VAD symptoms I ignored before my stroke at 43

Leading up to my stroke at 43, these are the symptoms I ignored. Severe neck and shoulder pain tbat wasn't really localised to one area, tingling in my arm, and facial numbness that came and went. I didn’t actually recognise these as warning signs of something so serious. I did seek treatment for the shoulder pain and I had physiotherapy and massage therapy. When I think about it, I probably didn’t explain how severe the symptoms were, or that the treatment wasn’t really alleviating them, because I didn’t want to sound like I was complaining. I was asking for help, but I may have been downplaying what I was actually experiencing. At the time, no one could see what was going on underneath it all. I later learned that I’d had a vertebral artery dissection, or VAD. A tear in an artery in my neck led to clotting that travelled to my brain and caused strokes in my cerebellum and brainstem. This footage is from my rehabilitation. These were my symptoms and my experience. This isn’t a checklist everyone will have. Neck or shoulder pain alone doesn’t mean you have a dissection. Please don’t dismiss sudden neurological symptoms because they come and go. If you suspect a stroke, call triple zero immediately in Australia, even if the symptoms have stopped. Sharing this for awareness, not for fear. I wish I’d known more about vertebral artery dissection before it happened to me. #VertebralArteryDissection #StrokeAwareness #StrokeSurvivor #YoungStroke #LifeAfterStroke