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Symptoms indicative of microhemorrhage

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Hi, about 5 years ago when i was about 23 I had an experience of terrible constipation for about four nights straight. I was in the bathroom pushing as hard as I could for a long period of time, I felt terribly dizzy and my headHead and face felt "bloated" after coming out of the bathroom each time. Anyway soon after I developed the following symptoms which have improved now, 5 years later, but are still around: Dizziness, difficulty remembering, drunk feeling, poor cognitive skills, difficulty speaking, poor motor skills. headache and terrible fatigue, brain fog, can't think, clumsy. Feel out of my self, brain damaged. i have had an MRI about five years after the onset and everything was normal. I have also had an electrocardiogram
- normal. Could I have had a stroke from pushing too hard in the toilet. My symptoms are sometimes better and sometimes worse. They are exacerbated by sugar intake and emotional stress. Could someone let me know what they think. thanks a lot.


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replied August 27th, 2009
Stroke Answer A7154


When a person defecates the abdominal muscles contract in order to provide enough pressure for the feces to be expelled. At the same time, more blood might be supplied in the head, increasing the pressure in the head, too. This increased pressure might cause microscopic bleeding (hemorrhage) and damage to the surrounding tissue (the brain, in your case).


These microscopic injuries are so small that the symptoms might be pesented as you described (dizziness, difficulty remembering, drunk feeling, poor cognitive skills, difficulty speaking, poor motor skills. headache and terrible fatigue, brain fog, can't think, clumsy). Imaging methods might not be able to detect the microhemorrhages because of their extremely small size.


The symptoms might decrease for a certain period as in your case. Although there is a possibility that this condition might have been caused by microhemorrhages caused by increased blood supply and pressure when defecating, it cannot be referred to as a stroke. The condition is rather described as microhemorrhages in the brain.


You might want to visit a neurologist to check if the symptoms you report are caused by other neurological conditions that are not related to hemorrhages or infarction.


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