I was sent home with Endone

By Bec

I had a stroke in May 2023.

It began after a big day out in the sun. I didn’t eat or drink much that day and could have been a bit dehydrated.

A sudden and very painful headache set in. Little did I know that it was the beginning of a stroke.

After I a visited a friend's house to watch the football, I got up to walk to the car and felt extremely dizzy, it almost felt like I was going to faint. I waited a few minutes and it dissipated. I felt slightly lightheaded throughout the night and woke the next morning with the same severe headache.

As the day went on, I started feeling nauseous, and whilst visiting our baby niece, the dizziness got so severe, I had trouble standing and I started vomiting. My husband took me home. We both thought that I was suffering from a severe migraine.

My husband and our boys went off to play soccer that afternoon, and I stayed home with my 3-year-old daughter. The symptoms got more and more intense and persistent. I was so scared that I would faint again, I asked my neighbour to come over to mind my daughter.

She took one look at me and called the ambulance immediately. None of us were thinking stroke. In our minds it was still a severe migraine, including the ambos.

I was taken to hospital via the ambulance, and then was assessed at the hospital. Within a few hours I had a CT scan. I was then told by the ER doctor, that my scan was clear, but that the specialists present in ER that night hadn't yet had a chance to look over the scan results, only the ER doctor had. So, he was satisfied with the results and then I was sent home with Endone. The symptoms persisted, but they eased with the painkillers after three days.

A week later, feeling almost back to normal, I decided to visit my GP just to check in. She double checked the CT scan and noted bleeding on my cerebellum in the images and it was also listed in the report.

She sent me straight to the radiology for further MRIs and CT scans. These clearly showed I had suffered a stroke on my cerebellum which caused and explained my symptoms. I was admitted into the hospital for four days for further testing and monitoring.

I still ask why I was sent home with Endone in the first place and how did the doctors at the hospital missed what was so clearly on my scans at the time. If I hadn’t gone to my GP, my story could have been very different.

Almost a year later, I'm now feeling a lot more like myself. It definitely changed my life and my perspective. Health wise, I struggle with day-to-day cognitive issues (very mild), but find that keeping busy helps keep my mind on track.

It has only been in the last two or three months, that I have been offered counselling, and more support from the Stroke Teams within our region. I really needed this earlier on, instead of having to use Google to work out my risks, symptoms and details about stroke in young people. Recently, they have found I require a PFO closure. The small hole they have found in my heart is potentially a contributing factor to my stroke, and this will be operated on at the end of February with hopes that I will not be at high risk of further strokes.