<http://schema.org/articleBody>
" \n One afternoon in the spring of 2010, I was at home making lunch for my 2\u00BD-year-old triplets when I suddenly noticed black spots in my vision. They were the size of a quarter, one in each eye. I thought, Oh great, here we go, another migraine. I had gotten migraines a couple of times in the past, plus I&amp;#039;m an optometrist, so I thought I recognized the symptoms. But I shouldn&amp;#039;t have diagnosed myself so dismissively. Spots associated with ocular migraines tend to be in just one eye. And when one of my migraines was coming on, I usually saw a swirling blur of zigzags and zebra stripes, so this was unusual. Still, I just went on giving my kids their lunch. It wasn&amp;#039;t until the next symptom came, about 15 minutes later, that I knew it was something more serious\u2026something neurological. I was midsentence in a Thomas the Train book with my son Michael on my lap when I lost my ability to read. I could see that there were letters on the page and those letters were grouped into words, but I had no idea what they said. Reading is a skill we learn around age 5. To be 31 and have it stripped from you? I was freaking out. I called my husband at work, and he told me to sit down and relax. But I had the medical training to know something was very wrong. I put my kids down for a nap and called my in-laws, who lived next door at the time, and they came over. They asked if I&amp;#039;d eaten that day, which I had, and if I&amp;#039;d been drinking enough water. They thought I was dehydrated. Who could blame them? I was so young and healthy. My father-in-law said he would go with me to the doctor while my mother-in-law watched the kids. I felt as if there were some sort of impending doom looming nearby. And after walking up the stairs to grab my phone and purse, a wave of nausea and dizziness rushed over me. My head started spinning, and it wouldn&amp;#039;t stop. I yelled, &amp;quot;I think I&amp;#039;m going to throw up!&amp;quot; I carefully made my way back down the stairs and lay down on the bench in my hallway. My in-laws called 911. The only thing I could think was that I must have accidentally touched and then somehow ingested a household cleaner, and that was why I felt sick. Then about half an hour after the spots appeared in my vision, a new symptom came on. The right side of my face began to tingle, then my right arm, then my right hand. That&amp;#039;s when I finally made the correct diagnosis: I was having a stroke. The ambulance arrived within minutes. As they were putting me in it, I saw a couple of my elderly neighbors come out of their houses, concerned and asking if they could help. They are so much older than I am; I felt like our roles should have been reversed. I told the paramedics about my fear that I was having a stroke, but they were doubtful. I recall their saying something like I was &amp;quot;so young&amp;quot; and I &amp;quot;didn&amp;#039;t have any risk factors&amp;quot; because I was a nonsmoker and thin. They gave me oxygen and rushed me to the ER. I closed my eyes and hoped we would get there soon. When I got to the hospital, I began to slur my speech, another classic sign of a stroke. I would think of a word in my mind and I would speak it, but the wrong word would come out. I was trying to tell the doctors about my vision but I couldn&amp;#039;t say the word vision. I kept saying version. But I couldn&amp;#039;t believe I said the wrong word, so I&amp;#039;d go, &amp;quot;Version? Version! Version! Version!&amp;quot; They were like, &amp;quot;Okay, calm down.&amp;quot; It was terrifying. I was all there cognitively and I was saying the right word in my mind, but my own voice was saying it wrong. It was almost like I was trapped inside my body and had no way of telling people &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m inside here and I&amp;#039;m okay.&amp;quot; As I lay there in my hospital bed, getting all sorts of tests done, I wondered whether or not I&amp;#039;d ever read to my triplets again. I kept thinking about them back at home and how they would soon be waking up from their naps, happy to see Grandma waiting at their cribs and with no understanding of what was happening to me. I thought of when they were born early and they were preemies in the NICU. I used to pray that they would grow strong and big enough so that I could show them there was more to the world than just this hospital. I wanted to show them the bright blue sky. Now I was scared for me. The doctors didn&amp;#039;t give me blood thinners or aspirin before running tests because, in some types of strokes, that can make things worse. After running tests, they determined I&amp;#039;d had a transient ischemic attack (TIA), which is a ministroke. A tiny blood clot, smaller than the head of a pin, had formed in my leg and traveled to my brain. It had stayed there for several hours, causing all my problems\u2014the spots in my vision, the loss of literacy, the nausea and dizziness\u2014before, thankfully, dislodging itself. Doctors didn&amp;#039;t even have to give me medicine. But my doctors were still worried it would happen again. Because I was young and healthy, they had a theory about what caused my stroke: a congenital heart defect. They examined the backside of my heart using a special test called a transesophageal echocardiogram\u2014a probe went down my throat while I was sedated\u2014and lo and behold, there it was. The defect is called a patent foramen ovale, which is basically a hole in the wall that separates the two upper chambers of the heart. Tiny blood clots can use it as a door to go straight to the brain. I left the hospital 24 hours after I was admitted, but I rested a lot the first few days I was home. I was told there was a heightened chance that I could have a second stroke within the first few days of having the TIA, or &amp;quot;warning stroke.&amp;quot; A second stroke brings more risk of damaging residual effects. A month and a half after my stroke, I had the heart defect repaired. Doctors used a catheter in my leg to insert an umbrella-like device into my heart to close off the hole. I healed quickly because it wasn&amp;#039;t open-heart surgery. It&amp;#039;s pretty amazing that they can fix your heart by going through your leg. My health scare is always in my thoughts. But its presence is positive: It means I don&amp;#039;t ever take my time in this world and with my family for granted. These days, I love to sit in the backyard and watch as my kids blow bubbles into the blue sky I thought about so much while I was in the hospital. I put the words thank you into each one before it drifts up and away. Could It Happen to You? Surprisingly, 10 to 15 percent of strokes happen in people under age 45. Also scary: 1 in 7 is misdiagnosed as a less serious medical condition, like vertigo. No matter how old you are, use FAST to remember the classic warning signs. FACE Does one side of your face droop? Can you smile? Suddenly developing numbness, weakness, or paralysis on one side of your face is a major red flag. ARMS Is one arm weak or numb? Can you raise both arms? Stroke victims often find that one arm feels limp or sags when they try to lift them both. SPEECH Is your speech slurred? Can you repeat a simple phrase? You may be unable to find the right words to explain what&amp;#039;s happening to you. TIME If you have any of these symptoms, call 911 immediately. The faster you get help, the better your chances are of survival and recovery. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.cosmopolitan.com/health-fitness/advice/a4439/too-young-for-a-stroke/?src=global_footer>