Did I have a mini-stroke?

Q I am a 56-year-old manager at a local bank. During the whole of last year, I kept experiencing the following symptoms: numbness and weakness on the left side of the body (face, arm, trunk and legs), loss of concentration, difficulty in understanding what people around me where saying, dizziness and confusion (especially when working conditions at the office got stressful). I am short-sighted but during these episodes, vision in my left eye would become hazy compared to the right. I could walk but my balance was off. I visited two hospitals but all they told me was that if I didn’t have a headache, there was nothing seriously wrong with me. They told me that it was ‘just stress’ so I should take it easy and relax. This year it has improved a lot, but I still have occasional mild symptoms in the legs and face. What could be going on with me? Did I have a stroke and not realise it?

What you are describing sounds like something we call a ‘transient ischaemic attack’ (TIA) or a ‘mini-stroke’. This is when you get stroke-like symptoms, but in a milder form.