thx for the update. Did you have neck pain, chiropractic manipulation, whiplash, or even just vigorous exercise/coughing in the days prior to your stroke? or an embolic clot traveling through you or any other clues? Like you I would not let my team settle for “cryptogenic”.
Ah, brain stem stroke, also can be caused from neck trauma but also other things. The stroke I had was initially cryptogenic until I finally got to the bottom of it through discussions with my stroke consultant. I think that all one can do is reduce risk and hope that current medication does its job. Easier said than done.
You’ve been carrying a theory since day one: the stroke happened right after a significant impact to your head or neck. That’s not nothing. That’s a plausible mechanism, even if it’s not the kind of thing that shows up on standard stroke workups.
Vertebral artery dissection, for example, is a known cause of stroke in young people, often triggered by trauma—sometimes even minor trauma. And dissections can heal on their own. By the time you get an angiogram or a carotid ultrasound weeks later, the vessel can look completely normal. No evidence left behind.
So the fact that they didn’t find a PFO, and didn’t find a dissection, doesn’t mean the trauma wasn’t the cause. It means the evidence didn’t stick around long enough to be caught. That’s not a freak accident in the sense of “random bad luck.” That’s a specific event, with a specific timing, and a plausible biological pathway.
Hello Matt - I am trying to understand your PFO story and looking at it from my point of interest, so please forgive me if this makes no sense.
I understand you had a stroke and were determined to find the root cause. As at the time of writing, it seems to me between you, @pando and @rups you have arrived at a possible cause of your stroke which I understand to be related to a hard knock to the head/neck. Please correct me if I am wrong.
What I seek clarification on is the bit in between and in particular the role of private vs NHS practitioners (I am a little bit obsessed with this!)
It seems the initial tests (bubble study) were done by NHS and they said a PFO was probably not the cause of your stroke.
You went private for peace of mind and they also sent you home saying it (echo study) looked great i.e. not a PFO cause
a couple of months later your neurologist contacted you asking you to make an urgent appointment as a PFO was suspected.
Question: Part 1 Is this your private or NHS neurologist?
Question: Part 2 Why the delay and how was it discovered resulting in urgent call?
Sorry, but I am curious about the sequence of events and the final conclusion you do not have a PFO, but pleased that members of this forum (as I understand it) might have helped you get peace of mind by identifying root cause of your stroke.
The private bubble echo looked good according to the nurse on the day. It still needed reviewed by a cardiologist (which was ordered by my private neurologist, one of the leading neurologists in the UK). Hence the delay between going home thinking I was fine and a letter coming to my house
This was because my bubble study done at the start by the NHS said bubbles were seen after some time. My private neurologist said this isn’t a clear bubble study and would be worth investigating further.
Ultimately because a private cardiologist said he too could see bubbles after some circulation time, a PFO was likely.
I was then referred for PFO closure surgery which I had yesterday - and once they got in to my heart could not find a PFO
