Anyone with stroke problems more than 1 yr ago?

[sara12345]

Anyone functioning well enough to answer, to discuss your coping with stroke deficits that have remained for a year ago or longer.  My stroke was more than 3.5 years ago and I still have some resentment about everything that I can't do.  I would like to get a better attitude about it.  But either way you are handling it, it would be helpful for me to hear about anyone else who still struggles with problems.

I feel that hearing from someone who is in the same position as I am, would be the best therapy for me.
Thanks in advance to anyone who answers this.

Sara

[sicknfedup]

Thank you John for your reply,
we will look at the NICe website thank you again..

[Ofevilorigin]

Hi Sara, & Schaap,

Hope your both doing well.  Im hurting a bit atm, so this will be short.  

Schaap, yes I have stroke-like side effects, and I feel them every day.  The first year I was a basket case, thinking I was stroking again.  Sadly enough, it was so over whelming that I had to really say to hell with it.  If I go down, I go down, but I cant waste the rest of my life, afraid of a stroke.  I figured if I let the fear of another stroke run my life, then Ive already lost to the strokes anyways, reguardless of  my status.  It is a long, and winding road to move from being a "stroke victim" to a "stroke survivor"  This is by NO MEANS an end game solve the problem solution.  Only a doctor and the scan they can do, can tell you wether or not your having additional strokes or not.  I called my doctor so many times in the beginning, (even when I couldnt really speak...oh what fun...) becuase I wanted to know.     ANYTIME you are concerned, call the doctors, make appointments, urge the scans, etc etc.  The doctors are there to help, and they serve the sick.. Your life is priceless so treat it like that.  If your roof had a leak, and you called a roofer to fix it, and you were concerned that it was still leaking, youd call the roofer back or call another roofer for another opinion right?  So why should we treat our bodies/brain any different?      

Sara
my stroke was 100% spontaneous, with no reasons found as to why it happened in the first place...or the mini strokes that happened after, or why they stopped happening as time went on.  Also to answer yoour question, yes I am married, and I have a son.  Timimg is never timed.  The first thing that my wife told me when I got out of ICU, ( was awake, and comprehended very limited english, but she always had a way of making me understand things) was "Im pregnant"  In the end it was the extra motivation I needed to become relentless towards my recovery.  His name is Jude, and he is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my entire life.  He is my everything, and has shown me a love I never before knew.   I owe that little guy my life, and do my very best to serve him, as the best dad I can be for him.

The drug that you were speaking of, to reduce the stroke symptons, I by way of a bad hospital, didnt get it of course.  I was laying on the table for hours with the diagnosis of a broken back.  It was only when I got to burlington hospital that they realized what was going on.  Bad luck with good results I suppose =D

and THANK YOU! I thought I was going crazy, with the pain Ive been having.  I just figured the more time between me and a stroke should mean less pain/fatigue.  I cant really describe how much better i feel, just knowing that Im not just cracking up, and paranoia isnt getting the best of me.

A quick thanks you everyone who has posted here.  My weakness with a stroke and its effect, is feeling alone.  I have a loving , and supportive family, but sometimes even with all that, I feel like an out sider...like as much as I talk to them about it, they dont understand about the daily battles that I engage in....the mental warfare that is a constant fire burning in my head, just beneath the surface.  So again, thank you to everyone for making me feel like I am part of somthing...somthing so bleak when faced with only yourself,  becomes a little bit lighter when there are people in my corner that just "know"  how it feels to go through it, and to try to recover from it.
              

[yottiejohn]

Hello Sara
my apologies I replied to "your post" yet did not actually address you.
thank you for starting this thread, I am no where near as far along the path as you biut I can certainly empathise with your thoughts and fears
Best wishes John

[yottiejohn]

Hello folks, I have only just found this forum
my name is John, 65 years old, I experienced a series of Ischemic strokes (blood clot  approx 10 months ago, leaving me left side Hemiplegic now Hemiparesis, I have read your posts with interest and sympathy, as you have all pointed out anyone who has not experienced strokes cannot really comprehend how frustratingly complex and debilatating it all is,
Up until the time of my strokes I was a retired businessman living the "dream" aboard my own yacht on a very sedate tour/ circumnavigation  of the world (I spent 10 years just in the Caribbean
I apparently suffered a series Lacuna infract (blood clot) type strokes and have also had recently "re-occurring" symptoms that put me back
But my main reason for this post is to let you all know how much it helps simply knowing I am not alone in this, one of the most frightening things I have noticed is how over a short period of time we seem to just fall OFF THE RADAR as far as Medical practitioners are concerned ?
we seem to CEASE TO EXIST ??

@ Maggie - understood how you feel about the fear of "the next stroke" I was left in hospital for 4 days experiencing active strokes and knowing it - while the ASU did absolutely nothing ! NO MEDICATION - NO TESTS
My greatest fear was that if the BIG ONE hit - that I would not die, but be condemned to being "locked in" like that poor Mr Tony Nicholson ? (what a brave man)
Maggie all I can say to you is Live everyday to its fullest, share your love and thoughts with your nearest & dearest. that way and hopefully the worst NEVER happens,  you will have at least told them how much you love them and that can never be a bad thing.

@ Dave - my heart goes out to you, - I lay in Hospital under NHS care for 66 hours after my first episode I was taken to hospital by Ambulance after a 999 call -  whilst they "gave me reassurance" and said I was only having a functional or stress related TIA ??/ episodes - 9 months later I am still paralysed and extremely Tee'd off
Dave check the NICE Stroke Guidelines for Stroke, it is quite explicit ANYONE experiencing CONTINUED TIA type or UNEXPLAINED EPISODES/SYMPTOMS  MUST BE CONSIDERED HIGH RISK OF STROKE !!  

Txs to everyone on here

Keep the faith

John

[sara12345]

Hi Maggie,

I think that the best person to ask would be your doctor.  But from my limited grasp of the question, I think that when you get a migraine that comes on suddenly and it is very painful, that's when you are more likely to suspect another stroke.

And of course if you get any of the other typical stroke symptoms then you are facing another stroke.  You can look those up if you don't already know them.  

I would be sure that your family or anyone you live with know all those symptoms.  Sometimes the stroke destroys the part of the brain that rationalizes.   I had no judgment that anything was wrong with me even though I had waked up paralyzed and could barely talk.  A friend of mine also had a stroke.  She could not talk at all and never thought anything was wrong with her.  I judged her until the same thing happened to me.

Also if you get to the hospital immediately, they can determine what type of stroke that you are having (by CT scan), and then most of the time, they can give you tPa to undo all or most of the stroke problems.  But it must be within 3 hours and the sooner the better.

You must know that you are at increased risk of having another stroke having had one.  But the chances are mostly in your favor that you will NOT have another one.

So hope this all helps you to not worry so much.

Sara  

[schaap]

Hi Luke,

I have been reading yours and Sara's post. My heart goes out to both of you and I am learning a lot from your experience. I had a stroke in 2009 but was lucky and I have come through it with just the migraines. The migraines did go away for almost a year but they came back last week. I need to know how you got through those questions you posted. Whenever something is off, or I have a pain in my head I can't help but think that this is the stroke that is going to kill me or paralyze me. How do you keep that question from surfacing? I am tired of waiting for the stroke to come.

Thanks,
Maggie