I was only 18 years old when I had my stroke
By Jessica
I was only 18 years old when I had my stroke, and because of my young age it took five days to be diagnosed.
I believe my stroke began when I was out with friends, I'd had a drink and became very uncoordinated and disorientated. So, I went home early.
The next day I woke up feeling very nauseated and was throwing up every hour. I couldn’t hold anything down. I was really scared and assumed that I had had some type of adverse reaction to the drink.
I stayed in bed all day retching with a bucket next to me. I felt really bad but managed to get some sleep. At 11pm I woke up and felt a bit better. I got up to get a glass of water and BAM! As I stood at the sink, I had a massive dizzy spell and collapsed.
I could not physically stand but got myself back to bed by crawling across the floor. In bed I continued to dry retch. I felt hollow and terrified.
Then I got a tingly feeling that started at the tip of my tongue and went all the way over my right side, which the doctors now know was a sign of my first stroke. I couldn’t walk because my legs felt like jelly, I could only crawl to the toilet.
The woman that I board with helped to get me to the doctor. But he assumed immediately that I had alcohol poisoning. He didn’t believe me that I had only had one drink. I am still really angry with him. Just because I was eighteen years old, he chose not to believe me, and this mistake nearly killed me.
We went back home, and I tried to have some food and water and watch a little TV. Suddenly my vision split in two. I could see double everything.
This was already day three of not being able to even drink much water, let alone drink alcohol. I went back to the same doctor, and he dismissed my symptoms again. I knew he was wrong, but I didn’t know what to do.
On the fifth day I was going in and out of consciousness. I woke up and my Mum was next to my bed. My roomie had called her because my eyes were rolling to the back of my head and and I was really confused.
Mum took me straight to another doctor. He took one look at me and asked a couple of questions then called an ambulance immediately. He was in his sixties and unlike the younger doctor didn’t' immediately think that what I was experiencing was due to a social life.
At the hospital a few tests were done, and I found out that I had had a series of strokes. One big one and a few smaller strokes.
I had a basilar artery dissection.
I had many common and uncommon signs of a stroke. My face was drooping, I had dizziness, vision changes, couldn't stand, use my arm and my tongue and face were tingling. But it took five days and some luck to get diagnosed, all because I of my age.
This makes me so mad.
After the strokes I had to learn to walk, talk and use my hand again. I had my whole adult life in front of me. I was scared that I wouldn't be able to write and do my Uni studies. I was scared that I wouldn’t have a boyfriend and be able to do what my friends were doing.
It took a long time, but now I am nearly 100per cent okay. I was initially using a wheelchair, then a walker and now I need no walking aids at all. But when I am tired, I have trouble walking up or down stairs and I get a rush of anxiety, and sometimes people’s faces split in two. It’s really disconcerting.
But I am proud of what I have achieved, I have my own family and I love being a mum.
I still think about how long it took for me to be correctly diagnosed. I hope things have improved. That GPs are more aware that anyone can have a stroke. I had seven signs and wasn’t believed.
