Nerve twitching after TIA. Anyone know where it is coming from and why?

Seizures. Get to the Emergency Room ASAP

Another thought that the spinal cord can innervate the face - the cervical area can be numb and tingling all the way up to the eye. I know because after my ACDF surgery (anterior cervical discectomy and fusion), I have that sensation now after two years post-op, however, yesterday's readjustment made the numbness less pronounced...I need some more treatments...

TIA stands for Transient Ishemic Strokes. My my 94-year-old Mom has had several of them. One symptom is that she forgets specific words for things.

Calm your mom. Let her know that her nerves are working which is good, but getting confused messages as they learn to reroute around the area damaged by the TIA. Suggest that as they develop a new branch of nerves to communicate with, the twitching will decrease. Suggest it is just her body trying to heal.

Then you keep working with the doctor.

I had a surgery and the nerves zinged like fire. The MD said good, that's a sign that they are reconnecting. Thinking of it this way made me deal with it differently. I put my warm hands over the area, and thought, heal. Maybe your mom can put her hand on the twitching area and think of it as nerves trying to heal.

Seizures after stroke are not super common, but they can start like this, just subtle partial ones, and they are usually easily controlled. I still remember the first time I had this happen to a patient - we're talking over 30 years ago at Rehab Inst of Chicago. Patient was having a few little face and arm twitches on the side affected by the stroke, and we thought maybe it was just a little spasticity, but next thing you know the "emergency" call to PT where the patient decided would be the best place to have a more generalized full-blown seizure. Back then, we got labs and started an IV and had to transfer back to acute care briefly, but all was well with a little Dilantin on board. Nowadays we'd maybe do a fingerstick glucose and start some Keppra and make less of a big deal as long as it stopped in a few minutes. Definitely get it checked out, maybe include an EEG, and most likely whatever it is can and should be treated and controlled without too much trouble.

You're right to associate this with her TIAs. Is she taking any medications to prevent further incidents? Other than that, I think it's probably a matter of letting things settle down and seeing what the tests say (did they include an MRI?), although of course if there are any noticeable changes meanwhile, call for advice straight away - don't hang around. Anything you can think of that will encourage her to relax could help, too. Best of luck, hope things go well for her.

I agree with Ferris1 to some extent. Having had several TIAs, the problem is that there is a small amount of residual damage but below the thresholds to be considered an actual stroke. Imaging technology is not perfect and cannot see the smallest amounts of damage. These residual effects may last a long time...mine have. I have residual tingling and numbness in my face. Blood thinners have kept the symptoms under control or at least from getting worse at least in my case.

Because the nerves are in her face, they come directly from the brain and not through the spinal cord in her neck. So while that chiropractor may do wonders for a migraine (and have for mine in the past!), unfortunately, unless the nerve symptoms in your mom's face are migraine related (and it's possible that they could be...migraine can look like stroke), it won't fix that problem. May fix other problems, but not that one.

Meanwhile, it would be best to get her eyes checked as soon as possible...those flashes could be a detached retna as Ferris1 suggested and that at least ought to be ruled out.

A flash in the eye might be a detached retina. Have a retinal specialist check her eye. The other twitches are coming from nerve ending that are "excited" and still firing due to the electrical dysfunction from her TIAs. Her spine could also be responsible as the nerve ending from the spinal column lead off from the disc areas. I had a migraine for almost five days until I got a chiropractor to manipulate my spine yesterday and my column was really misaligned. No more headache! Hope she feels better.