The term “ministroke” can be a bit of a head-scratcher: How can there be a tiny form of a full-blown medical emergency? Thanks to the misleading modifier, it’s often perceived as something you don’t need to worry about, Eliza C. Miller, MD, a board-certified neurologist at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, tells SELF. But in reality, a ministroke, known medically as a transient ischemic attack (TIA), is a “big deal,” she says, because it can be a major warning sign for a stroke.

While you might think the “mini” in its colloquial name refers to the severity of the symptoms, it’s really a stand-in for “temporary,” Dr. Miller explains. So the same processes that unfold in the body with a regular stroke—and starve your brain of oxygen—happen with a TIA; it’s just that with the latter, your body is able to resolve the issue and reverse course before permanent brain damage occurs (hence, “transient” in the official term). As a result, symptoms of a ministroke tend to be short-lived, making it easy to miss them or hand-wave them away after they let up. The problem is, the underlying trigger still exists even if your body squashed the issue this go-round, and you might not get so lucky next time. In fact, research suggests the risk of having a stroke within 90 days of a TIA is nearly 18%, with half of those secondary hits occurring within two days.

That’s why it’s essential to spot the symptoms of a ministroke and seek out emergency care ASAP, even if they fade away, Dr. Miller says. This applies all the more for women, who research suggests are more likely than men to be underdiagnosed and undertreated for stroke. And while stroke predominantly affects older adults, rates are increasing in young people, particularly young women, who face a greater burden of ministroke too. (An important note: Most stroke research refers broadly to “men” and “women” without clearly distinguishing between sex and gender identity, which often means trans and nonbinary people aren’t accounted for. So keep in mind that the underlying risks involve both biological and social factors and that these disparities may affect other gender minorities in various ways too.)

Read on to learn how to identify a ministroke, why it might especially get missed or overlooked in women, and the importance of acting quickly to safeguard your brain.

What are the symptoms of a ministroke to look out for?

The key thing to know is that a ministroke presents in essentially the same way as a stroke—the main difference, again, being that the symptoms will go away anywhere within a few minutes to an hour or so, Mollie McDermott, MD, director of the stroke division at Michigan Medicine, tells SELF. (Some definitions put the max duration of a TIA at 24 hours, but they tend to be a good deal shorter than that.) Exactly how long the symptoms last depends on how quickly your body is able to fix whatever problem is limiting blood flow to your brain, for instance by dissolving a clot that’s blocking up a blood vessel or using “collateral vessels” to circumvent a damaged one, she explains.

Much like with a full-fledged stroke, the particular symptoms of any ministroke will depend on the part of the brain that’s being deprived of oxygen, Dr. Miller points out. But generally, symptoms tend to come on abruptly and affect a distinct part of your body or sense (e.g., vision or speech). Here are the most characteristic signs of a ministroke:

• Facial droop: One side of your face appears dragged-down or you can’t smile or otherwise emote how you typically do.
• Weakness or numbness on one side of your body: Typically, one arm gets flimsy or you lose feeling in it, or you’re having trouble coordinating your movements and suddenly feel clumsy.
• Slurred speech: You have difficulty talking (whether or not you have facial symptoms) or struggle to find the right response to others’ questions.
• Loss of vision: A portion of your visual field is cut out, as if a curtain came down over it, or a piece is missing from one side.
• Severe headache: A wave of intense head pain comes on suddenly.
• Vertigo: Everything is spinning around you, or you feel like you’re spinning and suddenly unable to balance.

The medical consensus has long been that TIAs don’t cause lasting brain damage—these neuro symptoms totally subside within a day at most, and doctors wouldn’t expect to find evidence of things gone awry on brain scans. But recent research is challenging that understanding, Jakita Baldwin, MD, a board-certified neurologist at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, in North Carolina, tells SELF. She points to a 2025 study finding that, despite getting full relief from neurological issues post-TIA, having a ministroke might set you up for greater cognitive decline down the road. Other 2025 research found that more than half of people experiencing a TIA could also get hit with lingering fatigue for up to a year afterward. It’s possible that these ministrokes might cause some degree of brain injury that just does not typically show up on imaging studies, Dr. McDermott points out.

Do women have different ministroke symptoms than men?

Much like with heart attack, some research has suggested that women are more likely to experience certain not-so-typical symptoms of stroke and ministroke—particularly “nonspecific” ones or complaints that could signal any number of underlying conditions, like:

• Confusion
• Fatigue or malaise
• Generalized weakness
• Nausea

But further investigation has suggested there’s limited evidence for distinct symptoms by sex; anyone having a ministroke might experience these nonspecific symptoms (though research suggests over 90% of folks with a TIA have at least one of the above too). The higher rate of misdiagnosis in women is more likely the result of how women tend to describe their symptoms or get interpreted by health care providers. “I think there is a lot of unconscious bias that plays a role,” Dr. Baldwin says. Plenty of evidence suggests women are more likely to be dismissed or gaslit in a medical setting, and ministroke is likely no exception. Indeed, research shows that women who report the same TIA symptoms as men are less likely to receive that diagnosis, and other studies have revealed that women with stroke are also less likely to get evaluated by stroke specialists, undergo diagnostic testing, and receive a particular blood-clot-busting stroke treatment.

Perhaps women might just have a greater tendency to name-drop some of the above nonspecific symptoms while describing their situation—which could discourage doctors from fairly considering a ministroke diagnosis. Some biology might prompt additional bias, Dr. Baldwin notes: People assigned female at birth are more likely to have migraine with aura, which could trigger a headache and a slew of visual and sensory disturbances that may mimic stroke. So doctors may be more apt to jump to the migraine conclusion for AFAB folks, rather than do a genuine assessment for ministroke.

What complicates things further? Having migraine with aura doubles your lifetime risk of stroke. And plenty of other stroke risk factors are unique to people assigned female at birth, like complications of pregnancy (such as preeclampsia), taking hormonal contraceptives, and premature menopause. Research suggests doctors might breeze past these in evaluating patients for ministroke or stroke, contributing to gaps in care.

The bottom line is, you should head to the ER if you experience ministroke symptoms—even if they go away.

Many common stroke symptoms tend to feel odd or funny versus downright painful (with a couple exceptions like headache), so there’s not that “strong driver” to get to the emergency room the way there is for, say, sudden chest pain, Dr. McDermott says. “It’s often the case that patients with stroke or TIA will think, ‘Oh, my arm’s not working that well, maybe I’ll give it an hour to see if it gets better,’ for instance.” But time is seriously of the essence in this scenario. After all, you can’t know if it’s a ministroke (that will resolve) or a full-fledged stroke that will cause lasting neurological damage until it lets up…or doesn’t, Dr. Miller points out. So it’s really not a waiting game you want to play.

Dr. Miller stresses the importance of actually calling 911 (or asking someone else to do so) as opposed to driving or taking public transit to the ER. Of course, there’s the dangerous possibility that your symptoms ramp up en route and become disabling—but also, if you arrive at a hospital via ambulance with potential stroke symptoms, you’ll skip right to the front of the queue, Dr. Miller says. If there’s a stroke center, they’ll bring you straight there; otherwise, they’ll fast-track your triage and loop in the neurologist on call, either in person or virtually. The goal is to resolve any ongoing stoppage of blood flow to your brain ASAP and prevent permanent damage. As Dr. Baldwin points out, the most effective clot-busting medications need to be given within 4.5 hours of when symptoms started (and the sooner, the better).

Even if you’re lucky enough that your symptoms fully let up before seeking treatment, you still want to head to the ER, Dr. Miller says, because of the elevated risk that it happens again (and with worse consequences). Regardless, she adds, it’s important to get a workup at the hospital to figure out what initially caused your symptoms.

Actually diagnosing a TIA can be a bit nebulous since an MRI wouldn’t show signs of brain damage the way it would with a stroke. But in addition to gathering a detailed account of your symptoms and medical history, the ER doc will ideally run a flurry of tests, including CT scans of your blood vessels, blood work, and an electrocardiogram (that assesses your heart function) to figure out whether you likely had a TIA—primarily by ruling out other things—and if so, what might have sparked it. You could have something like a blockage in your carotid artery, a little hole in your heart, uncontrolled high blood pressure, or any number of other conditions that ups your risk for not only another ministroke or stroke but, also, a variety of cardiovascular issues, Dr. Miller says.

Based on their assessment, the hospital physician can also calculate your score on the ABCD² scale, Dr. Baldwin says, which determines how likely you are to experience a stroke in the next few hours to days. (It takes into account things like your age, blood pressure when you were admitted, and whether you have diabetes, as well as the symptoms you’ve experienced and their duration.) If you notch a higher score, you’ll stick around in the hospital for a day or so to be monitored for any recurrence, Dr. Baldwin says; and if your risk is on the lower end of the spectrum, you’ll be discharged with treatment to help mitigate whatever might have triggered the ministroke in the first place. The protocol for most everyone who has had a TIA is to take a daily baby aspirin (the 81 milligram dose), Dr. McDermott says, which makes your blood less likely to clot. You might also be prescribed meds to keep your cholesterol and blood pressure in check, depending on your scenario.

The big upside of recognizing ministroke symptoms and acting quickly? It gives you a chance to uncover stroke risk factors you might not have known about, Dr. McDermott says—and ideally intervene before any permanent damage is done.

Related:

• My ‘Flu’ Symptoms Turned Out to Be Early Signs of a Stroke
• How 5 People Found Strength During Their Stroke Recovery
• Doctors Told Me I Had Asthma. Then I Had Four Strokes

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