I had my stroke 10 years ago this summer. I went through several years of rehab, and even tried going back to work. I was a public school administrator, but the state of Texas, which is where I live, decided that I was no longer necessary. Now at the age of 54, I find myself living a pretty decent life. I like to garden, I have a riding lawnmower which I can use even though I am only a one armed man now, and I enjoy helping my friends in any way that I can.

Recently I went back to see my rehabilitation doctor, and he decided to start doing another round of Botox therapy to help my right foot recover. He also decided to start me on another round of physical and occupational rehab. So now, 10 years after stroking, I'm going back to rehab again. I look forward to it.
I just wanted to tell the world that you don't have to give up anything after having had a stroke. Even years later there is still some hope for recovery.
Dr. Jolley

in 2010 i had my bowl removed,septicemia,septic shock,ARDS,epileptic fits.dvt's in the legs 3months in a coma and to cap it all a bleed on the brain(stroke)came out of hospital 61/2 stone in a wheel chair.After 3 years i am still suffering severe memory loss,fatigue and balance issues.The biggest problem is that people look at me and think nothing is wrong because physically i look ok,but i do look drunk if i walk without a stick.If you can't see it there is nothing wrong.I was sub 3 marathon before all this and yes am now on antidepressants as i will probably never run again properly nor can i go back to my old job(hgv1 driver).But who is going to employ a brain damaged 45 year old who has only ever driven a truck and has very little capacity for learning something new.I owe my life to my wife because without her i would not be here.This is as much stress on her as it is on me,she lost the man who went into hospital and my kids lost their dad.WHERE IS THE HELP????

Hello Stephen,
I have read your post and note your comments.
DO NOT GIVE UP HOPE.
We all have different aspects to our stroke
I suffered a TIA in 2006 and realised it was a warning of problems to come. My right arm would not work, but with time it came back.Unfortunately last year I had the real thing and for the first week in hosptal I could not walk, talk,go to the bathroom on my own, and did not know what day it was. Eleven months down the line I am just getting back to normal,more or less.
You do not appear to say how old you are, but I am 69.
I found determination and stubbornness a great help.
I am prearing an article called "my year as a stroke survivor" with help from my speech therapist and am hopeful that when it is finished shortly this website will publish it.
Hang in there Stephen, where there is life there is hope.
Regards,
Bernard.

I had my stroke in Dec 2012, I was quite 'lucky' so I am told, it didn't affect my spech, the only thing I suffered with was my left side was totally paralyzed, I didn't even know I was having a stroke as I didn't have any of the symptoms as shown on television in the F.A.S.T. advert.
I suffer from complex post traumatic stress disorder, I saw a new doctor two days before my stroke, I had a massive anxiety attack, part and parcel of CPTSD, I woke the following morning with a tingling sensation down my left side, as I had it before and it went away, I didn't take any notice.
As the day progressed I got very tired, I had an early night, on waking the next day I got out of bed and landed on the floor unable to move my left side. I phoned my GP's and told the receptionist what was going on, I did mention I might have had a stroke, but also I had had a massive anxiety attack. I called the GP at 9:00am, my doctor turned up at 14:30.
Since my stroke I have been having quite a number of issues with my CPTSD, also my body, I have the strangest sensation on the left side of my chest, shoulder and arm. My chest feels like I have a rolled up towel under my armpit, the sensation goes from the bottom of my rib cage up to my shoulder, front and back, also on my upper arm. I cannot feel heat on my left hand, the area between my left thumb and index finger, As the day goes on my left arm raises away from my body and my arm gets weaker.
My left leg is ok, I guess, at least I can walk for short distances, but it gets harder the further I go.
Also I take a medication that has made my legs and feet swell up, some sort of reaction from the medication and my stroke, also my weight has sky rocketed, I am now 10 stone overweight, yes I was overweight before my stroke, but I was going to a gym to get it down, but now I am a total disgrace.
I had a fall yesterday when I was getting out of the bath, made a terrible mess, my wife panicked, she has been great, but things are so damn difficult. I have had twin handrails put on the stairs, I have a chair that can be raised and an electric seat to be used in the bath.
I am finding things so difficult, which isn't helping my CPTSD at all, another thing my wife works so I am left alone all day, I find it so difficult to even make a cup of tea at times.
Another side effect of my CPTSD is going out, I have terrible flashbacks so would rather stay indoors where I can hide away from any triggers of my flashbacks, so I am not exercising.

Is it possible to create my own password as I do on other sites? I really won't remember the random sequence that was emailed to me as a password - is this a glitch, or am I missing something obvious? Thanks for reading.

Hello Thelma,

Apologies it has taken so long to get back to you. I have ptoblems logging in and out of this website as I am not that pc literate! I also have spelling problems since my stroke last May, but never lost abilitilty to read. A fellow patient in with me could not read, but he could speak and was quite mobile, could go to the toilet etc. which was beyond me for the first few days.
All I can say to you is stick with it, you will get better but it seems to take foreever. I am 7 months down the line, and can speak with some disphasia, worse when tired, Have started with my walking groups again, and can manage 7/8 miles but I get easily tired and irritable espedially when someone asks me questions. My other problem is that I keep forgetting things so I write everything down. We all seem to have slight variations on how the stroke affected us.
I try to measure improvements by milestones of things I can now do which I could not, weeks or months ago.Keep it up! Bernard.

Hi, a couple of years ago my grandad had 2 minor strokes, and in a few days he recovered. He didn't think this was going to happen again, as he got told he will be fine as long as he doesn't smoke so he quit. He then started coughing up blood, so he went for a lung biopsy, and they took him off his tablets for his heart for 8 days. On January 31st 2012, early hours in the morning the day after his operation he had another stroke. He was in hospital for many weeks, he couldn't talk, eat, drink. It was due to a blood clot in his head. We got told he would never be the same again, but we was all expecting to come home eventually. He started to get better, then one day he was sick. And due to his throat not working, he swallowed some and went into a coma, this gave him phewmonia, and he died early hours of March 6th 2012. I'm only 14, and i try my best to understand about stroke, but i'm not totally sure. I've lived with my grandad all of my life, so it's hard for all my family. Thank you x

I have suffered 2 strokes in the past 12 months. I am or thought I am a fit 46 year old female, who never smoked and very low intake of alcohol and moderate exercise. After the second stroke they finally revisited some scans taken of my heart 4 months previous (I had been taken in to heart unit following chest pains 1 month after first stroke, but no diagnosis and sent home on some more medication for artery dilation) and found a defect with my heart (typical they weren't looking for that problem in the main structure of the heart, were looking at the arteries only, yet the defect can cause heart pain hindsight is a wonderful thing). I had been on clopidogrel and aspirin, but then after the second one they have put me on warfarin and more recently the new drug dabigatran. Both strokes were almost in the exact same place, with the exact same presentation, but when the second one occurred the medics immediately thought that it was a seizure, however the MRI showed different.The during the strokes my ability to speak was impaired and I was dribbling and my right hand side was strange and trying to work on the left side of my body and although I could see the words in my mind I could not get them though to my fingers to type a word, and spelling or writing down the wrong word all of which was weird and I couldn't understand why - yet I am normally a very quick thinking person. Although the area of strokes is not normally fully associated with memory issues, I am having some troubles with short term memory and concentration and unable to recall words during a conversation, also difficulty recalling information read. I am also more recently having regular episodes of strange sensations in my head almost feeling like I will black out and some problems focusing and yet other times everything is fine. I have also not had a period since the second stroke (some might say a blessing - but it is like a switch has been turned off). My tolerance levels and patience is almost zero and I am not very confident and anxious. Needless to say this is having a huge impact on my well being and I feel like I am pushing way the people who love me the most. I am also having a second opinion relating to my heart defect which is the cause of the clots, as the medication only reduces the potential of clots, does not prevent. My local hospital Cardic department have been dreadful, firstly missing the diagnosis, which might have prevented the second stroke, but since then I have had no further tests carried out to determine more details of the problem - it is a very rare defect. My GP felt that little had been followed on, so referred my for a second opinion to Royal Brompton - visit next week. My stroke consultant and GP have been brilliant and both are of the opinion that the defect needs to be rectified to eliminate the production of clots, then I can move forward with the recovery of the strokes. Has anyone else (female) had issues with their cycle suddenly changing? Also how can you self help to improve the memory learning issues. I work in a safety critical role and now being told that they are unwilling to allow me to continue and all that is available within the organisation is stuffing envelopes with letters and filing all day - if that doesn't send me over the edge after everything else has happened or being signed back off sick. I feel like a lit time bomb, but don't know how long the fuse is and justing waiting for it to go bang again, which it will. Any comments or advice would be very well recieved. Thank you

Is there anyone out there who has had, or is having, a similar experience and could offter me advice. My darling husband of 33 years - who was an extremely fit and healthy man with no history of blood pressure and no pre-exisiting medical conditions - had a massive stroke in 2006, and has been lost to me ever since. The stroke resulted in dense paralysis all down his left side, massive brain damage including loss of memory, total loss of awareness, unable to drink or feed himself, double incontinence, impared vision and epilepsy. So severe was his condituib the he wasn't offered rehab as his prognosis for any kind of recovery was considered to be nil. I was advised to put him into care as it was thought it would be too hard to care for him at home (I am now 65 and my husband 81). However I disregarded this and bought him home where I have cared for him ever since. Over the last four years he has also developed dementia and no longer knows me or his children. As you can imagine there have been some bad days and some sad days, but positively there has also been great consolation in knowing that he is well looked after, is not open to abuse, and, that in his own little world, he is safe. I have endeavoured to keep our lives as normal as possible and take him out and about (I bought a wheelchair adapted vehicle) and we go out for meals etc with friends. days trips to the coast and even to Spain on holiday. Up until this year he has been, incredibly, strong and physically well, no bed sores and has always had a good appetitie. However, his condition has deteriorated over the last six months, especially after he conbracted pneumonia in May and he now has difficulty swallowing to the point where it takes an hour to feed him a small portion of food and 2 minutes between each swallow of thickened liquid. My dilemma now is whether or not to have a PEG inserted, to artificially keep him alive, or to persevere with food little and often so that he doesn't starve. I know that my husband would not want to be kept alive the way he is, as there is no quality of life at all and a PEG would mean prolonging his life.
.

its pretty common i still hve 10yrs post cva, often buy food/drink i used to like but no longer do, like u i find "sharp" drinks the best type b careful as some citrus(grapefruit eg) are contraindicative of statins and aspirin lyn

this is what we all need communities like this nobody should feel alone we have all had strokes so we are all here to talk and share experiences

Hi, I am 3 months post stroke and recovering well physically but with some memory, headache, fatigue, slurring, word finding issues(much worse when I'm tired)

I took a positive approach to what happened, made a plan of action and followed it, this made me feel that I have some control over my recovery and helped me focus on the future and getting better. I am working part time, being social when I can and I know my limits. However, all through my many assessments and chats with friends I have repeatedly been asked if I am depressed! Or had remarks like 'you must be depressed'. Well actually NO I am not. We are all have different symptoms from our strokes and all have different issues following them...that's because we are all different people. So why is it so difficult for others to believe that I am not depressed by the event? Just because they would have been if it happened to them, or perhaps they just believe all stroke survivors should be depressed?

Either way I'm damn well sure that not every stroke survivor is suffering from depression.... am I right or am I deluding myself? I don't think so and I won't allow myself to be pushed into their stereotype and I certainly won't take their antidepressants because they can't believe I wouldn't need them. The after effects of the stroke makes me angry, frustrated and irritated (sometimes) but not as much as all those who insist on putting a damper on my perseverance and determination to move forward and recover.
To the many professionals I have met:
Yes some of my symptoms may possibly be attributed to depression as they are the same as stroke effects, but then I have actually had a stroke...so guess what , that's probably what's causing them! The shock of a stroke is difficult enough to come to terms with , the after effects are worse but please don't add to my woes by actually causing me to be depressed with your negativity!!!
To the Stroke Forum:
Sorry, rant over! Thanks for your understanding and for your comments and posts, this site has helped me tremendously since I found it. So many of you are dealing with worse issues than me and I very much appreciate all the comments and advice you have shared. :-)