Strange Stroke Stories: Ebola, Hickeys and Other Weird Causes
In August, a 17-year-old Mexican boy reportedly died of a stroke that resulted from a hickey, according to Hoy Estado de México , a local Mexican news source. As strange as it sounds, his case was not the first of its kind: A 44-year-old Māoriwoman in New Zealand also had stroke caused by a so-called love bite (another term for a hickey).
The womansurvived her stroke after being admitted to an emergency room, doctors wrote in their report of her case, published in The New Zealand Medical Journal .
Most strokes are caused by a blocked artery that cuts off blood supply to the brain. These strokes, called ischemic strokes , are usually the result of blood clots, which may form in the heart or large arteries leading to the brain. According to the American Heart Association , only about 13 percent of strokes are the other type, hemorrhagic strokes, which are caused by a rupture in an artery that leads to bleeding in the brain.
In the cases of both the boy in Mexico and the New Zealand woman, the hickey might have damaged the blood vessels in the neck, which ultimately might have led to the stroke, said Dr. Thomas Hemmen, a professor of neurosciences at the University of California, San Diego, who was not involved in either case. [You] can come up with all sorts of scenarios [for] how you can cause a rupture of an artery,” he said. [ 7 Things That May Raise Your Risk of Stroke ]
It's more common for choking or twisting of the neck to cause trauma that leads to stroke than it is for hickeys to cause stroke, Hemmen told Live Science.
The death-by-hickey story is odd, said Dr. W. Scott Burgin, a neurologist and professor at the University of South Florida College of Medicine. But "countless forms of seemingly minor neck trauma have been associated with strokes," including those from vomiting, sneezing and turning of the head. If a love bite is big enough, it could cause stroke , he told Live Science.
Strange stroke stories involve a wide range of medical maladies. In 2015, doctors reported the case of a 48-year-old woman in China who suffered a series of strokes that her doctors traced to blood clots caused by a heart infection. It turned out that the heart infection was caused by a finger-length needle that had been lodged in her heart a few weeks prior, the doctors wrote in their report of her case, published in the Journal of Medical Case Reports .
Doctors surgically removed the needle, and the woman recovered. There were no further details in the report about how the needle got there. [ Giant List of the Strangest Medical Cases ]
Just off the top of his head, Burgin said some odd stroke cases he has seen have involved massages, a Bruce Springsteen concert, beauty salon chairs, rodeos, chicken pox, ear and sinus infections, trampolines, scuba diving, weight lifting, synthetic cannabis (spice) smoking , cocaine, meth, workout supplements and work on a chicken farm.
Hemmen stressed that people who use emergency medical services following a stroke generally receive appropriate care much more quickly than those who try to drive themselves to a hospital or consult with their doctor over the phone prior to seeking in-person help.
The main risk factors for stroke include high blood pressure, sedentary lifestyle , obesity, diabetes, smoking and atrial fibrillation. Many of these conditions can be improved with lifestyle changes.
A recent study published in the journal The Lancet concluded that 90 percent of all strokes could be prevented by addressing 10 modifiable risk factors.
Strokes can be very peculiar things... As you know, I had one in January-- a blood clot reached my right eye, cutting off the blood flow to my retinae, and now I'm blind in that eye. Despite having all kinds of AWFUL tests, there is no known reason, nor cause, nor smoking gun. (How in the hell can they make an ultrasound so uncomfortable?) All I can say is that I was very fortunate, (1 in 10,000 chance), it only got my eye, and not my brain. Or at least, if it reached my brain, there appears to be no ill effects.
Yet, it is quite a shock to deal with, still, even though I am adjusting, I just can't seem to judge distance up close. I have a real hard time hooking my bra together, as an example... I can't seem to get the hook on the eye. Putting on makeup is a real challenge-- try to not stick that mascara wand in your eye, when you're not sure where your eyeball is, for another example. I've clobbered my mouth brushing my teeth-- jamming the toothbrush into my teeth... Etc. Putting a glass down on the coffee table, I've managed to almost reach the coffee table, but not quite. Needless to say, the dogs follow me around, hoping I'll drop something!
Fortunately, I can drive, but carefully-- at a distance you don't have that much depth perception anyway, like beyond 20', and I've learned about how large something has to be in the rear view mirror to know that I've passed it. (Remember that objects are closer than they appear in the right hand side mirror...) Parking in a parking lot is a real trick, as is backing up. So far, I've not hit anything, but boy, I am careful!!!
None of this surprises me, although they are unusual situations.