Written by admin on 2009-03-11T13:04:42+0000">March 11, 2009 – 1:04 pm
The headache associated with stroke usually comes on suddenly, at the time of the paralysis. The pain can be really severe and is often bursting in nature. Headaches can also occur after a stroke, because of the generalised damage to the brain. Usually these disappear with the passage of time.
What else could it he?
A stroke is typified by one-sided paralysis with or without loss of speech. A true stroke implies permanent damage to the brain, but there are two processes that can cause temporary interruption to the normal workings of the brain in a similar sort of way. The first is a Transient Ischaemic Attack (TIA), which is discussed later in this chapter. However, TIAs and strokes can only be distinguished because one goes away and the other doesn’t; at first they are indistinguishable.
The second process that can cause temporary paralysis is bemiplcgic migraintA This is a moderately uncommon, but particularly alarming type of migraine, especially the first time you experience it. Not only do you get the normal symptoms of migraine – but also weakness or even paralysis of one or more limbs on one side of the body. Fortunately, hemiplegic migraine resolves spontaneously, and although dramatic and frightening, seldom causes permanent damage.
However, there is a sort of halfway house between a stroke and hemiplegic migraine, and this is the type of migraine that sometimes comes on as a side-effect of the contraceptive pill. In this it is possible to have a hemiplegic migraine that actually progresses to a stroke. If you have your first ever attack of migraine on the contraceptive pill, you should stop taking it immediately. Migraines caused by the Pill (rather than just exacerbated by it) may well go on to cause a stroke.
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