Symptoms

Symptoms of transient ischemic attacks (TIAs) develop suddenly and are always temporary. They usually go away within 10 to 20 minutes. TIA symptoms are just like stroke symptoms. They vary depending on which part of the brain is affected. Common symptoms of TIA include:

• Weakness on one side of your body or an inability to move a part or all of one side of your body, such as your face, arm, and leg.
• Numbness, tingling, or a feeling of heaviness on one side of your body.
• Trouble seeing, such as blurring or double vision, dimness, or a sensation that a shade has been pulled down over the eyes.
• Trouble speaking or finding words.
• Trouble understanding words.
• Vertigo, unsteadiness, dizziness, clumsiness, staggering, or fainting. You may have trouble walking. You may also have a drop attack, which is a sudden loss of strength in your legs.

It is not always easy to recognize a transient ischemic attack (TIA) because you may think that the symptoms are caused by normal aging or other conditions. But you should treat any symptoms of a TIA as an emergency because you have no way to know whether they are from a stroke or a TIA.