SUE McKINNON
3rd AUGUST 2001
Having had the internet on for 1 month now, and survived a dissected carotid artery for 3 months(Yippee!!!) I have finally found this site and your note. I too have had the feeling "I wonder if this fatigue will ever go away" along with the Horner's Syndrome caused by the clot left in the wall of my right carotid atery.
After a week on a Heparin drip and 3 plus months on Warfarin I am waiting to see what's next for me. I am 41 and surprised by the event too, as I am very fit and well.
My neurologist gave me a great article from the New England Journal of Medicine, March 2001 (published only days before the upper respiratory infection I had back then caused the dissection we THINK! - a cough, a sneeze, a nose blow - who knows, just the luck of the arteries I was born with)
The article said that research in France and America found that Autumn(Fall) was the most often recorded time for dissections following a bad cold/flu in most cases and ANYONE can get it, but the chances are 1 in 100,000!! Some people simply happen to have arteries that are prone to this dysfunction. It suggested and there was/is NO prevention because it's not known who is at risk or how it happens in young people (i.e. it is most prevalent in 50 plus age group). Some people get it from holding a phone on their shoulder, a car accident to the neck or chiropractic sessions, even yoga.
My concern now is about recurrence and if the treatment I'm on is the best? Like others have said, the first 3 months are the most successful healing time, then the next 3 months after that. There was a finding of 1% recurrence in the first year after the initial dissection in the study I read. What have others found to be true?
I was back fulltime teaching an early childhood class 1 week after hospital, but had to drop one day a week because I was too tired and unable to perform.
It has been a real struggle but the head and neck pain, the pulling feeling to the right side of my face, the horner's syndrome, fatigue, dizziness and disorientation/dullness have improved week by week.
I find out next Wednesday just how successful the medication has been in recanalising the artery - fingers crossed!
