At the age of 21 in 1987, I was diagnosed with an AVM. Upon successful neurologic surgery, I have been able to lead a relatively normal life as a result of scar tissue. The events leading up may hopefully help.
I started getting headaches in high school, but nothing like the headaches I received in college. Pain above the right eyebrow and right temple. Aspirin or Tylenol didn't seem to help, so I would sometimes put a cold soda can on my forehead to relieve the pain.
One day in October of 1987, I had one of those headaches, but this time I was moving furniture into my new apartment. After I finished bringing the couch in with my fiance', I felt something strange inside my body. It was like a bubble burst, but in slow motion. I felt a pop and then a release.
Perhaps it was the partial paralysis which followed on my left side, my hands could not button my shorts, the left side of my face was dead, I could barely speak because I was slurring. After realizing I might be having a stroke, the hospital I went to dismissed it as a migraine, test results later showed the bleeder.