Not Just ‘FAST’: This is How Signs of Stroke May Appear in the Young Body Or Before 40

When a severe headache suddenly hit 20-year-old Esmae Hodgetts, she initially shrugged it off as inconsequential. The slight pain she experienced in her neck and shoulder a week prior also didn’t raise any alarm bells.

Esmae, a dental nurse from Chesterfield, had always been proud of her fitness and good health. She was, therefore, utterly shocked when the severe pain turned out to be the aftermath of a stroke, turning her life on its head.

Generally associated with older people, strokes are not age-exclusive and can impact young people and even children. Esmae now hopes to raise awareness among her peers that a stroke can strike at any age, regardless of their health status.

“It can happen to young people,” she shared with MailOnline, debunking the misconception that it’s an issue exclusive to the 40s age group. “They mainly say not to worry about it until you are in your 40s and always say to look out for numbness and drooping in the face, but I had none of that.”

“There was no reason for that to happen it just randomly did it.

“I was just unlucky.”

Recalling the fateful New Year’s Eve of 2022, Esmae remembered being struck by an intensely painful “thunderclap headache,” causing her to collapse at home. The episode induced vertigo, leaving her struggling to walk. “It was so intense it felt like a stabbing pain in my head and it was radiating down my neck,” she revealed.

Esmae visited A&E the following day, unaware that the debilitating neck and shoulder pain she’d experienced days earlier were early warning signs. While neck pain is generally harmless, it can sometimes indicate a tear in an artery supplying the brain, potentially leading to shoulder pain or mimicking a migraine, as per a BMJ article.

Known medically as cervical artery dissection, this condition is one of the primary causes of strokes in individuals under 50. A rupture in the lining of either the carotid or vertebral arteries (those supplying the brain) leads to blood leakage within the artery walls, forming a clot as explained by Harvard Medical School.

The clot can either fully block the artery or detach and lodge in a brain artery, leading to a stroke. Typically, cervical artery dissection results from high impact injuries, like car crashes, but rare cases can be triggered by everyday activities such as sneezing, coughing, and vomiting. Esmae’s case, however, remains a mystery as to what caused her condition.

Her stroke diagnosis was delayed by two days due to a lack of classic symptoms, leaving even the medical experts puzzled. Esmae’s coordination and speech were completely unaffected, making her case an anomaly even to the stroke team, who were taken aback by her MRI results.

While Esmae avoided serious long-term effects, and her vision, coordination, and speech remained unscathed, she has had to contend with persistent vertigo and the anxiety of a possible recurrence. She’s recently stopped taking the prescribed blood thinners post-diagnosis but has had to make drastic lifestyle adjustments.

“I can’t really do what I used to do anymore, I can’t go out and drink with my friends anymore, I can’t eat unhealthy, and I have just had to make some changes,” she revealed.

Despite her previously healthy diet, occasional drinking, and regular gym visits, Esmae has chosen to adopt a stricter diet and abstain from alcohol entirely.

“I eat a lot healthier, and I don’t drink at all because I don’t even want to risk feeling dizzy and it has left me with some anxiety because now, I am scared to do anything, there was no reason for it to happen,” she said.

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