Hailey Bieber opens up about ‘quite scary’ stroke, undergoing procedure for hole in the heart

Hailey Bieber who was hospitalised last month following a blood clot in her brain has now opened up about her condition in a detailed YouTube video called Telling My Story. The 25-year-old said that she went through a “scary incident” on March 10 that felt like a stroke, and described it as a “weird sensation” that travelled from her shoulder to her fingertips while she was having breakfast with her husband Justin Bieber. She added that the right side of her body was drooping and she couldn’t respond.
“Basically, they did some scans and were able to see that I suffered a small blood clot to my brain, called a TIA. It’s like having a mini-stroke. It feels like having a stroke, except my body was able to resolve it pretty quickly and then I didn’t have any more issues,” she said in the 12-minute video.

The model then revealed that the doctors at UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) concluded that three factors could have contributed to the condition —  starting birth control pills even as she suffers from a migraine hory, a possible after-effect of Covid-19, and sleeping all through her flight from and to Paris without much physical movement.
But do oral contraceptives put one at the risk of ischemic strokes? “Yes. But these strokes are caused blood clots, and may not cause hemorrhagic strokes,” said Dr Pavan Pai, interventional neurolog, Wockhardt Hospitals, Mira Road. “Women who take birth control pills and also smoke, have high blood pressure, or have a hory of migraine headaches, have significantly higher stroke risk,” he told .

Does age make a difference? According to Dr Pai, women of any age having these risk factors and taking oral contraceptives can be susceptible to stroke that can be “life-threatening and increase mortality and morbidity rates in patients”.

In the video, Hailey also shared how more tests revealed she had a Grade 5 PFO or patent foramen ovale which is a hole — in her case, “13 mm in size”  — in the heart that should have closed on its own after birth but did not, and hence, had to undergo a heart procedure. “I feel very grateful and lucky to have had the resources and family support to be able to deal with this as quickly as I did,” she said.

Dr Pai asserted that a PFO is usually “detected during tests for other health problems”. “The causes of PFO can be genetic, and it can lead to low oxygen supply and stroke. According to studies, PFOs are seen in people with unexplained strokes and migraines with aura (also called classic migraine). Migraine and stroke can be the symptoms of PFO. Medication or closure of the PFO with a catheter-based procedure can be done to help one get back on track. To prevent stroke due to PFO, avoid valsalva manoeuvre which includes straining while passing stools, excessive laughter, and long bouts of cough,” he said.
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