Sent Home with a “Migraine”? Signs You Actually Had a Stroke

A Terrifyingly Common Scenario

You or a loved one experience a sudden, splitting headache. Maybe your vision blurs, or you feel dizzy. You rush to the Emergency Room, terrified something is wrong with your brain. But because you are young – perhaps in your 30s or 40s – or because you have a history of headaches, the doctor is quick to reassure you.

“It’s just a complex migraine,” they say. “It’s just vertigo.“

They might give you a “migraine cocktail” of painkillers and anti-nausea medication. When the pain subsides slightly, they send you home to sleep it off. But the next morning, you can’t move your arm. Or you can’t speak clearly.

You didn’t have a migraine. You were having a stroke. And the window to treat it has now closed.

At Lupetin & Unatin, we frequently see cases where young, healthy people are victims of stroke misdiagnosis. Medical biases regarding age often lead doctors to skip crucial tests, mistaking life-threatening clots for benign headaches. If you were sent home from the ER only to suffer a massive stroke later, you need to understand that this may be medical malpractice.

The “Young Stroke” Blind Spot

When we think of strokes, we often picture elderly patients. However, strokes in people under 50 are rising. Despite this, many ER doctors operate on a dangerous assumption: Young people don’t have strokes.

This bias leads to what medicine calls “premature closure.” The doctor sees a young patient with a headache and dizziness, decides immediately it is a migraine, and stops looking for other causes.

This is particularly dangerous because Ischemic Strokes (caused by a clot) and Hemorrhagic Strokes (caused by a bleed) can mimic migraines, specifically:

• “Complex Migraines” or “Hemiplegic Migraines”: These rare migraines can cause stroke-like symptoms such as weakness on one side of the body.
• Vertigo/Dizziness: Strokes in the back of the brain (posterior circulation strokes) often present as severe dizziness, nausea, and imbalance—symptoms easily confused with benign ear issues or vertigo.

Signs Your “Migraine” Was Actually a Stroke

If you were discharged with a migraine diagnosis but experienced any of the following, your doctor may have missed the red flags of a stroke:

1. “Thunderclap” Headache A typical migraine builds up over time. A headache that strikes suddenly and instantly reaches maximum intensity (like a clap of thunder) is a classic sign of a brain bleed (subarachnoid hemorrhage). This is a medical emergency that requires immediate CT imaging, not just pain meds.
2. Sudden Loss of Balance or Coordination (Ataxia) If you were too dizzy to walk straight, or felt like the room was spinning, and the doctor diagnosed “vertigo” without performing a thorough neurological exam (like checking your eye movements for HINTS), they may have missed a cerebellar stroke.
3. Focal Neurological Deficits Migraines generally cause pain. They rarely cause you to lose function in a specific body part. If you had:
   • Numbness in one arm or leg
   • Drooping on one side of the face
   • Difficulty finding words (aphasia)
   • Vision loss in one eye (like a curtain falling) …these are hallmark signs of a stroke, not a standard migraine.
4. No History of Migraines If you have never had a migraine in your life, and suddenly at age 40 present with these symptoms, a doctor should be highly suspicious. Diagnosing a “first-time complex migraine” in an ER setting without ruling out stroke is a dangerous gamble.

Why This is Medical Malpractice

Misdiagnosis alone isn’t always malpractice. However, malpractice occurs when a doctor deviates from the standard of care. In the context of potential stroke, the standard of care is rigorous because the consequences of missing it are catastrophic.

Failure to Rule Out the Deadliest Condition

Emergency medicine operates on a “worst-first” principle. Doctors must rule out the most dangerous potential cause (stroke) before settling on a benign diagnosis (migraine). If a doctor assumes it’s a migraine without evidence to prove it’s not a stroke, they are negligent.

Failure to Order Imaging (CT or MRI)

A non-contrast CT scan is the first line of defense. It is quick and can rule out a brain bleed. However, a CT scan can sometimes miss early ischemic strokes (clots).

• Negligence Scenario: The doctor relies solely on a “clean” CT scan to send you home, despite your continuing symptoms of weakness or dizziness. The standard of care often requires an MRI (which sees clots better) or a CT Angiogram (which shows blood vessels) if symptoms persist.

Failure to Perform a Proper Neurological Exam

Did the doctor simply ask you how you felt, or did they physically test your reflexes, strength, sensation, and eye movements? Missing subtle signs of weakness because a thorough exam wasn’t performed is a failure of duty.

The Cost of “Wait and See”: Why Time Matters

Stroke treatment is a race against the clock.

• tPA (Clot-Busting Drug): Must be administered within 3 to 4.5 hours of symptom onset.
• Mechanical Thrombectomy (Surgical Clot Removal): Can be effective up to 24 hours in some cases.

When an ER doctor misdiagnoses a stroke as a migraine and sends you home to sleep, they burn the clock. By the time you wake up or return to the hospital, the window for tPA or surgery has often closed. The brain tissue that could have been saved is now permanently dead.

This is the crux of a malpractice case: If the doctor had diagnosed you correctly during that first visit, simple medication could have reversed your symptoms. Because they sent you home, you are now left with permanent disability.

How Lupetin & Unatin Can Help

If you or a loved one suffered a stroke after being discharged with a diagnosis of headache, migraine, or vertigo, you are likely facing a lifetime of rehabilitation, lost income, and physical challenges.
You may be asking: Did the doctor do enough? Was this preventable?
At Lupetin & Unatin, we specialize in answering those questions. We know that young people are disproportionately affected by stroke misdiagnosis because they don’t “look” like stroke patients. We work with top neurological experts to review your medical records and determine:

• Did your symptoms warrant immediate imaging?
• Did the doctor ignore “red flag” symptoms like sudden onset or focal weakness?
• Did the hospital follow proper stroke protocols?

Don’t Let Them Blame Your Age

Hospitals often defend these cases by claiming the stroke was “atypical” or inevitable. We know better. If the signs were there, your age shouldn’t matter. The standard of care is to treat the patient, not the stereotype.

Contact us today for a free consultation. We will listen to your story, review the timeline of your care, and help you determine if you have a case. There is no fee unless we recover money for you.

Call us or visit our Pittsburgh office. Let us fight to get you the answers and the justice you deserve.