I had momentary vision loss in my left eye with numbness on the same side. Could this be TIA?

Question

Hello doctor,

I am a 20-year-old female. About four months ago, something that I suspect to be a ministroke happened to me. All of a sudden, I started losing vision on my left side in both eyes, but it came back within minutes. About half an hour after that, I noticed that my left hand went completely numb out of nowhere. I freaked out and then saw the left side of my lip, nose, and upper cheek get numb too. All of which went away within two minutes. I got really worried and talked to a doctor about it over the phone. I told him all my symptoms, but he said it could not have been a ministroke. After two to three weeks, I still was worried about what happened and not convinced it was not a TIA, so I went to get an MRI and talk to a neurologist about it. He told me the same thing, it was caused by stress, not TIA. Today I got the same experience. I started by losing vision on the left side of my eyes, and the rest happened the same way as the first time. Both times loss of vision lasted for less than 15 minutes and numbness for less than 4. It makes it hard for me to trust the doctors I went to, although I could be wrong. Perhaps, I just have read too much on the internet. I am writing to get another opinion on this. Should I stop thinking it was a TIA, or was it possible, although it did not show up on the MRI?

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

I read your question carefully and explain that your symptoms are very suggestive of TIA (transient ischemic attacks), although this is an exceptional diagnosis at your age.

We should also consider migraine aura, focal epilepsy, and panic attacks when discussing the possible differential diagnosis, leading to such a clinical scenario. Did you feel any headache during or after this episode? Does anyone in your family suffer from migraines?

For this reason, I would recommend performing an EEG to investigate for possible seizures and cardiac ultrasound to exclude possible foramen ovale aperture (a cardiac birth defect), which could potentially mimic this situation TIA at your age.

Other tests to consider would be thyroid hormone levels, anti-TPO for thyroiditis, fasting glucose for possible hypoglycemia.

In the meantime, please do not read too much on the internet because the information is too wide, non-specific, and may mislead you.

I hope this helps.