Artery dissections

[LeeAnn1365]

My stroke was caused by a carotid artery dissection. Normally it is caused from some sort of trauma to the neck but mine was spontaneous which can happen as well. My doctor says that these will most of the time heal on their own, am on coumadin therapy and will be retested in 6 months to see how the process of healing is going. Just wondering if anyone else has had one of these....

[Vanillamoon]

I've had a carotid dissection in August 2004. They say it's "spontaneous" but I really believe that the clot that forms inside the artery makes it dissect. I had an MRI in October and it showed blood flow back to normal. I am on coumadin but my neurologist wants me to go back to the hematologist to see if it can be stopped and put on aspirin. I have an borderline anti-body clotting disorder. How are you doing?

 

Feel free to pm me if you wish. :hiya:

[isokrzy]

Hey,

Vanilla had I ght caratoid arter dissection for no apparent reason no trauma, just happened one morning They started me on coumadin, but realized the damage is done and the long ter effects of that med are no good so I have been on good ole'Asparin for 4 years now. Stan had caratoid dissection but he swears it was a result of strenous activity I cant report the same I know this is no help, but it happened because it happened could drive yourself nuts trying to find something to blame.

Kevin

[givincare]

My husband had a dissection as well. There is 100% occlussion, and can not be fixed. An MRA determined that there was no need for surgury as the body had found other natural pathways to the brain.

 

Why did he have the dissection? We do not know, nor will we ever. There are several possibilities:

 

1. He had gotten ill two days prior in the middle of the night. He could have weakened the artery through exessive heaving.

 

2. He had just gotten off the treadmill, and usually ran 3-5 miles per session. He also had a nasty habbit of not drinking water while working out, and following it up with a very hot shower. (he had the shower running when I found him, but I am unsure if he ever got in).

 

3. He could have had a weak artery his whole life, it could've happened spontaniously, or what ever.

 

Bottom line is, I will never know "why". This all goes back to the fact that it could happen to anyone.

 

Kristen

[2ndChance]

I had an internal right carotid dissection secondary to Fibromuscular Dysplasia(FMD).

[Dora]

I had 8 tears from a CHIROPRACTOR!!!!

So I just hope none of you have had that happen and are mistakening that for an oops what did I do to tear my artety????

Usualy they just tear 1 or 2 tears. I am just the worst case in the history of Chiropractic and lucky to be alive.

So just be aware of what can cause artery tears.

Read my picture bio. My most current one, because there are 2 and they don't know how to take the old one off, it's really funny because of all the problems I have had and the neurological problems I now face I can't stop losing weight, and the old picture I am much "plumper" LOL.

But it explains a lot about what happened to me.

Bottom line: 3 tears to the right vertebral artery 5 tears to the left. Right artery eventually coiled off after 73% blockage caused by aneurysm inside one of the stints that caused me to go unconcious while driving with my kids in the car and have a head on collision at 65 MPH. So now I only have my left Vertebral artery.

Lets hope it lasts!!! OH..... the best part....... I'm only 24 and disabled for the rest of my life!!! How about a round of applause for CHIROPRACTORS!!!!!!

 

Dora

[Craig_G]

Hi,

 

I had Carotid Artery Dissection on the LHS, artery blocked for good. I was put on aspirin, then they considered coumadin but there was still a minor seepage so they stuck with aspirin.

 

Craig

[mrsbumps]

Wow! I am reading these replies and it is really bringing back some bad memories for me....

 

I am on this board because my father had a stroke..While I was browsing around I saw these posts on dissections.

 

I also had my two vertebral arteries dissected due to my chiropractor. I was admitted into the hospital and remained there for 13 days. It was scary and I was on coumadin for a year. They healed thank goodness but reading these posts made me remember that time...Anyway I never knew anyone else that this happened too and now I am reading Dora's post especially and can't believe that this happened to her also.

 

I guess it is a rare thing that happens. This happened to me 4 years ago...I was thinking of visiting my neurologist again for an MRA to make sure things are still running smoothly. Anyway good luck to all of you...

 

Roseanna

[scrappier]

Here's another one, mine also resulted a couple days after seeing a chiro.

 

 

I had gone to one for a number of years. Right before my stroke, he had advised I come in twice a day. I had done this 2 x a day thing on a Monday and then he wanted me there on Wednesday but I put off till Friday, thinking overdo. I again went twice on that day. On Saturday (the day after) my DH found me unusually quiet, Sunday I had multiple TIA's , they came and went, so because of that, we never questioned them. I stroked on Monday morning, while driving my big SUV (a day off of school no less). I was then missed for a diagnosis and sent on my own way (with my mom who had called for a squad afterI called her from a parking lot feeling sick)by a rescue squad who had apparently never encountered a 42yr old stroker before...Followed by 7 weeks between hosp and rehab. I was paralyzed on the left side and spent over a year's time in out patient....Yeah those lovely litigious chiro's..think where we'd be without them....normal and I can't touch the jerk because it had to be within 3 days of treatment and stroke, not five,guess I should have hurried it along had I known........

[larrymm]

I know you all have posted about having carotid dissections, but mine was a vertebral dissection and they don't know what caused it.

 

Larry

[mrsbumps]

Larry:

 

My vertebral arteries were dissected not my carotid arteries. It was after a visit to my chiropractor....

 

Roseanna

[alpinejunkie]

I had a vertebral artery dissection. I had not been to a chiro. However, I did have some head trauma jumping off of a cruise ship. That was about a month before my stroke though so my docs say that was to far in the past.

[jkirshenbaum]

Yes, I had a dissection in my right carotid artery. Oddly, this was likely a result of being hit in the neck with a tennis ball 6 months prior, which is what my 2 neurologists believe. A stent was placed in the artery to keep the artery wall open to allow the blood to flow. A high-powered ultrasound shows that the stent has become part of the tissue of the artery wall, and that the blood is flowing the same as in the left artery. I think medicine can do magic sometimes. I have had remarkably good medical care and doctors and am forever grateful.

Jean

[excuzzzeme]

My strokes were caused by dissection also. Scans showed th dissection in the left peretial lobe. Cause unknown.

 

However, a mild AVM was also discovered. At this time there are no plans on corrective surgery.

 

The only thing clearly known about dissections is they can be caused by a multitude of reasons. There doesn't seem to be an absolute answer other than it is common occurance after an injury to that area or that they can be spontaeneous. I know this is no answer but that is the explanation I was given

[PureStirling]

Hi LeeAnn, My name is Kent Stirling I also had a carotid artery dissection result of a car accident ,then 10 days later I had multiple strokes . That was 3 years ago January 28th,2003 Iam only 46 years old .

But friends and family have been tremendous inspiration. Still doing P/T &O/T every week , swim twice per week plus gym once per week

 

GoodLuck

[Budweiser]

I've had a bilateral dissection (Carotid) last March. I had an car accident (70km to 40km headon, cause a "snap"). The left artery's lining let blood go up to my brain than I had an infarct (stroke). I had 2 MRA's, 3 CT's and 2 dopplers. I'm going for another doppler nest month. The left artey has enuogh blood but my doctor watch's to keep looking at it. My right artery came back like normal. My nuerosurgeon said my left artery is permanent.

[m2moi]

Mine is a bilateral dissection of the vertebral arteries. Happened in 2002.

Still suffers from vertigo, face pain, leg pain, loss of heat sensation, swallowing prob.

All this from my "neck-cracking" habit to relieve stiff neck. At least so they tell me. My own fault.

I can't imagine if it someone else's doing!!!!!!

[jkirshenbaum]

Yup, me too. Carotid dissection 6 months after getting hit in the neck by a hard-hit tennis ball. Woke up with a stroke. MRA showed the dissection. Stent put in- another stroke 5 days letter; left-side paralysis, down to weakness on left side after PT. I have been lucky and thank God. Many prayed for me, including a Baptist congregation in New York City, about 125 miles from my near-Philadelphia home. My sister's friend arranged it!

Jean

[Katiedid]

My husband's stroke was a dissection of the right carotid artery. The neurologist said it happens more in tall thin people. But he was skiing with our kids at the time and had taken a fall. And, he was receiving chiropractic treatment for his neck twice a week. So trauma and chiropractic seem to be a pattern here.

[justsurviving]

Spontaneous right carotid dissection here too - doctor said it is extremely rare but so many people here posted...odd.

[Budweiser]

.

 

That's because many people have had a dissection and didn't even know. I had a bilateral dissection, the doctors did a MRA and said "wow, both dissection".

 

You can have a dissection with no problems, but when it's bad, you have problems.

 

 

Bill

[sjennings]

Hi

I had a vertebral artery dissection that resulted in a brainstem stroke. My dissection occured from a whiplash avoiding a car accident. A study called SPONTADS (spontaneous arterial dissections) found that most had a reason--often a minor trauma in the previous weeks or days before the event. There seems to be always a lag time from the trauma to the event that makes cause and effect difficult to proof.

 

The study suggested that 50% of arterial dissections were caused by chiropractic treatment. Other causes were: whiplash, golf swing, shampooing hair with head backwards, etc.

 

One can't blame chiropractors because of all the treatments they do, only a small percentage get dissections. Why some people? Is there an underlying weakness in the arterial wall? Acquired or genetic? No one knows.

 

Shawn

 

[scrappier]

Mine is a bilateral dissection of the vertebral arteries. Happened in 2002.

Still suffers from vertigo, face pain, leg pain, loss of heat sensation, swallowing prob.

All this from my "neck-cracking" habit to relieve stiff neck. At least so they tell me. My own fault.

I can't imagine if it someone else's doing!!!!!!

 

 

Happened to be talking to my neuro and he also said he currently had a stroke patient who was in hosp due to cracking his own neck. It absolutely stops me in my tracks if I see anyone, kid or adult who is doing that wherever I happen to come across them. Thank God we are still here to see another day. I have severe vertigo, even to the point of going upstairs in certain houses. I avoid overpasses and when I'm faced with one wish I could drive it with my eyes closed! :head_hurts: Legs spaz at night and swallowing prob. and I have carpal tunnel and anxiety....oh yeah we're all having fun....At least I can blame him for the twice a day thing of cracking my neck....