Is it brain damage or damaging thoughts?
Disclaimer: I know this post is irrational, absurd, and possibly a bit childish and/or psychotic; and I probably sound like a hyperchondriac, but humor me, if you will.
Question: Is it possible to have a stroke even though you were conscious and fully aware of things throughout the whole duration of the incident?
Recently, during a disagreement gone sour, my boyfriend strangled me (he was pressing my {carotid?} arteries on the sides of my neck), and I felt dizzy and weak in my right arm afterwards, with a tremendous headache, and was stumbling and incorrectly pronouncing simple words when relating the incident to my mother over the phone about several hours afterwards. ( I also took Ibuprofin which I recently found out is bad to take if you're risking a stroke)
In the course of the next few days, I felt weakness and tingling in my arms and recall having trouble lifting one of them while doing laundry. I went to the doctor and she said I was fine, and that although I was experiencing acute symptoms, I did not have a stroke, yet how can she be sure? All she did was look at my pupils and test my strength and reaction. Where were these symptoms stemming from if in fact I did not have a stroke? My arms occasionally still have soreness and weakness sensations which were not there before. She said oxygen was still getting to the brain during the whole incident and that the soreness in my arteries afterward was internal bruising. Is it possible I could have had a minor stroke, and suffered even minimal brain damage that perhaps is undetectable as a result?
I recently asked a question in a medical forum about whether or not it was possible for a person to incur damage to their thought processes and lose their capacity for thought and problem-solving skills due to stroke and a professional responded with this, which really worried me:
"Damage and the subsequent problems with speech, language, and cognition rely entirely on the site and size of the lesion.
Tissue does not regenerate significantly enough to affect functional recovery, unfortunately.
Yes, it is entrirely possible to have damaged reasoning and problem-solving skills. Typically, in the absence of a language deficit, the lesion in that case would most likely be in the frontal lobe of the right cerebral hemisphere."
I acquired no language difficulties or slurred speech after the incident,(nothing that wasn't present before - due to stress) and her answer implied that if there are no language issues, then the damage is most likely present in the frontal lobe and now I am really worried. What functions are associated with the frontal lobe? I do have OCD and tend to fret over things like this. It seems my OCD is still intact by the way, if this this means anything.
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