Ischemic stroke in young adults had been considered relatively rare. Abnormal diffusion-weighted images from brain MRI, particularly in patients presenting with subtle neurological defects, is a sensitive indicator within six hours of symptom onset. For emergency department physicians, further image studies such as MRI are important for evaluation of CNS manifestations and early detection of ischemic stroke when managing young patients with SLE presenting with transient neurological symptoms. We report a 26 year-old woman with SLE who had an ischemic stroke with an initial presentation of transient numbness over her right upper limb and dysarthria.