Can you have a stroke and not know it?

Could I have had a stroke and not even know it?

• I get headrushes a lot upon standing and I almost black out - I went to the doctors she said its from not enough excersise and not enough water. My blood pressure is okay - it varies from 120/88 - to 106/78 something like that. I would say its normal ? But my pulse is def high 130bpm -100bmp. I'm a 22 year old female - diagnosed with general anxiety disorder 5'1 108 pounds. My question is how do you get a stroke? Is it from high blood pressure? And second could I have had a stroke and not know it- I've been having headaches headrush and seeing floaters in the eyes. I'm on antidepressants that I think make my pulse faster. Also I never had this problem before all my anxiety ??pls help

• Answer:

  High blood pressure is a risk factor for stroke. It will increase the likely hood of experiencing a heart attack or stroke by constricting your blood vessels to a smaller size and this will increase the chances of a clot getting stuck somewhere. The obstruction from the clot is what causes a stroke or heart attack (cells die from lack of oxygen). It is possible to have mini strokes and heart attacks and not even know it. These could be from extremely short moments where an occlusion has occurred but your body was able to recover fast enough for you not to experience an episode. With that said, you have pretty low blood pressure. If you exercise aerobically (running/swimming, etc) often, then you are within healthy range, optimal even. However, you mention that you doctor told you to exercise more, so your blood pressure might be too low (at certain points in time). This is called orthostatic hypotension. When changing position, from sitting/laying to standing, you may experience light headedness, black out, etc (which you state). This means that your body has a difficult time adjusting your blood pressure to sudden movements to keep up with overall body needs/function. As you sit/lay for a long time, blood does not circulate as quickly as almost nothing is being used (so nothing needs a surplus of oxygen). The sudden rise puts demand in your legs and whatnot, shunting the minimal blood away from the brain. So for a short moment in time, your brain cells did not receive enough oxygen to function (but the lack of oxygen is not long enough to kill cells, usually) and results in light headedness and temporary blindness/black out. Orthostatic hypotension is a common side effect in a lot of drugs. I don't know what you are specifically taking, but the medicine may be cause. Just double check with your doctor if you are worried. This side effect should not be life threatening, but it may be annoying. Just be sure to slowly change from a sitting to standing position.