TIA symptoms but ALL tests come back negative for anything

@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, 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 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
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?

@neisie13 Thank you! Please leave any comments you might have.

My viewers are always grateful for more perspectives, since everyone's experience is unique.

@scottrl Okay I will definitely check out the other videos!

@neisie13 Thank you. Feel free to check out some of the other videos as well.

The channel isn't about strokes, but associated issues -- isolation, changing relationships, worry, emotional pressure, coping, and even a fair amount of humor.

You can handle this.

@scottrl Thank you for responding and I will watch the YouTube video that you provided. I'm anxious to get all these tests out of the way and find out what is going on.

@lisalucier Thank you so much for connecting with me and so quickly. I will definitely contact those that you tagged and will read the link that you sent about TIAs. I am having two MRAs at in April, the head and the neck, and I will meet with the neurologist at the beginning of May to go over all the results. He seems very thorough and even ordered a number of blood tests that I had never had. The worst part of the EEG was avoiding caffeine all day. I had a miserable headache even though I only drink tea, and when I got to the test the technician told me that I could have had caffeine in the morning since my test wasn't until the late afternoon. Oh well, at least I know if was accurate. It took longer for the tech to attach the electrodes than the entire test itself, but I was nervous that I would move or do something to mess up the results. Hopefully since I haven't heard back from the neurologist, nothing alarming was found. Anyway, thank you again and I'll report back when I get my final results. I am very curious and of course worried!

@neisie13 Hi. @lisalucier tagged me so I thought I'd chip in.

I have a YouTube channel about my stroke recovery, "From Recovery to Discovery"; I have an episode dedicated to possible warning signs:

You are wise to get this checked out!