On a related note, I had a very rare stroke last week, only symptom: headache for 3 days.
The doctor sent me for a CT scan without any idea of what to look for. The only clue: it was not a migraine because I missed any neurological anomaly.
On the other hand, stroke prevalence is rare, 1.3% for men, and generally don't look like mine, and my kind is 2% of all strokes, it would have been completely weird to suspect it with such a low probability and such a non-specific evidence.
Long story short, I almost got sent home with an aspirin while I had an extensive cerebral veinous thrombosis.
Having spent a couple of days in a stroke ward over Christmas, the low prevalence of strokes should never be used as a reason not to test where possible.
I suspect a lot of people don't understand how serious and crippling - mentally and physically - a bad stroke can be.
If you're lucky a bad stroke kills you. If you're not lucky you lose a good part of your brain and motor function.
In practice this means you can be left unable to move some or all of your limbs, unable to talk, unable to hear, unable to understand what's happening around you, and perhaps unable to see.
It's no exaggeration to say that it can turn life into a nightmare.
Anything that makes this less common and less likely is a good thing.
On the other hand, stroke prevalence is rare, 1.3% for men, and generally don't look like mine, and my kind is 2% of all strokes, it would have been completely weird to suspect it with such a low probability and such a non-specific evidence.
Long story short, I almost got sent home with an aspirin while I had an extensive cerebral veinous thrombosis.