Diet and Health FAQ

Tagged As: Hemiplegic Migraine

Question:
How does one distinguish between a transient ischemic attack (TIA) and a hemiplegic migraine?

Answer:
Unfortunately, there's no way to know for sure at the time when it's happening. So an emergency room visit is in order. You wouldn't want it to be a TIA and have it turn into a stroke. Besides, until the symptoms resolve, it could be a stroke. And some strokes can be cured within 3 hours of onset by a medicine which dissolves blood clots (though this is a controversial treatment). When a patient presents with neurologic deficits, and the CT scan shows no stroke, one of the causes we consider is a migraine. But sometimes this is not even considered, and the diagnosis is made later in retrospect. Sometimes the diagnosis of migraine is suspected because the patient's neurologic problems are not consistent with a single part of the brain being affected. For example, the patient might have tingling on both sides of the face. Anyway, the answer to your question is that you can't if you're not a doctor, even most doctors can't tell, and it's too serious a matter to try and deal with without a doctor, and if it's a stroke it's a huge emergency, so either take the patient to the ER immediately or call an ambulance. How's that for a run-on sentence?