TIA symptoms but ALL tests come back negative for anything

I was brought to hospital for possible Tia - my speech was garbled. All tests were normal . That was 12 yrs ago . Happened again last year - all tests were normal. Head of neurology said that sometimes they never find the cause.
So much for medicine !!

What is CAA?????????

Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy

I think that a TIA would be diagnosed by the results of Ct scan and definitely by an MRI OF THE BRAIN.

Hi, I’m glad I found this thread. My wife has had these Tia symptoms recently, but all tests come back negative. She had the first, and most severe episode Aug 9th, 2025 and went to the ER. They sent her home after an CT and MRI and in 2 days she had another episode and went back to the ER. They admitted her and she had 5 episodes in one day, but then appeared to get better with doxycline as they thought it was Lymes. After 5 days as an IP she was looking like she was improving, so they sent her home. She seemed to get better but after a few days at home she started to feel bad again and has episodes once every 2 or 3 days. She’s had a constant pressure headache after the 1st episode and the headache is now spreading to more areas of the head and ears and even teeth now. We’re very scared and have received no effective treatment. My wife can’t do any activity for longer than 5 mins before she has to take a break because she gets so tired. Nobody seems to know what is causing this. They just ruled out all the serious things from the MRIs, spinal tap, bloodwork, and neuro tests eeg and Emg. We saw a stroke neurologist today with no answers and are now referred to a headache clinic and a general neurologist. If anyone has had a treatment, natural or medical, please let me know, we’ll try anything within reason. It’s scary bc she was perfectly healthy prior to her first episode and now she can’t do much and is scared when she has these episodes.

@jerce

No. TIAs - by definition - do not cause any permanent damage. Do not leave anything behind.

@kovamk

Hi, The TIAs are causing problems because of a temporary disruption of a blood flow to an area of brain.
But that can happen for many reasons, not only physical blockage, burst plague, or a clot.
It can be a sudden drop in blood pressure that recovers after a while.

My wife - 79 - is having speech problems for the last few days. It just happens suddenly several times a day. She can't put a sentence together, just mumbles words and does not answer my questions.
Two days ago she had a CT of the brain and ultrasound of carotid arteries - all negative.

She has been taking blood pressure drug "telmisartan" for high(er) BP, for the last year or so. Bujt it lowers the BP too much. Older people with narrowing blood vessels need more pressure for the blood to flow.
ChatGPT tells me that this drug can cause sudden drop in BP in old(er) people.
She did not take the tablet today and wants to stop taking it for a while to see what happens.
A few hours ago she had the attack again. She was very deppressd and sad. Now she seems OK.

I will urge her to ask for referral to a cardiologist to check the heart.
The GP also recommended 100mg of aspirin at least 3 times a week - just in case. It helps with blood flow.