Christal Adams was lucky that when she had her stroke she and her mother, a retired nurse, recognized the symptoms and got her to a hospital fast.
That was in September 2011. It was a month after she earned a masters degree from the Goldfarb School of Nursing at Washington University. She made it to Christian Hospital-Northeast and got the treatment to relieve the cause of the stroke.
Six months later, she was diagnosed with lupus and that may have caused a glitch, as the doctor called it, in a blood vessel.
Upon learning, she took a deep breath.
I felt relieved, said Adams, 41. Id been wondering why Id had a stroke at my age.
Her father had a stroke when he was 80 that was the only family history. She said her cholesterol was normal, she had no high blood pressure and didnt smoke.
Theres no lupus in her family, either.
Neurologist Dr. Renee B. Van Stavern, associate processor of neurology and co-director of the Barnes-Jewish Hospital Stroke Center, supervised Adams emergency stroke treatment at Christian Hospital remotely from Barnes-Jewish Hospital.
Van Stavern said people who have undiagnosed lupus have a risk factor for strokes higher than for people whove been diagnosed with lupus because the disease can damage any organ in the body, including the brain and its blood vessels.
While treating Adams during her recovery, she saw something suspicious in blood tests and referred Adams to a rheumatologist to search for certain antibodies in the blood and eliminate other autoimmune conditions resembling lupus such as multiple sclerosis.
Excerpt from:
A stroke caused by lupus fails to take down an ambitious R.N.