She Survived A Stroke, Even Though She Was Told She Was Experiencing Anxiety And Got Sent Home From The Emergency Room Several Times
Do you know a friend or relative who suffered from a stroke? A stroke is a serious medical emergency, as they’re essentially a brain attack that can cause lasting damage to someone’s body. If not taken seriously or treated immediately, a stroke can be fatal.
One content creator went viral after sharing her story of how she survived a stroke, even though she was first dismissed during her initial emergency room visit.
In a series of videos, Jenna Muscat (@jennamcat) explains how, a few years ago, she went to the emergency with extreme headaches that were a symptom of a severe stroke, only to be told she was experiencing anxiety. Three years ago in 2020, Jenna began having extremely painful headaches in late August.
Previously, she was perfectly healthy and was going through an exciting time in her life, as she was a week away from receiving her master’s degree. Then, one day, she woke up with a headache that became excruciating over time.
“Calling it a headache just doesn’t do justice to it,” explains Jenna in one of her videos. “It was more pain than I had ever been in in my entire life.”
Then, she suddenly had an onset of “really scary neurological symptoms,” as her vision and hearing would go in and out, parts of her body would go numb, she’d be nauseous, and she had a hard time balancing and speaking.
Jenna went to the emergency room three different times for her symptoms and got sent home each time.
On her fourth visit, a doctor finally ordered a CT scan, but when it came back clear, he told her she simply had anxiety and sent her home with some valium, dismissing all her concerns.
Not long after, Jenna’s dad found her lying on her bathroom floor and took her back to the emergency room, demanding that her condition be taken more seriously.
Liudmila Dutko – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual person
During this visit, doctors still believed everything was fine, but after a neurologist ordered a more specific brain scan, they realized she wasn’t. Jenna was given an exam that showed she had several blood clots in her brain, which were missed during her first CT scan.
Her doctors concluded that she had cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, which is a rare type of stroke that prevents blood from being able to drain out of the brain.
“My brain was full of those blood clots,” recalls Jenna. “In addition, when they did the brain scan, it picked up the top part of my lungs and also found a pulmonary embolism. Then, when they re-scanned my entire lungs, they found another pulmonary embolism. So I was just clotted up everywhere.”
Jenna spent a week in the hospital and was put on several different kinds of medications since her stroke. While Jenna is getting back to living her life, she’ll never be the same woman she was before her stroke.
Now, at 27, Jenna is still coping with the trauma she suffered from not only going through the stroke but the horrific experience of not being able to receive proper treatment from doctors who did not believe her or take her seriously.
“As it goes for a stroke recovery, I had a really good recovery,” says Jenna.
“I have no lasting real visit, physical or cognitive deficits. But that being said, the emotional toll that it took on me is real and extreme. I was left with very, very severe PTSD that just absolutely paralyzed me.”
To this day, Jenna still has anxiety and fear surrounding doctors and hospitals. She’s been posting many videos on TikTok, encouraging her viewers, especially female viewers, to speak up and advocate for themselves as patients when they believe something is wrong.
We’re wishing you lots of peaceful healing, Jenna.
@jennamcat Replying to @Meghan Mason chaotic stroke story time #stroke #stroketok #cvst #cerebralvenoussinusthrombosis
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