics within the forum).

A stroke can be caused by a clot that could be related to the original trauma that also caused the concussion, so there is the possibility of a link there. I personally know of someone this happed to, though her stroke happened suddenly several weeks after the accident, and was a major though separate neurological event. I had some clotting issues in the hospital and they had me on Coumadin for a while as a precaution against this.

In your other post you mentioned your PCP suggested a visit to a neurologist, certainly worth making that appointment and having that discussion.

Vanilla Bean,

I take gabapentin (Neurontin) to reduce the seizure like symptoms.

There is a stroke called a beauty parlor stroke where putting the head back and resting it over the edge of the shampoo sink can dislodge plaques in the vertebral arteries. The trauma to the head and neck during a concussion could do the same.

I have had some strange experiences. I have heard a loud bang, more of a pow and have had flashes of light.

I bet many have experienced unexplained momentary symptoms.

I believe I had some sort of seizure one day after my concussion... I literally felt my whole brain vibrating in my head. It was an intense buzzing that lasted about 45 seconds, where I couldn't think, or move, or do anything. Afterwards, I had the worst headache I ever had with all of this...

Just know too that horrible headaches and droopy eyelids can be caused by nerves that are damaged at the back of the neck where they come off the spine. I have a right droopy eye now that I did not have before.

Good luck.