Bloodstar

Watch your headaches

Isabel White, 36, was in a spinning class when she got a headache so intense that she had to get off her bike and lie down on the floor. Jen Gulvik was 30 when she was having a massage and suddenly overcome with terrible, unspeakable neck pain. And three years ago, Shana Spiess, 35, woke up one morning and couldn’t swallow.

You may think that strokes only afflict those in their 50s and 60s and it’s true, nearly 75 percent of stroke patients are over 65. But these young women all suffered a rare kind of stroke caused by a vertebral artery dissection, or VAD. Artery dissections account for one-quarter of strokes in people under 45—a disproportionate number of which are women—and can be caused by the slightest of head trauma.

Effectively, there’s an Artery that runs along the vertebrae, and that artery can get get cut through neck trauma. Typically, that’s not dangerous by itself, but it can lead to clots, which can get into the brain and cause strokes. For some reason, women are much more prone to this type of tear and stroke. It’s also harder to diagnose because most doctors aren’t thinking stroke when looking at 30something women with differing symptoms.

Probably won’t be a worry for most people, but it’s always worth being armed with information.

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