TIA symptoms but ALL tests come back negative for anything

@neisie13
I did. I suddenly could only type and speak total gibberish and was aware of it. Confusing and scary. It was a TIA that lasted 5 minutes. The cause was a blood clot from being in Afib 40 hours. Happened right after afib dropped which is typical. Did they determine the cause of yours?

@californiazebra It's interesting that you had similar symptoms. How did you know that you had been in Afib for so long? Once I finish all the testing I will be meeting with my neurologist and that won't be until May!! It's crazy how long it takes to get an appointment these days. I will be having two MRAs to evaluate the blood flow to my neck and head and I just had the EEG. I assume that if anything major had been discovered in that test I would have gotten a call. I assume that you are now on medication to control the Afib?

@neisie13
Yes, it does take forever to get an appointment with a new specialist.

I started having afib episodes when I started taking a breast cancer med, day 7 and then regularly with about 150 episodes in the past 5 years. I am very symptomatic feeling my heart out of rhythm, low BP issues, high heart rate, fatigue. Awful. I have been diagnosed on several occasions. My Kardia mobile confirms start and stop. Some people are not symptomatic. I have had several retinal TIAs briefly losing all or part of my vision. All right after long afib episodes.

I refused to take Eliquis until I landed in the hospital with aphasia. Very scary. Thought that major stroke was finally hitting. I’ve been taking it for 6 months now, no issues except fatigue that’s improving. I tried Multaq in the beginning and had active heart attack symptoms for 3 days before I stopped it. No more. I’m missing some liver enzymes and don’t metabolize lots of meds correctly either severe adverse reactions.

Trying to get a second opinion for cardiac ablation due to unique added risks for me, but some hurdles with two cancers keep interfering and issues getting medical records transferred. Really looking forward to being rid of afib someday! Long journey so far.

Have you ever had afib that you know of? Good luck with the MRA. I do also have some cervical stenosis and 4 different types of venous and arterial anomalies identified in various scans. that aren’t helpful plus a rare genetic demyelinating neuropathy that makes ablation riskier for me. I suspect a trainee angel assembled me without reading the instruction manual. LOL

@californiazebra So sorry you have had afib episodes for so long, and you definitely have been dealt the short end of the stick when it comes to a healthy life. I do not have afib but I know what it entails because I was my mother's caregiver for many years and she had it. She was on a medication called Tikosyn and I don't think it is that common because every time she went into the hospital I had to bring her own bottle. The pharmacy there did not carry it!! As far as I know I have not had afib but my EKG has not been normal for a couple of years, I had the entire battery of cardiac tests a year ago and all was okay but I will see my cardiologist next week and mention the TIA type of symptoms that I have had. My EEG results showed up today on the doctor's portal and were normal, so that is good and now I wait to have the last tests, the MRAs. I also know about cardiac ablation because my father had it twice. He had Rheumatic Fever as a child which destroyed two heart valves that were eventually replaced one with major complications. After he recovered he would go into an arrhythmia once in a while. I hope your insurance covers those heart medications you are on because I would assume they are very expensive. So thank you for your support and I will let you know the results of the MRAs which are scheduled in a couple of weeks.

@neisie13
Yes, please keep us posted. Good news on the normal EEG. Hoping they find the cause and it’s a reasonably easy fix. Having your communication center suddenly fail is scary as heck!

@californiazebra Yes, I was relieved to find out that the EEG was normal but yes, it was so bizarre when those episodes occurred where I couldn't make sense of the words on the page or speak the words I wanted to say. If the MRAs come out normal I'm not sure what the next step will be if any. Okay, I'll keep in touch!!

@californiazebra I had a TIA a few years ago. I noticed it happened when I was trying to write a date using numbers. I got a little dizzy, blurry vision and couldn't think clearly about anything that included numbers. The uncertainty of numbers has persisted to some degree. Has anyone else ever experienced this? An MRI showed a location for the TIA.

@kentkemmerling1949
Was it only numbers or numbers just happened to be the only thing you were trying to type?

I just remember I tried to type 3 words on my phone and just random letters came out, thought it was a typo, tried 3 times and same thing. I thought, "Why can't I type this word? How do you spell this word? I have no idea. What word am I trying to type? I'm so confused! OMG, am I having a stroke?" So I said a sentence out loud and only heard gibberish come out. "OMG, I am having a stroke!" Now typos make my heart jump. My MRI showed it damaged my communication center. There were 3 immediate changes that continue 6 months later: 1. I can't seem to hit the right keys on my phone since then. It looks like my finger is on the right key, but usually hits the one to the left. Spatial awareness damage I'm told. 2. Not being able to find the right word, remember names, etc. increased 10 fold. I'm 67 so naturally that happened on occasion, but now it's just embarrassing and frustrating. 3. I started saying words that sound like the one my brain told my mouth to say, but has a completely different meaning such as crowd instead of cloud, shore instead of store, etc. I know I've said it and immediately correct. It’s called phonemic paraphasia. It is a common symptom of aphasia following a TIA or stroke, occurring when the brain successfully identifies the intended word but "misfires" during the assembly of its specific sounds. My brain can't afford to take more hits so let's hope that's the end of TIAs.

Where did they say the location of your TIA was? Do you know what caused your TIA?

@kentkemmerling1949 thank you for replying. Are you on any medication to prevent a stroke. I am on a baby aspirin once daily until I have completed the testing and meet with the doctor. My episodes were less intense. No dizziness or blurry vision...just the inability to make sense of the words I was reading and once not being able to say what I wanted to. It's the craziest feeling!!

I take a full sized aspirin each evening with no ill effects so far. Thanks for the reply.