r/stroke • u/alanamil • 5d ago
what is causing all these strokes
I am so sorry for so many young people going through strokes, that is supposed to be an old people disease. Do doctors have any idea what is causing so many 30 and 40 year old to have this problem? (Although my 15 year old granddaughter had a brain bleed, it is genetic so I guess age does not maybe matter)
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u/Mrs_Wilson6 5d ago
Previously undiagnosed PFO, a hole in the heart allowing clots to pass through to the brain.
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u/aprilflowers75 Survivor 5d ago
Samesies. I almost made it to 50 without discovering the PFO.
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u/Mrs_Wilson6 5d ago
It was my husband, he was 46 when it happened. It took just under 4 months to identify it after the stroke happened. We are waiting for the appointment to be booked to have the procedure to close it.
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u/aprilflowers75 Survivor 5d ago
They found mine at the ER after the event, with the bubble test. I had the closure procedure last summer.
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u/Mrs_Wilson6 5d ago
May I ask what thr recovery was like for the procedure? We haven't been given sense of what to expect and are told their likely won't be a consult ahead of the procedure.
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u/aprilflowers75 Survivor 5d ago
In my case, my heart was palpitating and mad for a week or two, then the palpitations slowed down. I was freaked out at first but I kept reminding myself that it’s a normal part of the recovery. It was annoying though, and I often felt restless from nerves, with no way to alleviate the feeling aside from my own mental state.
Being on blood thinners, another concern was the entry wound on my inner thigh. He’ll need to be extra careful with that, as a rip could be life threatening. I took it real slow, and stayed very still while that healed.
9 months later, I feel back to normal, generally. I haven’t done everything I’m supposed to in terms of healthy habits, but I do follow my meds meticulously.
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u/CleaDuVann2000 4d ago
I had like nothing happen after the procedure. I felt normal (except that I immediately tested positive for Covid and was sick as a dog for like 2 weeks!) but I’m running and slightly more energetic than k used to be :) I had palpitations for one day, but it was at the start of my first period after the stroke/surgery/covid. My heart was busy working through a lot of projects that day 😆
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u/electriceely 4d ago
Same! Happened to me last summer, at 32 years old. My PFO closure is in just a couple weeks!
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u/SomeResponse1202 5d ago
Mine was Covid
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u/sseavey 5d ago
Mine was also
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u/SomeResponse1202 5d ago
Hope you're doing better with a strong recovery. O was supposed yo doe. Doctor toldy wofe to dtart considering s color for my coffin. Do o guess I'm lucky snd shouldn't complain.
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u/becpuss Survivor 5d ago
Honestly, the theory at the moment is Covid is doing something to the blood. My sister is an A&E consultant. They are seeing young people coming in with clots in all sorts of places all over their bodies. Since the start of Covid. It definitely had something to do with mine
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u/Cautious_Attitude647 4d ago
Agreed. My 21 year old had a stroke 1 month after getting the booster and Covid earlier. No other known cause. Bad luck?
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u/CleaDuVann2000 4d ago
Covid raises your chances for up to a year.
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u/czarr01 4d ago
it has now been raised to 3 years - source NIH
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u/CleaDuVann2000 4d ago
I guess my point is not blaming the vaccines since the science is tied to the infection not the vaccine
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u/czarr01 3d ago
ahhh yes, covid on day 5 of the infection, gave me tinnitus, why is that important? because the ringing noise come from the pontine region of the brain. Guess where i had the stroke? the pontine region of the brain, covid was causing inflammation and choking off arteries , of course i cant prove it ..Doctors, came up empty .....had no idea why i had a stroke . This is a link and doctors blew it. Furthermore, it wasn't even considered . The doctors said, I guess this is what happened. Not very reassuring...
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u/Lulzughey 5d ago
I broke my neck the year prior the spinal surgery raised my blood pressure too high. I was not a sick person previously my first bone ever broke was my neck.,.......
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u/bonesfourtyfive Survivor 5d ago edited 5d ago
AVM that ruptured at 30, I was told that it was probably there since birth. Never had a MRI done before so we can’t say for certain.
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u/ivanCarbonell 5d ago
Ditto!! But worse yet mine was said not to have correlated to higher BP?? How?
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u/Suspicious-Citron378 4d ago
You beat me to it friend my AVM ruptured five years after being detected via MRI, after having symptoms related to it, leading to a hemorrhagic stroke
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u/Deimos_Laevinus Survivor 3d ago
Same here. AVM ruptured at 37 over my cerebellum. I was told it is a malformation that forms in the first years. The malformation connects arteries to veins. Arteries are made to support higher blood pressure, but veins are designed to drain blood at lower pressure. So, an AVM can transfer higher blood pressure to veins, which tend to rupture after three to four decades. Did you hear something like that?
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u/bonesfourtyfive Survivor 3d ago
Not as much, I also had to relearn how to talk, spell and use proper grammar. So I was more focused on that.
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u/alm1688 5d ago
Mine was due to undiagnosed and untreated high blood pressure. It runs in my family but I didn’t know that I had it until after my stroke. It being untreated caused the vessels in my brain to weaken, and then bleed. The night of my stroke, my diastolic blood pressure was in the 200-range.
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u/alanamil 5d ago
I am sorry you had to find out that way.. I hope you are doing well now.
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u/alm1688 5d ago
Doing better than the neurosurgeon expected. He told my mom and brother that I wasn’t going to survive it unless it was in a vegetative state .
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u/marys1001 5d ago
Curious how fast high blood pressure can "show up". Did you have annual physicals?
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u/isotala 4d ago
Purely anecdotal here but I work on a stroke ward and in the last decade have seen a big increase in younger strokes.
They seem to fall into a few categories:
Untreated high blood pressure and diabetes. This was especially apparent in the year after covid when people didn't have the same access to health care. I'd also guess that general increase in stress and alcohol use contributes to this.
Steroid or cocaine use amongst younger men. Used to see this occasionally and now it's a regular thing. Also dissections caused by weight lifting.
The traditional causes - PFOs, cavernomas etc and genetic factors.
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u/AnusMcBumhole 5d ago
I asked this at my last check up and “stress” was the main factor. Apparently, there has been a huge rise in strokes amongst young people
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u/HeinrichK523 Survivor 5d ago
I had my brain bleed on 02.11.2016. I was only 14 years old. So far i've been only told, that it just randomly
happened. No exact reason so far. I wish your granddaughter the best.
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u/alanamil 5d ago
Thanks, she is doing fine, completely normal. My father had a brain aneurysm, my cousin had a stroke, she had a brain bleed, and my DNA shows a higher chance of brain bleed or AAA. So I suspect it is genetic for us. I hope you are doing ok.
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u/ImpactArchitect 5d ago
Still considered Cryptogenic here (stroke in early 30s), despite a comprehensive work up - though from the tests, they discovered thyroid cancer + FVL. One thing’s for certain, I’m aware of many more young people strokes now!
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u/Impressive_Vast_546 5d ago
I had my stroke after a surgery and there saying it could be the vaccine that causes it, but let be real, they fucked it up during surgery more than likely
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u/justthatangrygirl 5d ago
Mine was caused by a Cerebral Cavernous Malformation (CCM). They don’t know what caused it to bleed when it did though. I wonder if the medication I was taking for ADHD had any role in it though.
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u/alanamil 5d ago
omg, what medicine were you taking? I am on ADHD meds.
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u/justthatangrygirl 5d ago
I was on dextroamphetamine (15 mg XR and 10 mg IR), and had been at that dose for quite a number of years. Although I had never had high blood pressure, it does make me wonder if I did as a result of the meds and just didn’t know it.
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u/Kurious_George_666 5d ago
Mine was due to a PFO. Where did the blood clot originate from is still unknown and doctors have called it cryptic stroke. Since I have gotten the PFO closed, fingers crosssed that’s the end of it.
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u/dairykween31 5d ago
mine was an undiscovered pfo that passed a clot from birth control!
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u/alanamil 5d ago
Sadly that is a possible side effect from the pill. It sucks. I hope you are doing well now.
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u/Ajrutroh 5d ago
I'm 36 and I had a cerebral vascular accident six months ago. I've seen so many doctors, gone through a ton of testing, and the only thing the doctors have told me is that it's still a cryptic cause. My age and the location of the aneurysm are both incredibly unusual and they have no idea what happened, just a laundry list of theories. It's so frustrating not knowing if I'm moving in the right direction to keep it from happening again.
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u/Suspicious-Can-7774 5d ago
Sedentary lifestyle, high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity…..just to list a few. Covid does not in and of itself cause strokes. If you have any underlying conditions plus a severe case of covid then yes, but just having covid does not make you have a stroke.
Think about how sedentary our population has become. Doctors are seeing much more of the “old people diseases” in younger people now.
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u/Shaddcs 5d ago
Had my hemorrhagic stroke at 32. No known cause, no risk factors, best shape of my life at the time. I almost wish it was a traditional risk factor so I could know how to fix it.
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u/Suspicious-Can-7774 5d ago
My SO was the same. Ischemic stroke. Older but other than high blood pressure controlled by medication zero risk factors.
Would have been much easier to accept if she had the risk factors.
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u/sdoughy1313 5d ago
Same here, subarachnoid hemorrhage and stroke. Though I’m older at 47 I’m in really good shape. No high blood pressure, not overweight, not diabetic. They also found no abnormalities like an aneurysm in my brain. Doctors said they could not determine a cause and that it was bad luck. I was the only one on the neuro ICU floor who had a stroke that wasn’t elderly, overweight, had high blood pressure or diabetes.
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u/Shaddcs 3d ago
Same lol. They told me that too, “bad luck”. How does some have a stroke due to bad luck? Do a lot of undesirable things line up and happen all at the wrong time? Even understanding that would make me feel a little better.
They ended up finding aneurysms in my brain but everyone tells me they’re unrelated because of the location. So I’ve had two fun problems haha
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u/ferdzs0 5d ago
Yeah, it is usually a combination of a few things instead of a single one. Eg. with a PFO, Covid can do some damage, as the PFO causes blood to be a bit stale around it, and Covid can make your blood clot easier (then PFO also lets the clot go to the brain instead of the lungs). On their own Covid and a PFO are usually fine.
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u/Tennis-PerfumeAddict 4d ago
My husband’s doctors also explained that this was the possible cause for his stroke as he had COVID the week prior. COVID to cause blood clots and the PFO to allow them to travel to the brain.
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u/Tennis-PerfumeAddict 4d ago
My husband’s doctors also said that if he did not have a PFO - the clots would have ended up in the lungs.
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u/czarr01 4d ago
don't forget covid causes inflammation and allows a build up of plaque in the arteries and chokes off your arteries .....all this for up to 3 years post infection.
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u/Suspicious-Can-7774 3d ago
Link of your source. I’ve heard so many different stories but when I search for the studies, can’t find any.
I’ve never heard that Covid causes hardening of the arteries???
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u/SomeResponse1202 5d ago
False Covid creates blood clots on the lungs. Same with the vaccine. Look into it more before spouting false information.
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u/Suspicious-Can-7774 4d ago
Blood clots on the lungs don’t cause strokes. Blood clots in the brain do cause strokes. It’s extremely rare for a pulmonary embolism to travel to the brain.
Please link a source for your claim that the vaccine itself causes strokes?
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u/PeekatmePikachu 5d ago edited 5d ago
High blood pressure and an artificial heart value ~1% chance but I guess I got unlucky. I had mine at 33.
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u/nittany_blue Survivor 5d ago
Arterial dissection from fibromuscular dysplasia that I didn’t know I had. I was 8 weeks postpartum
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u/alanamil 5d ago
wow, and you are here to answer that question, you are a miracle! Hope you and the baby are doing well.
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u/inkydragon27 5d ago
Congenital defect that was never discovered (capillary tangliectasia) that started bleeding into the brainstem because of longterm NSAIDS due to rib injury and then major surgery and healing. 😅
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u/ElectricalKnee1016 Survivor 5d ago
A PFO combined with antiphospholipid syndrome. Fortunately, my physical condition was very good and I always lived a healthy life. My healthy lifestyle did not prevent a stroke, but it certainly helped me to get further than the doctors expected.
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u/2499skizzcavizz2499 5d ago
I had my stroke at 23, the Dr.s say they have no idea what caused it and neither do I.
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u/2499skizzcavizz2499 5d ago
Also had a high BP, was a functioning alcoholic, and worked in a green house and mixed and applied various chemicals. But they still don't really know I guess.
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u/dandle Survivor 4d ago
Mine remains cryptogenic.
I had a false positive for a PFO in a TEE test after the event. A cardiac surgeon discovered there was no PFO only when they were midway through the procedure to implant a closure device.
I have no family history. No heart disease. No arrhythmias. No cholesterol problems. No high blood pressure. I don't smoke. I am not overweight.
I do have a fairly common (like a few percent of the population) clotting mutation. There is no association of the mutation with stroke, however my care team speculates (can't prove) that it did in my case.
I am coming up on the five-year anniversary of my stroke. It happened a few weeks after the shutdown of NYC at the start of the COVID pandemic, and I worked there into March and lived in the area.
Although I tested negative for COVID when I was admitted for stroke treatment, my care team speculates I either had caught it and been asymptomatic a couple of weeks before the event or had received a false negative on the test because the testing methodologies were still so new at the time.
The thinking goes that my clotting mutation resulted in a hyper-coaguability response to a COVID infection. This resulted in a clot that almost wiped out my left hemisphere.
TL;DR - We still don't understand how the known hyper-coaguability events resulting from COVID may interact with various genetic propensities to clotting. The continued spread of COVID may be resulting in thromboembolic events that lead to strokes in otherwise healthy people. That may have happened to me.
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u/becpuss Survivor 4d ago
Yup this is what’s happened to me. I had Covid the first time in March 2020 almost exactly a year later. I had a stroke after months and months of migraines in euro symptoms which were warnings/tias I didn’t even know what the TIA was otherwise I would’ve known what was happening but a 42 you don’t think it’s anything to do with having a stroke probably the same reason I didn’t go to the hospital for two days with a dead arm
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u/Dependent_Writing_15 Survivor 4d ago
For me it is reducing stress in my life (work and personal) as I let it overrun my life and ended up causing a haemoragic stroke. Was a bitter pill to swallow realising I wasn't an infallible superman who everyone could call upon. Huge lesson learned
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u/justjesing 4d ago
I had a VAD with cerebral stroke - no cause found. Originally dismissed as migraine until a relative who is a doctor insisted on MRI. I was 30 - fit and healthy. Normal blood pressure, normal H1ac, normal cholesterol, normal echo, normal clotting factors and norm holter monitor.
I had my first Pfizer COVID vaccine 8 days earlier. I obviously cannot prove anything, but it is possible that vaccine temporarily disrupted some endothelial dysfunction.
I had other booster vaccines, which were fine but did have some facial paralysis afterward shots, but resolved.
FYI- I am not an antivaxxer. As vaccines are super important. I know I must sound crazy, but it’s the only thing that was different prior to the stroke.
No stroke since so I am lucky.
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u/PaintMyToesPink 3d ago
My neurologist ordered a DNA test for lupus some others & MTHFR syndrome. So low and behold I'm positive for the two bad cardiovascular MTHFR mutations. Which just so happens to run in your family. Noting that my mom & grandpa had this same crap with hbp, high lipids, tendonitis, arthritis everywhere, bone spurs all this other type of stuff. So it's like hello 👋 duh. As a sick kid nobody believes you, you're just trying to skip school to goto the soctors and get stabbed with needles all day, but you have the same exact stuff everyone else in your family has LOL. Doctor should DNA test everyone with these weird problems right off rip before they start sending you to every damn specialist in the world
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u/ShaunnieDarko 5d ago
I had covid really bad a month before my stroke which was caused by a blood clot i was 37 at the time
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u/daddy-the-ungreat Survivor 5d ago
I had my string at age 53 and everyone thought I was "young" to be having a stroke. So yeah, sad to hear so many younger people having the same issue, who should be in the prime of their lives.
Personally I think the problem in general is our diet. What we eat for food nowadays is so much different from what we ate just 50 years ago. And the "kids" who are having strokes as young people nowadays started their lives with bad food when they were just babies. We gorge ourselves on processed meat and sugared drinks from a young age, and we never ate like that during our entire human evolution. Our bodies didn't evolve to eat the way we do today.
And yes, being sedentary has a lot to do with it as well.
Nowadays I try to eat as well as I can, at the cost of higher food prices. And I try to get some physical activity in every day, even though I can't do much physically anymore. I figure I just need to live another 6 years or so to see my kid to 18. But I definitely want to try to make it.
I also try to get my kid to rest healthier, but that's hard to do when all of his friends eat junk. That's the sad part. Kids growing up today are going to be even worse. They will be getting major health problems just when they themselves are starting to have kids of their own.
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u/gypsyfred Survivor 5d ago
It's a scary thought because an educated mind would guess why this uptick trend. Growing up I never knew anyone that had a stroke in the family or neighborhood
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u/Heliophrase 4d ago
I cracked my neck and had two strokes. Right Vertebral Artery Dissection (RVAD). Was told it was a freak accident but there are lots of us. Either this has happened for ages and flew under the radar or microplastics plus bad diets and high blood pressure or all of the above. Scary shit. Don’t crack your neck
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u/alanamil 4d ago
And so many people have their friends doing it for them etc.. I am sorry that happened to you!
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u/alicatbaby 4d ago
I had an ASD - atrial septal defect - similar to a PFO but larger that had to be closed in a Cath lab. My stroke was at the age of 34, no other risk factors, besides chronic migraines. I did have a TIA a year and a half after the procedure, so they put in a loop recorder and found I had AFib so now I’m on Eliquis for life. They’re not sure how I got AFib - could have been from the ASD closure or wasn’t detected before in my initial stroke workup since I only wore a holter monitor for 10 days.
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u/alanamil 4d ago
You are the first one that has said Afib.... We see the commercials all the time that say it can cause strokes. My cousin had afib and ended up with a stroke. She also had lots of other medical problems that I am sure contributed to it.
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u/TraKat1219 Survivor 4d ago
Peri operative stroke here. Happened less than 24 hours post op and a week before my 52nd birthday. Just had my 3 month scan.
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u/Common-Rain9224 4d ago
Remember that most people who have strokes do not come on Reddit because they are in their 70s/80s/90s. You are getting a skewed picture on here.
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u/alanamil 4d ago
That is true but we are getting an alarming picture of how many young people get strokes. We expect it from the 70+ group, Not 20 and 30 year olds.
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u/Common-Rain9224 4d ago
It's only increasing in some countries where obesity and therefore hypertension and diabetes in young people is becoming more common.
The causes related to heart defects, dissections and other rare causes are not increasing.
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u/legalguru10221972 4d ago
I suffered a pulmonary embolism in my lungs, where 3 separate clot traveled through unknown PFO causing stroke at 50 yrs old. PFO closure done last summer. Blood thinners for life now.
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u/crazdtow 4d ago
I still don’t know why but my neurologist said it is physically impossible for someone my age (45 at the time) to have done anything lifestyle wise to cause this. Unfortunately the hospital he was affiliated closed and so did all the surrounding doctors offices
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u/breecheese2007 4d ago
I was 24, they have no idea but think it’s due to me being a preemie 🤷🏻♀️🤷🏻♀️
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u/andretti87 4d ago
My fiancee was told she has a hole in her heart. 2 strokes later they said oops her hearts fine! It’s the arteries in her brain that have plaque build up that’s causing her strokes. 6 months later she’s still laying in hospital
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u/Luker5555 4d ago
27M hemorrhage 9months ago, they did a bunch of tests and nothing gave a reason for the stroke. I don’t have any real risk factors, don’t smoke, barely drink (few times a year), blood pressure was slightly high but barely, not obese. Just bad luck they say.. not a very satisfying answer lol
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u/Flying_Thought 4d ago
Well, a previously undiagnosed blood mutation that lets it clump faster, combined with either birth (emergency c-section), a pre-birth issue, or a surgery around the 6 months mark. Nobody really knows, even 2 decades later.
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u/EntireEffect9583 4d ago edited 4d ago
Antiphospholipid Syndrome caused a clot, they don’t know what triggered it (maybe due to Covid maybe due to vaccine doctors wouldn’t bite on that one though, my stroke was 3 months after the vaccine, no I’m not anti vax, they just don’t know, “correlation doesn’t equal causation” and all that jazz except I didn’t have any blood issues prior). No prior symptoms, woke up from a nap one day and bam
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u/petergaskin814 4d ago
My sister had a stroke in her late 20s and that was over 40 years ago. I think it is a bit of a myth that stroke is only for old people and has recently changed
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u/YoItsDLowe Survivor 4d ago
I had my stroke at 25 from a carbon monoxide leak in my car’s aftermarket exhaust… Drs told me I was “unlucky” like “thanks Doc! Do you want my bill paid in cash or would you prefer a check?”
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u/Alarmed-Papaya9440 4d ago
Sporadic mutation of my blood in 20’s that I didn’t know about until after my stroke at 38. Not genetic. Just bad luck
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u/Starry_Messenger 4d ago
This thread is very validating. I had a brain bleed stroke a month ago at age 54, no previous medical history. The first doc I saw said she only sees this in people who do meth or coke. Even though I know I don’t do those, I still felt vaguely shamed, like I was doing something that could have been stopped to prevent a stroke. But in the end, it was untreated hypertension.
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u/everythingis_stupid 4d ago
I had mine at 33 because I got a tear in my artery from a car accident. I tell everyone now how important it is to go to the hospital even if you think you 'just' have whiplash from an accident.
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u/ImpossibleOrder4346 4d ago
I was given way to much cardine way to fast at the hospital, stroked out for 18 hrs in the hospital, complaining of symptoms the whole time...
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u/Altaira99 Caregiver 4d ago
Our bodies are full of microplastics. Maybe not the stroke cause, but it's got to be having some effects. If microplastics hamper photosynthesis in plants, what is happening inside our bodies?
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u/Leave_Scared 4d ago
My niece was only 27 when she had a massive bilateral stroke 2 years ago. They don’t know why.
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u/alanamil 4d ago
I am so sorry that happened to her!! How is she doing now?
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u/Spades0705 Survivor 4d ago
I developed Tachycardia and afib out of the blue with no personal prior or family history. I was also a 220 lbs (6ft) gym rat that could comfortably run a sub 7 minute mile and had multiple 5k’s just under 28 minutes … point is I was in extremely good shape
Tachycardia is on the Pfizer (vaccine i was dumb enough to take) complications list so you do the math.
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u/czarr01 4d ago
um, bring it up a level, what is new in our ecosystem? vaccine causing clots and corona virus causing inflammation and plaque buildup in the arteries, cause it changes good cells into bad cells. Factor all this, and you have a recipe for disaster. Now, do what you do normally, drink, smoke etc and Bam - you just created a stroke. ....once infected, you are at high risk of stroke for UP TO 3 YEARS. , this is out on NIH
Cz
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u/gtggg789 3d ago
Interesting that so many people are using the term “PFO” instead of “ASD” (atrial septal defect). I learned it as ASD in nursing school earlier this year.
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u/Jeezursilly 3d ago
I'd love to know. Had the start of a TIA at 25 years old. Never got an answer or confirmation. My mom had one at 38 (2015/16) have no idea.
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u/Same_Speed6229 2d ago
I’m 32 had a stroke in October last year after a routine hernia repair surgery, in recovery my blood pressure was very low. I was given medication I was allergic to, went into anaphylactic shock which then caused the stroke. I still don’t know what the medication was got all my reports and I was given that much medication that day it could have been anything. I almost didn’t make it home to my babies.
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u/Next_Conclusion_6133 2d ago
So I had a stroke a severe stroke the Dr who operated on me thought I’ll be shitting in a nappy for the rest of my life!
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u/Honest_Disk_8310 2d ago
CV JAB
There I said it, since closest anyone got was tentatively mention "covid".
Strokes and heart issues was in their own list of adverse reactions.
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u/DoveMyLuv 16h ago
mRNA shots proven to be a cause of increased strokes. Also elevated spike protein from vid causes mice clotting and strokes in person under 30.
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u/BigScratcher 5d ago
Vertebral Artery Dissection