h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Transient Ischeamic Attacks - or Mini Strokes - A62961366
Author: Dr Zen - U185843

It's time I wrote something for the EG again.

So what do you think?

Too medical? Not Medical Enough, what have I missed? Can I remember the writing guidelines?

Links! we have:

Strokes - A543061 (and once this is edited we'll need a curator's hand to link back from it)

Measuring blood pressure - A706763 although you may prefer to use http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/conditions/heart/hypertension1.shtml

Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus - A314920 (the only article I found on diabetes that seemed relevant...)

Aspirin - A592715

Obesity - A13785014

probably going to "effect" the arm and leg on the same side - affect

So you feel although there is a curtain coming down over part of your visual field.

Very interesting, my aunt has recently had a TIA affecting speech.

This also (for me at least) highlights a few gaps in the guide - there's no article on blood itself, and we could use another article on diabetes. you didn't use any hard words as far as I could see - fairly plain english, and the article was well written and very readable.

In the paragraph that starts:
"The first thing you will notice is that you although you know exactly what you want to say you ...."

the 'you' before the 'although' isn't needed/ment to be there is it? Loooking good so far though but Ineed to finishe reading it

Blimey... I'm being very picky today clearly another typing mistake I think:

"A TIA might cause a weakness of an arm or leg, or both. If it affects 2 limbs then it's probably going to effect the arm and leg on the same side, rather
than both arms or both legs. Often it can affect the part of the brain controlling the movement of the fact, so that you notice that part of the face goes
floppy and people might say that you can't smile properly."


I guess the ' Often it can affect the part of the brain controlling the movement of the fact'...
that oughta be 'face' there at the end?


(ooo and interested to see that those*entrys mentioned above haven't been covered yet... I was sure there was an entry of some kind on 'blood', and on 'diabetes' ...)

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll incorerpate them tonight. If anyone has anything else, or any questions generally about TIAs then keep them coming...

Fascinating entry - I knew nothing about this. The first two paragraphs are very powerful indeed.

Icy

Hello Dr Zen, a great article, very informative. A few things I noticed on first read:-

""This isn't a stroke, because the damage isn't permanent, it's a 'Mini Stroke', Doctors' call this is a 'Transient Ishaemic Attack' or TIA ""

An additional 'is' seems to have sneaked in there. Also Ischeamic missing a 'c' also in the bullet point.

""So you feel although there is a curtain coming down over part of your visual field.""

Would read better as:-
You feel there is a curtain coming down over part of your visual field.

""it's important to go see a Doctor very soon, either a GP or Hospital.""

either a GP or at a hospital.

""A ultrasound of the Carotid artery""

An ultrasound scan of the Cartoid artery

Another link A9948199 Heart Disease - Angina and Heart Attack

(unashamed plug )

I have only read the first two paragraphs, but as some of us know people who have had these attacks I think it is a very useful entry. Will come back later and read the rest.

Many thanks.

Websailor

Very interesting Dr Zen, and useful to those who have elderly relatives. It explains things clearly without being overly scaremongering.

I noticed a few typos and so on, but will wait until you have attended to the edits the previous posts have highlighted. Otherwise it will get too complicated. Just let us know when you've had a chance to correct

Hi Lanzababy, I'd be grateful if you could point it out now, rather than later. Then I've got all the things people have pointed out together. If that's ok with you.

Okay will do - please excuse if I repeat other people's comments

[Ishaemic] - because that's the word for interruption to blood supply

Ischeamic



Your eyes are working just fine, but the part of the brain that interprets what the[y] see is not working.

Missing [y]

a Doctor ----> should not be capitalised
Aspirin likewise , aspirin does not have a capital letter.


>>>
HbA1c of 6.5% or below. <<<
I don't know what this means. Could there be a footnote here or make it less 'in the know' type of language?

intra-crainal -----> intra-crainial not sure myself here

A ultrasound of the Carotid artery -----> An ultrasound scan of the Carotid artery


There's another use of Aspirin lower down and of Warfarin too. I think that generic drugs don't get capital letters?

That's odd about generic drugs not needing capital letters, I always use them in medical correspondence etc. But that's just a internal convention. I'll make all the suggested changes when I get a chance, which will probably be early next week to be honest. Any more suggestions - particularly jargon - let me know. I'd let HbA1c slip through.

I'd be inclined to capitalise all drugs that don't appear in a standard English dictionary

I was using the advice I received from the curators when I was updating another Entry. That was that generic drugs only used lower case. If you talk about their 'brand' name, that is put in capitals.

Good Entry Dr Zen, even I can understand it

Few comments though - under the header 'What should I do if I think I'm having a TIA?'

it's important to go see a Doctor very soon

maybe read better without the 'go'

either 'a' GP

Unless I'm mistaken, GP means general practitioner, also known as family doctor, so would that be 'your general practitioner (GP)'

either a GP or Hospital.

Something feels missing there, though I'm not sure what, it just doesn't quite read right.

if that's 'a' case she will

Should that be 'if that's 'the' case she will'

Doctors and hospital don't need caps, but I think whether the drugs do needs clarification from the Eds (or Gnomon) as in the Aspirin Entry (A592715) all mentions of Aspirin start with a capital, though that is quite an old Entry, maybe the Guide's guidelines on caps have changed since then.

Emmily

Couple more comments

Under the header - 'What Tests do you need if you have had a TIA?'

For those of us who can never remember what the abbrevs. actually mean, could you put the words for CT Scan and ECG and the abbrevs they're commonly known as in brackets.

A CT Scan is usually normal in a TIA - because the clot has not caused any lasting damage to the brain. However other causes for the symptoms, such as tumours or intra-crainal bleeds will show up on a CT scan, so most people who have had a stroke have a CT scan.

This doesn't read quite right. My suggestion would be to replace 'because' with 'although', change the full stop to a comma, and delete 'However'.

A CT Scan is usually normal in a TIA - although the clot has not caused any lasting damage to the brain, other causes for the symptoms, such as tumours or intra-crainal bleeds will show up on a CT scan, so most people who have had a stroke have a CT scan.

Emmily

I would argue that aspirin shouldn't be capitalised:

http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/aspirin?view=uk

I wasn't arguing Icy, just looking for clarification

Looks like lanzababy was right, now we just need a passing Curator with a few mins to spare to change the Aspirin - aspirin in the Aspirin (A592715) Entry

Emmily