As no one else has replied I'll say what little I know. Yes you can see strokes with imaging, not 100% sure about MRI but I would think so. Probably seeing them is in part dependent on their size, so little ones would be harder to detect. It may also depend on if they are looking for them, e.g. what contrast dye they are using (I'm speculating here).

Sorry that's about all I know or care to speculate about.

I thought we had someone here who was a radiologist or tech?

I would suspect your issues stem from you head injury/severe concussion. Mini strokes is a term that drives me batty. People seem to be using it now as synonym for transient ischemic attack. Transient means for a short period of time (hours) you have ischemic brain and then circulation reestablishes and things go back to normal. Significance is if you have one of those you are more likely to have a stroke so looking for things that can reduce your risk of stroke (like cleaning out your carotid arteries) or controlling really high blood pressure is important. There are other things that can reduce your risk as well. I am no expert on MRIs but the majority of pts I have had with these (TIAs) do not have changes on MRI. Those that do most of time I cannot correlate to the TIA (ie not in the territory corresponding to symptoms for sure). Lots have people have little ischemic areas on brain MRI and have had no symptoms. Probably because there are some redundancies in brain that cover for that. A stroke by definition should leave sign of damage on MRI ie brain that changes because it lost blood supply. I would think if you had a stroke at time of accident would have been seen on MRI. If they do find anything to indicate you had an ischemic stroke (loss of blood supply) checking your carotids and if any significant blockages corresponding to area of symptoms something like carotid surgery might help but I think the likelihood of that is very low. If you had a hemorrhagic stroke from bleeding likely nothing can be done now except brain rehab. I am pretty skeptical they will find anything. Lupus can have neurological problems but I am not familiar with them. I am a family doc in semi rural area that takes care of my own pts who have strokes or TIAs. How old are you? If relatively young likelihood of stroke is low but lupus would increase it. Hope you get better. Most of my patients in this situation do but can take a long time.

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

Thank you both for the thoughts - they are greatly appreciated.

I found the term "mini stroke" to be kind of odd - almost in a way where it seems to make it something that would be taken less seriously.

I'm 43. I'm a notoriously slow healer, which makes sense having the autoimmune disorders, but being that it's going on 8 months since the accident, I thought I would have either returned to normal or established a new normal.

Thank you, again!

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Travis Rassat
Vector Cycle Works
Noblesville, IN
BikeFit Instructor | FMS | F.I.S.T. | IBFI
Toughman Triathlon Series Ambassador

I am totally not a doctor but my dad after years of dr appointments was diagnosed with silent or absence seizures. I only bring it up as something to look into as it sounds somewhat similar and was easily controlled with anti seizure medicine once diagnosed.

http://www.mayoclinic.org/...inition/con-20021252

I hope you get answers and get it under control quickly

Here's an article that links increased probability of seizures post TBI. Again I am not a Dr- but I wish we had caught this earlier with my dad as it was immediately corrected after he started meds.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/...4516165/#!po=86.8421

Thank you for sharing this. I find that I often do something similar, but I think I'm usually mostly aware of it. Maybe...

Thank you!

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Travis Rassat
Vector Cycle Works
Noblesville, IN
BikeFit Instructor | FMS | F.I.S.T. | IBFI
Toughman Triathlon Series Ambassador

Hi Travis,

First off I am sorry to hear of your issues, it is scary getting a head trauma. I was hit bad last October when I was out on my bike and suffered a pretty bad traumatic brain injury. I was unconscious for a while; I had 3 different CT scans, one of the brain, one of the blood vessels and another type when they saw an issue on the CT of the blood vessels. No MRI though. I have been having issues since it is taking a long time to feel right, I did go to speech and occupation therapy which I found very helpful. I still get quite dizzy, waking up in the morning seems to be slower for the brain to work fully, I have also have had some strange nerve issues where I feel the right side of my body not working correctly, but that only happens now and again, but it is a horrible feeling when I am going through it.

I was so scared of a stroke myself after this accident as many years ago my mom who was looking after a couple of bad kids at the time was pushed down a flight of stairs by one of them she had a bad concussion but within a month she had a massive stroke.

I am not sure what more tests will tell you if you have had them all at this stage, I was of course worried myself as I take Coumadin and thought of a brain bleed but I was told if it didn’t happen within a week or two then things should be fine and touch wood no issues when I had the latter two CT scans. I do know I was told the brain CT scan did show a lot of darker grey areas on the brain which can also be attributed to strokes but not in my case, my neurologist went over the scan in good detail with me.

I know I have not said too much in actual advice but just go with what you feel, if it doesn’t cost you too much for the MRI etc. then for peace of mind do it, but as you say I am not sure what can be done at this stage. I know myself that it takes a long time to get over these head trauma’s, I know I am better today than I was when it happened last October but I still feel I have a long way to go with it all.

Needless to say after riding a bike for close to 40 years I have not been back out on my bike since as regardless of all the other broken bones it is the head trauma I just couldn’t face going through again, but who knows maybe one day! Cheers LA Rob