Post stroke seizures

Hi, I joined this Stroke forum as my husband had a small stroke at the end of June. In fact he sadly decided to have it when we were going away to Scotland for a few days break on a coach trip. We had got as far as Leeds. Never mind you cant choose the day I know. After spending a day in Leeds General we left being informed it was a Tia. After being at home he started having " tias " and to date has had 8. He has had an Mri which has shown slight damage from June in Leeds so have confirmed it was a small stroke and these " episodes " he is experiencing now are post stroke seizures. Does anyone know if there are any differences between these and Tias? He was given no medication to prevent seizures happening as he is already on such medication anyway for something else. He is now awaiting a ct scan, he has had one of his head and neck but awaiting another. At the moment he seems quite tired and not eating alot at all. But he is ok and in one piece but Im just concerned about the amount of " small seizures " he has had!

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@janesmith87 hi & welcome to the forum. Sorry to hear your husband has had a stroke & now seems to be having seizures. Seizures can happen after a stroke & they themselves can be tiring in addition to post stroke fatigue. I think they are different to TIAs but don’t know much about them.
Hopefully the tests he is having will identify something they can treat. He may need his meds adjusting but they’ll know more after his tests. Don’t know if you’ve already seen it but if not have a look at this publication.

https://www.stroke.org.uk/effects-of-stroke/physical-effects-of-stroke/seizures-and-epilepsy-after-stroke

Being tired & low appetite can happen after stroke. Hopefully both will improve in time.

Wishing you both all the best.

Ann x

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Hello @janesmith87
Sorry you’ve had occasion to join us. You have landed in the best place for community that understands what being a stroke warrior (care or survivor) really entails .

First a TIA is by definition transient. Anything that’s not transient is a stroke. The aftermath of strokes and TIAs often include fatigue - a bit like feeling tired but heavier and harder to associate with something specific. Not eating can be caused by affected appetite, fatigue, affected taste, emotions,…

You won’t be able to see on the outside the damage that was done on the inside if he indeed had a stroke and your confirmation that there was something visible on one of the scans would suggest that . If so it will have made permanent alterations; there will be recovery. Some will be regaining of capabilities in the first 6 months and afterwards will be the neuroplasticity that is the brains adaptations. The journey is almost always measured in years not weeks. Here’s crossing fingers that it was a TIA as in transient. Either way that healing and adaptation takes brain energy that may well be the cause of the fatigue

Saying stroke merely says interruption to oxygen supply. So we don’t know why how or where. Perhaps more test planned? More tests will be needed to draw conclusions and may not deliver an answer.

Standard preventative medication are something for cholesterol (eg statins) something for blood pressure and perhaps pulse rate (eg beta blockers), something for blood thinners and or sticky platelets. I don’t suppose that is exhaustive and there are a lot of varieties within that little list.

From my own experience I’d suggest not being surprised if there are odd random feelings that have no attribution to a cause. I often get a sort of dizzy or spacy, fuzzy, nauseous, can’t quite describe it feeling - comes on with the flick of a switch and generally goes off with a flick of a switch. I don’t go to a&e when they happen now but I did during the first 6 months -It’s never the wrong thing to do- and you both will likely have to learn when to accept their occurrence and when might be an indicator of something more.

Magnifying glass at the top of the page gives a search function which is well worth using because the back posts from the last couple of years are full of the wisdom of the crowd

Good luck to you both on your journey
Ciao Simon

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@janesmith87 i too suffered post stroke seizures. i was put on Levetiracetam 250mg twice a day, then upped to 500mg twice per day. touch wood not had one since dec2022. it is common but do stop my neurologist stated not tia

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