Four Hours Ago I Suddenly Was Dizzy And Unbalanced And

Posted on Fri, 7 Dec 2018

Question: Four hours ago I suddenly was dizzy and unbalanced and had trouble walking and felt drowsy and unalert and felt like I would faint. My right leg and arm were weak and uncoordinated. My writing got larger and sloppier and then I could not form any letters. When I try, all I can make is squiggly vertical lines and my hand hits the wrong letters on the keyboard. It feels clumsy and heavy like I'm wearing boxing gloves and aches. What part of the brain controls writing? My blood pressure is 126/67. Did I have a stroke? Why won't my hand work? What should I do?

Follow up: Dr. Ajay Panwar (14 minutes later)

I just uploaded two images of my writing difficulties; stroke 11-20 a and stroke 11-20 b. You can see the progression over two hours to unintelligible writing.

Follow up: Dr. Ajay Panwar (18 minutes later)

It is 4 1/2 hours since onset and my handwriting has returned, but a little sloppy.

Answered by Dr. Ajay Panwar (18 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
It appears to be stroke

Detailed Answer:
Hi,
Thanks for being on healthcaremagic.com.
I am Dr.Ajay Panwar,a neurologist, here to answer your query.

Handwriting involves the integrated working of several regions of brain. Lesions of the left frontal, left parietal, motor cortex areas may result in writing difficulty. With the sudden onset of symptoms you have suggested, it indeed looks like a stroke. I suggest you to visit a neurological emergency. A brain imaging should be done urgently.

Hope that helps.If you have any further questions,I shall be glad to have you in follow-up.

Regards,
Dr.Ajay Panwar,
MD,DM(Neurology)

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Vaishalee Punj

Follow up: Dr. Ajay Panwar (21 minutes later)

Thanks. I was afraid it might be a stroke or TIA. From the images of my writing, do these look typical of a stroke? I have never had such extreme difficulty before. I thought I was going crazy. But it did clear up. I just have some slight weakness and numbness in my three right fingers now. It has been five hours since onset, so there is probably nothing they could do to help me now. Right?

Answered by Dr. Ajay Panwar (37 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
MRI Brain should be done.

Detailed Answer:
Hi,
Thanks for being in follow-up.

Writing has so badly deteriorated over a short time, that is quite possible with stroke. Though your symptoms have improved, but still you must get a MRI of brain to look for stroke and if detected, you should be started on treatment as soon as possible. Once a stroke occurs, chances of future stroke increases several folds and preventive treatment should be started.

Hope that helps.If you have any further questions,I shall be glad to have you in follow-up.

Regards,
Dr.Ajay Panwar,
MD,DM(Neurology)

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Kampana