Brief Answer:
Need examination

Detailed Answer:
Good evening. Congratulations on committing to a new lifestyle that includes exercise and what sounds to be some significant weight loss and a rather impressive amount of weekly running. You could easily be in training for at least a 10K if not a half marathon with that type of running.

On the issue of the left arm and hand suddenly losing feeling and motor movement. Without being able to have examined you at the time and unable to examine you now it is not absolutely certain but what you describe is consistent with what we technically refer to as a Transient Ischemic Attack or TIA. The fact, that everything subsided in 60 seconds or less shows how brief some of these attacks can be although probably the vast majority of true TIA's last at least several minutes before everything returns to absolute normal....but 60 seconds of total duration is still very possible....even a few seconds.

TIA's are generically referred to by most lay people as MINI-STROKES. However, what I might put up as against this diagnosis would be the idea that if this were an actual ARTERIAL BLOCKAGE of the right side of the brain and specifically the area that controls the left arm (in its entirety) I would've expected there to definitely have been some involvement of muscle control of the left side of the face and possibly the quality of your speech may have also been affected. You may have also suddenly noticed changes in your visual acuity, double/blurry vision, and many people can also experience headaches...especially AFTER one of these episodes.

The fact you didn't mention anything EXCEPT the weakness and numbness doesn't mean other things didn't happen but I think my assumption is not bad to say that you probably would've given me more information had any of those things occurred. Therefore, by having NONE of the other expected symptoms I would say the chances are smaller that this was a stroke or mini-stroke. The size of the of an arterial blockage large to cause an entire limb to suddenly become flail in terms of both motor and sensory function would have to be pretty big. I don't think it would've occurred in isolation.

One other thing that could've happened could've been an impingement of several nerves coming out of the spinal cord being caught by the collar bone or similar bony structure due to your swinging your arms or the weight of your limb (I don't know how big you might be....Height and Weight?). Again, the reason this is also less likely in my opinion would be that if THAT MANY peripheral nerves are compressed at the same time which would HAVE to include both MOTOR and SENSORY nerve fibers to an ENTIRE limb then, minimum we are talking squeezing nerve roots C5, C6, C7, C8, and T1 ALL AT THE SAME TIME without causing pain....just paralysis and sensory loss....almost like a GRID BLACKOUT of the Eastern Seaboard of the U.S.......chance in a million for something like that to go down and not cause pain, tingling, burning sensations, electrical shocklike sensations, and other unpleasant symptoms.

If this had happened to one of my family members my recommendations is to go to the CLOSEST ACADEMIC MEDICAL CENTER (University with a Medical School) and present to the ER. Since you are back to normal they will unlikely do MUCH...except...what I think could be the SAFEST thing to do which is put you up for the night under observation and alert the neurologist to see you in the morning. In my opinion, this is the best thing you can do for yourself if you wish to avoid at least the 3-10% risk that people with TIA's have of suffering from a full blown MAJOR stroke in the next 30 days. The reason I say Medical School Teaching Hospital is because they will most likely understand the concept of the Brain Attack and how important it is neurologically that at the very least you be examined thoroughly by a neurologist and maybe get an emergency MRI/MRA of the head and neck with a BRAIN ATTACK protocol which at the very least gets a neurological exam, a stroke scale rating (which at present would probably be zero) and should get you a PERFUSION/DIFFUSION weighted image which can tell (even within 48 hrs) if there's been any even small signs of a STROKE...or TIA.

I realize that there is a chance that what happened has nothing to do with stroke but in my opinion, it is best to overcall the episode and take precautionary measures against the worst case scenario and be wrong (meaning it turns out NOT to be stroke related) rather than brush this off as something superficial like stress or just some hard running....AND BE WRONG as well! Funny, how in both cases being WRONG yields quite different outcomes! LOL.....

I think you'd rather your doctor be overly cautious rather than tell you reassuring things that simply turn out to take down the wrong path of overconfidence and then, to have MOTHER NATURE get pissed off and throw the thunderbolt down from Mt. Olympus...wouldn't you agree?

I would make my way (or make my loved one make their way) to the closest Academic Teaching Center with a medical school and ask to be thoroughly evaluated with MRI/MRA and other bloodwork and tell them you're willing to stay inhouse to see the neurologist in the morning because you want to be safe and "silly" rather than comfortable at home thinking it's nothing....and then, wake up tomorrow completely different and unable to move compared to when you went to sleep....don't you agree?

If I've satisfactorily addressed your question could you do me the kindest of favors by CLOSING THIS QUERY and be sure to include some fine words of feedback on your opinion as to our transaction? Again, many thanks for posing your question to our attention on this network and do not forget to recontact me in the future at: www.bit.ly/drdariushsaghafi for additional questions, comments, or concerns having to do with this topic or others.

This query has utilized a total of 34 minutes of professional time in research, review, and synthesis for the purpose of formulating a return statement. I would absolutely love hearing from you once things have been properly worked up and diagnosed to know how your case turned out.I

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Brief Answer:
Glad to be of service- but allow me to clarify for your sake--Good weight.

Detailed Answer:
Thank you for your clarifications. Based on that information I feel that the chance of this episode having been a classic presentation of an arterial blockage in the brain or even brainstem (which would probably be the 2 WORST possible scenarios) is lowered than if you would've had any of those symptoms.

However, I do want to make one more mention that my strong recommendation is that you get checked out ASAP at an academic center....even if it's an hour away....a community hospital is not likely to give you the same level of attention nor will they have the proper specialists the way a place like Baylor or U of T can do....and at the age of 44....you don't want to pick the wrong shell where there's NO NUT underneath....you know what I mean? But in the end....it's your call and if your level of comfort is satisfactory with what I've said then, there you have it.

Your rating of our transaction with positive feedback if possible would be greatly appreciated and my boss will cheerily SUPER SIZE my next bag of peanuts!

Closing the query at this point also allows the question to be transacted and utilized by colleagues for similar cases which can be helpful to both patients as well as doctors and is also warmly felt by yours truly.

Lots of luck and do let me know what is finally discovered...I'd be interested.

Cheers!

This query has utilized a total of 48 minutes of professional time in research, review, and synthesis for the purpose of formulating a return statement. I would absolutely love hearing from you once things have been properly worked up and diagnosed to know how your case turned out.

P.S. If you're a smoker then, this would be a terrific time to quit.....if not, then, KUDOS....and let's make sure you never start! Believe it or not I've seen both sets of patients in this world.....smokers who are runners....and 40+ year olds committing to a life long habit of smoking at that ridunculously advanced age for that sort of lifestyle choice.

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