TIA and Minor Stroke
Work after transient ischaemic attack (TIA) or minor stroke
John was at a work conference when he suddenly found he was unable to articulate thoughts and he couldn't speak.
John was at a work conference when he suddenly found he was unable to articulate thoughts and he couldn't speak.
Clare was at work and her colleagues could see there was something wrong but she couldn't work out what was happening to her
Clare was at work and her colleagues could see there was something wrong but she couldn't work out what was happening to her
We stopped off at the shop in the morning before we went to work to pick up some breakfast. I was quite excited because I was due off … I was due to have a few days off work. We picked up a colleague from work. Got into work. And sat down all of us in the office chatting away. And I took a bite of my sausage roll. And one of my colleagues was telling a joke and I took a bite of the sausage roll and then I had almost like an out of body experience. That’s probably about the best way that I can describe it. And my colleague sort of said, “Well the joke wasn’t that funny.” And then another colleague said to me because there was about five people in the office at the time, and another colleague said to me, “Stop doing that Clare you’re frightening me.” And that was the sort of thing for me that frightened me because I knew something was going on. But I didn’t quite know it was you know, like I said an out of body experience. And then we’ve got a unit downstairs that’s for detoxification, so this nurse is there. So they came, they came up the stairs. And I, I can remember wanting to act normally because they kept looking, because everyone kept staring at me. And I had a cup of coffee on my table. And I went to pick it up with my left hand and where you automatically can pick up a cup of coffee I couldn’t do it. So I just wasn’t fazed by that, I just picked up it up with my right hand. And but I just didn’t feel like I, I wanted a cup of coffee then. And then I had some sausage roll in my mouth and my husband who was in the room with me at the time, took the sausage roll out, literally out of my mouth because I couldn’t swallow. And then one of the nurses came up and I know there were lots of people coming in at this stage. And they gave me some aspirin, 300 mg of aspirin. And then a nurse came to me and took my hands and said to me, “Squeeze as hard as you can with your hands.” And I can remember thinking, ‘I’m squeezing really hard’, but she was saying, “Well she’s not really doing it very hard.” And I can remember thinking, ‘I’m in the room. He’s saying that in the room as if I’m not there and I am.’ So it was a very weird out of body experience for me that. And then after that somebody asked me if I had a headache and it was at that stage that I had a really bad headache in the right side …
Yvonne experienced symptoms whilst driving to work but thought it was an adverse reaction to some medication she had been prescribed and so carried on working
Yvonne experienced symptoms whilst driving to work but thought it was an adverse reaction to some medication she had been prescribed and so carried on working
I was driving to work, and I noticed that my vision had gone funny. It was getting very fuzzy around the edges. But I have suffered from migraines in the past so I just thought maybe that was what was starting. Then my left leg went numb. My left arm went numb. Fortunately I was driving an automatic so it didn’t really matter, I didn’t have any gears to change or anything. I was starting to get a bit worried by that stage and then I felt as if my mouth had dropped. I managed to get into the police station car park. Sort of abandoned the car really, it wasn’t really parked. Kind of fell out of it thinking, “What the hell’s wrong with me?” You know, I’m just, I blamed it on the medication, because the doctor had just changed my blood pressure medication and I thought, “Oh I’m obviously reacting badly to it.”
I managed to get to the back door of the police station and there’s quite a high step and I couldn’t get over it. And I remember thinking how stupid I was and how stupid I must look. And the typical thing of looking round and thinking, “Is there anybody watching me?” Eventually a colleague came a long and opened the door for me. I went through the back door and I thought, “I don’t think I can manage the stairs.” And actually stood against the wall thinking, “Well, if I’m standing against the wall if I collapse then I will just slump down the wall rather than, than pitch forward.”
Yvonne carried on working until her doctor got the results of her scan and told her she shouldn't be at work
Yvonne carried on working until her doctor got the results of her scan and told her she shouldn't be at work
I carried on going to work. Absolutely exhausted. Just, I would come home in the evening and just slump on the settee. My husband would say, “Would you like to come to the pub for a drink?” “No, I’m too tired.”
Angus needs to be able to drive for his job, so having to stop driving for a while had an effect on his income
Angus needs to be able to drive for his job, so having to stop driving for a while had an effect on his income
The kick-on from all this is that I had all these few, quite a few, six weeks or so off work because of not being able to drive etc. - not necessarily because I didn’t feel right, because I did, you know. But I was told not to drive, so I had to, and that subsequently cost me more work because I wasn’t there to follow on, and so really I’ve not had a great deal. In the last four months I’ve probably only had about a month’s work, you know.
This could have a big impact, for example on income - particularly if the person was self-employed and did not get sick pay. Some people went back to work when they felt well enough but it could be difficult to continue exactly as things had been before they had been unwell because they got tired more easily and needed to slow down.
Michelle had a TIA followed by a stroke and can now only work part-time because she gets very tired, but she hopes that she will eventually be able to work full time again
Michelle had a TIA followed by a stroke and can now only work part-time because she gets very tired, but she hopes that she will eventually be able to work full time again
Now I have to stop and think of the implications like I have to know the limits, how far I can push myself and when I need to stop and rest.
Clare stayed off work for a few months because she felt she wouldn't be able to cope with going back
Clare stayed off work for a few months because she felt she wouldn't be able to cope with going back
Gilly is still waiting for a proper diagnosis after several months but in the meantime has been unable to go back to work
Gilly is still waiting for a proper diagnosis after several months but in the meantime has been unable to go back to work
I’m walking and I’m talking so I’m fine. Well I’m not fine, I can’t go back to work so I’m haemorrhagingmoney. Thousands have gone. Which doesn’t make me unique, it happens to everybody. But thousands have gone and I haven’t got a diagnosis.
Adrian runs his own business and has a strong work ethic but after his TIA decided to slow down and take more of a back seat
Adrian runs his own business and has a strong work ethic but after his TIA decided to slow down and take more of a back seat
I look at my business slightly differently.
John feels that the stress of working long hours may have contributed to him having his TIA but it's difficult to cut down on stress when you run your own business
John feels that the stress of working long hours may have contributed to him having his TIA but it's difficult to cut down on stress when you run your own business
I knew that what I do for a living requires me to work long, long hours, and always has done, which I enjoy. But that’s always been a fear, that that stress would cause something. Lo and behold, it’s caused, it would appear to have caused, or been a contributor to what has happened.
Keith loves his busy job as a head teacher but realises that he ought to slow down and maybe retire earlier than he'd planned to. Having the TIA made Keith reflect on how a more serious stroke could affect his life
Keith loves his busy job as a head teacher but realises that he ought to slow down and maybe retire earlier than he'd planned to. Having the TIA made Keith reflect on how a more serious stroke could affect his life
It is busy. I, what it’s made me do is, is made me realise how much I love the job but also how much that, that I am going to pace myself and I can see retirement, whereas before I was going to go on for more years than I’m going to now. I am going to cut back. Perhaps within a year or two years rather than three or four years now.
Rich took early retirement after his TIA because it would be difficult to fit back into his job after a long absence
Rich took early retirement after his TIA because it would be difficult to fit back into his job after a long absence
I took early retirement officially a year and two months after my event.
Yvonne has had to consider leaving her job and has thought about doing some voluntary work.
Yvonne has had to consider leaving her job and has thought about doing some voluntary work.
Keith plans to retire early and would like to spend some time as a volunteer supporting people who have had a stroke
Keith plans to retire early and would like to spend some time as a volunteer supporting people who have had a stroke
I’m extremely fortunate in that most if not all of the symptoms have completely gone so I don’t need the extra support as it were. Thought I wouldn’t mind looking into support other people, you know, when, when perhaps my workload decreases. Because at the moment I couldn’t manage it with any consistency. But I, I, I think probably what I will do is when I cut back my work or retire or I will look to see if I can help through one of those organisations. There is a man, obviously he’s had a stroke at some stage in, who came in the hospital and was helping out, just general things like …
John feels it's important that his work colleagues know about what has happened to him so that they would know how to help him if he had another episode
John feels it's important that his work colleagues know about what has happened to him so that they would know how to help him if he had another episode
I’d certainly tell them, everybody at work, they know what’s happened. And I’ve also spoken to them about what to do if I start to behave strangely, because I want, I want them to be able to feel confident to just dial 999. You know, let’s not delay. Let’s get some help. Because I’m concerned that if I have a stroke I may not be able to explain what’s happening. I want them to recognise the symptoms and deal with it. And because I travel and work in very remote locations because of my business - I’m talking about the middle of Siberian forests, or out in the Sahara, or up on the Canadian ice fields - I need to tell the people I’m with what has happened. I need to be very honest with them and say, “Right, I’ve had this. This is my concern. And this is what I want you to do about it if these things happen.” And that’s something that just feeds into a safety culture which we’ve had as a company, as a group, for all our working time, and which we’ve inherited and learnt from the major oil companies we work with, who are very concerned about individual safety and are extremely good at it.
Last reviewed June 2017.
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