My question is this, if a person had hypertension could that be the cause of a TIA?
This TIA has happened back in 1996, leaving residual weakness on left side of the body.
How could this same person, be able to attend college for about 2 years (making honor roll) until December of 2001, and recently has been diagnosed with paranoia/schizophrenia and an anti-social phobia?
Could they be having mini strokes in their sleep?
(I know you will tell me to have them checked out by a Doctor.They are going to many Drs.)
But what I am most concerned about is.. why would the person change so rapidly from being able to attend classes and be around many people and now they can no longer go into a grocery store without fear?(just an example of shift in personality.)
Thanks in advance for your answer!

I only the answer to part of your question. Yes the hypertension can lead to the TIA's. I honestly don't know the answer to why the behavior change. I don't know if that is something to do with the TIA's, maybe she is having more of them. I don't know. Hopefully Dr Sid will see this and respond. I will try to look it up if I find anything I will let you know.

first of all, an event that left residual weakness is not a TIA: it's a stroke. TIA means it went away completely in a few minutes. Stroke means brain damage. Strokes can affect virtually any part of the brain; the result of strokes can be personality change. It's also true, however, that schizophrenia can present relatively rapidly, and college age is a common time of life for it to occur. A person who had a known stroke who has mental changes later ought to have the cerebral circulation evaluated by any of several types of imaging studies. But it's entirely possible that the changes in personality have nothing to do with strokes.