Awareness-Dissected Arteries

This isn't the most pleasant subject to start with but I wanted to spread awareness about a condition very few people know about as it could save you or a loved one's life.

I mentioned in the first entry that I was in the hospital. How and why I ended up there still surprises me. I was feeling fine. Just a few occasional headaches here and there. Naturally I thought nothing of them. Until I woke up with a bad pain on the side of my head one morning. I knew it was a red flag and wasn't something to ignore. Something was definitely wrong.

My parents took me to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Downtown Chicago. I was in the ER for 8 nerve-wrecking hours. After I got the CT Scan I was told everything looked normal, that it was probably just a migraine that would go away on it's own or a minor case of meningitis that could be treated with medicine, and I could go home. A few minutes later the ER nurse came back and said it turns out I have 2 dissections of the arteries in my neck. I don't know who was in shock more; me or my mom.

There is more to the story. The same kind of incident happened to my mom 3 months before. She started experiencing excruciating headaches. Every local hospital she went to ignored her symptoms and sent her home until a family friend in the medical field insisted my mom got prescribed an MRI. Our family friend was already familiar with this condition. Someone in her family died from it. Only after the MRI my mom found out she has 4 dissections.

If my mom wouldn't have mentioned what happened to her, whoever looked at my CT Scans may not have payed close attention to what was going on with me.


What You Should know

Arteries are the highways through which oxygen-rich blood flows toward oxygen-hungry organs, such as the kidneys, heart, and brain. The main arteries that bring blood to the brain are the carotid and vertebral arteries. Dissection in these arteries can bring about a stroke.

Spontaneous dissection of the carotid and vertebral arteries is a relatively uncommon cause of stroke. It's responsible for less than 2% of all cases, although it accounts for up to one quarter of all strokes in young and middle-age people specifically. Each year in the United States, between 12,000 and 15,000 people are affected by spontaneous dissection of the carotid or vertebral arteries.

The carotid and vertebral arteries can be damaged by neck injuries or even forceful neck movements. The following are some situations that have been associated with dissection of the carotid and vertebral arteries:

• Neck extension during hair-washing at a beauty parlor
• Chiropractic manipulation of the neck
• Whiplash injuries
• Blunt trauma to the neck

Carotid and vertebral artery dissection tend to be more commonly treated with heparin, a medication that prevents the extension of the blood clot in the area of the dissection. Heparin, which is normally given intravenously, is changed to Coumadin (warfarin) after a person leaves the hospital, as it can be taken by mouth. In general, a person is on their prescribed medication for 3 to 6 months.


If you start having consistent headaches you never had before followed by neck pain don't dismiss it!!