Just a query, wondering if anyone using the forum has had a stroke and how well they recovered?

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steveb

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I had stroke last Sunday morning, then toppled down the stairs at home . the carpet burn on my arm was raw and sore. My local hospital Stoke Mandeville was next to useless, just before midnight they shipped me via ambulance to the Watford hospital Stroke ward. Stoke Mandeville initially refused to accept I had a stroke Watford was very good. There an MRI scan confirmed I had had a stroke, what they confirmed after an assessment was a medium stroke, Legs eyes and arm and speech are ok. Left hand was effected, grip is good but am working to to improve finger dexterity with the occupational therapists. luckily I'm right handed. Monday last week I edited a reportage shot taken last Friday of the local A418 HS2 road closure and uploaded to Alamy. It was perfect but took much longer than normal certainly not fast enough for Live News. I''m wondering if anyone here has gone through a similar experience and how they got on time wise until they were back to normal. Can't wait until I'm discharged, food here is the pits although care is very good.
 
I had what they call a TIA a sort of. Mini stroke.
I woke up one morning but could not stand up.
Phoned for help and was carted off to hospital for a check over.
I had regained my feet within the hour. And has various scans and tests.
The neurologist considered I still had some slight weakness in my left hand and arm
But I cold not detect it myself.
They kept watch on me for a couple of days then sent me home. After a physio check.

That was all about 8 years ago. And I am still on meds as a preventative..
As any sort of stroke puts you in the at risk bracket.
 
Glad you guys are faring well. My brother had two strokes within a very short period of time and is paralyzed down his right side. He has lots of health issues before that but being in a wheelchair chair for the rest of his life has had a huge impact. Unfortunately in my brothers case there is no chance of an improvement and since then he seems much more susceptible to other illnesses.
 
Not a stroke, but 2 years gone February I suffered a "Bleed on the Brain". I was in Preston hospital for 4 weeks unable to even stand up for 3 weeks. the care I received was superb, and upon "release" I was able to walk perhaps 30m....within another month i was walking 5 miles and another month up to 10 miles in the Lake District Hills.
Every case is different of course, my consultant was superb and when he discharged me from his care he said I'd made a remarkable recovery....mainly due to my determination!
I'm now 67 and happy to be able to do what I can.
Being patient, but also setting realistic goals in your recovery would be my advice. Hope this helps.
I wish you a speedy recovery
 
gramps said:
Can't offer experience but sorry to hear about your stroke. :(
Wish you a speedy and complete recovery.
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I too wish you a speedy and full recovery.
 
Two years ago I had one, spent a week in hospital then kicked out, as they couldn't do a MRI (due to having been shot in NI in the 80s still got parts of round in neck) seen a nurse about two months after she passed me fit, now on meds, lucky no damage thank the God's

Good luck with your recovery
 
Wishing you all the best going forward Steve.
 
I had a massive stroke nearly 4 years ago, I was unable to walk/talk,see or swallow after it. I was told I would never walk again and for the first 6 months I couldn't. I spent nearly four months in hospital; I loved the food! Hospital porridge is the best!

My speech slowly returned as did the ability to swallow, I made sure I never missed a physio appointment. I still have frozen shoulders, hardly able to walk and my right hand is almost unusable - I can't boil a kettle as I don't have the strength to lift it and I'm frightened I will drop it and burn myself.

4 years later I stumble around the house unaided and use an electric wheelchair outside.

I live on my own so had to get to the point of being able to wash & toilet myself or I was going into care - at 56yrs old I was scared.

Lots of nights crying but Im still here - just got out of hospital after a 3 week stint with sleep apnea caused by the stroke - that also came close to killing me with very low blood/oxygen levels and high carbon dioxide!
 
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I had a TIA (mini Stroke) in 2019 and was released from hospital in 24 hours but banned from driving for 3 months. The effects o f the TIA were gone within minutes but I was prescribed with many medicines afterwards. I did get a review privately which at least explained why it happened and I could have more confidence in the treatment. It was 6 months before I got my licence back (3 month ban plus 3 month red tape by DVLA). The private consultant said I should not have been given the 3 month ban but it should have been a voluntary 1 month no driving. However, he did not wish to criticise his overworked NHS colleague. I have had no further problem since.

I hope you have a full recovery Steve.

Regards Dave
 
I had a stroke just before Xmas. Physically was fine afterwards, For the first couple of weeks, I couldn't remember my date of birth, house address, I couldn't read a newspaper because after reading half a dozen words I had now forgotten what I'd read so the rest of the sentence made no sense . I couldn't tell the time and lost bits of memory. Also barely able to work out mental arithmetic. After a month or so much was recovered. There are still some problems but quite minor & I'm quite happy. I have little mental blocks when speaking which is due to suddenly forgetting a word. Hopefully you will have a good recovery.
 
No strokes yet, but I had a heart attack back in 2000 that resulted in triple bypass and valve repair surgery. Since then I have collected 9 stents and a pacemaker among several other surgeries. The pacemaker was installed 5 years ago because my heart rate was down to 37 BPM. During stent installation #5, I died on the table, but they brought me back. I'm 82 now, and with more plastic and metal in me than I care to think about. Trips through the airline security scanners usually bring forth comments like "Man, you twinkle like a Christmas Tree". So I consider myself to be Bionic now, and I'm due for battery replacement next year some time. I also have metal knees and burn scars from several incidents while firefighting that should have ended my life. I don't know why I'm still here, but happy that I am.

I've been a photographer since high school, but always as a second profession, until 1998 when I opened a retouch studio. Some of the surgeries noted above forced me into professional retirement in 2007 and I sold the business. I build a studio in my home in 2018 so I could continue photography as one of my out-of-control serious hobbies. Woodworking and furniture making is my other similar out-of-control hobby, but lately I've been in the studio, experimenting with light and cameras more than making sawdust. I'll likely continue to do both until I can't any longer.

Charley
 
I had a minor stroke (not TIA) in 2009. Been on statins and soluble Aspirin since then and so far all good except for travel insurance!
 
Many thanks for the well wishes. After some additional checks I was discharged Monday afternoon. After waiting hours for some meds to take home I thought I would never escape, but did finally. Yesterday went for a walk to the local Co-op for some milk, was wonderful. After a midday snack will be taking a walk close to where I live to where HS2 have closed a major road, the A418 for 2 weeks to photograph what they are up to, just taking my smaller backpack containing 2x D500's and nikon 80-400 and 16-80 lenses. The blood thinner I'm prescribed, 75mg Clopidogrel tablets have listed some horrible possible side effects, thankfully I'm not taking the 300mg tablets.
 
I don't handle Statin drugs at all, and they tried me on every one of them over the past 24 years. Lipitor, the first after my bypass surgery in 2000, had me stiff and hurting to the point of needing 2 canes to get up and move anywhere, and I was in constant muscle pain. It was sneaky, and came on so slow that I didn't realize what was causing it. The others had similar symptoms, but I stopped taking them before getting this bad. I finally told my doctor, "enough is enough" with statin drugs and "no one ever died from high cholesterol", and my docs finally left me alone. I'm now taking an over the counter drug called Alpha Cyclodextrin. It has no side effects that have affected me, but is supposed to cleanse my arteries like statin drugs are supposed to, but in a different way, and I've been taking it for the last 2 1/2 years. I used to get the beginnings of heart pain (soreness in throat area) whenever doing things that required physical exertion that resulted in me popping a Nitro pill and stopping what I was doing for 1/2 hour or so. About 6 months after I began taking Alpha Cyclodextrin I realized that I wasn't needing the Nitro pills any more. Now I just take short rest breaks, often, but it's not because of heart pain or that soreness now. Statin drugs had sneaky side effects, mostly stiffness and cramps in my muscles that came on very slowly and gradually as I was taking them, making me not realize what was causing it. The docs had no clue about the cause of this either, but 2 days after stopping the Lipitor I didn't need the canes any more.

I'm buying my Alpha Cyclodextrin from Amazon. They seem to be selling a lot of it, so I always try to keep about a month supply on hand, and re-order when down to that, as backorders or long shipping times of up to about a month seem to be common.

Another drug with bad, but not as severe, side effects for me was a Lasik pill. Though the side effects from this was unsteadiness when walking, and itching patches, mostly around my collar bones, stopping it gave me relief from both over just a few days. I now have to be more careful about salt content in my meals, but they will likely be trying to prescribe alternatives for the Lasik in my next visit. I may try them, but I'm doing pretty good right now without taking them.

I have one sister who is 4 years younger than me, and we seem to share these same problems, so we compare how we are feeling and what we are taking often. So far, she has the same bad side effects with the same medications that I have and stopped them too, based on my experience.

Charley
 
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Steve said,

"The blood thinner I'm prescribed, 75mg Clopidogrel tablets have listed some horrible possible side effects, thankfully I'm not taking the 300mg tablets."


I have been on Clopidogrel for 24 years, since my first heart attack. My heart surgeon also had me taking two low dose aspirin (72 mg) each day in addition to the Clopidogrel, but 3 months ago he let me stop taking the aspirin because I was bleeding significantly from even minor scratches and developed big bruises on my arms from just leaning against things. Although many patients no longer need clopidogrel a few months after heart surgery, he said that he wanted to keep me on it, especially since he had let me stop taking the aspirin, because of the 9 stents and the valve repair that was done. He said that the risk of blood clots would be too high with me if I stopped taking the clopidogrel. I always pay close attention to what he says and follow his advice closely. I think I have more hardware in me now, and have lasted longer (24 years), than any of his other patients, so his advice seems to be working well for me.

Charley
 
CharleyL said:
Steve said,

"The blood thinner I'm prescribed, 75mg Clopidogrel tablets have listed some horrible possible side effects, thankfully I'm not taking the 300mg tablets."


I have been on Clopidogrel for 24 years, since my first heart attack. My heart surgeon also had me taking two low dose aspirin (72 mg) each day in addition to the Clopidogrel, but 3 months ago he let me stop taking the aspirin because I was bleeding significantly from even minor scratches and developed big bruises on my arms from just leaning against things. Although many patients no longer need clopidogrel a few months after heart surgery, he said that he wanted to keep me on it, especially since he had let me stop taking the aspirin, because of the 9 stents and the valve repair that was done. He said that the risk of blood clots would be too high with me if I stopped taking the clopidogrel. I always pay close attention to what he says and follow his advice closely. I think I have more hardware in me now, and have lasted longer (24 years), than any of his other patients, so his advice seems to be working well for me.

Charley
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Interesting. I was taking aspirin while in the stroke ward, and for 3 days after discharge, then a single 75mg Clopidogrel daily since then. Yesterday morning I went walkabout just with a D500 and Nikon 80-400, plus my Sony RX100 in my pocket. I was only a 5 minute walk from home and edited and uploaded a batch for Alamy Live News with no issues. Now back to my previous normal editing speed.
 
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I had a stroke in April '23, and similarly was treated at Watford. I lost control of my left arm for a while, but it progressively returned over the first week. As a Double Bass player, that was pretty disturbing, but It's pretty much back to where it was now, or at least enough to have played a number of festival sets over this last summer. Strength-wise it's fine, although I sometimes get a vague sense of it not being quite as responsive as it used to be, although it's hard to quantify, and it might just be in my head. I never stopped playing, even early on when it wasn't so good, and I've wondered if maybe that helped in some way in terms of strength and coordination. As someone else mentioned above, I did have a thing for about the first year or so, where I would struggle for a particular word or name, as if it was stuck on the tip of my tongue, but after a while I stopped noticing it, so I think that's mostly sorted.

I can't praise the stroke folks at Watford highly enough. They tested the hell out of me, and eventually established the likely cause as a hole in my heart. They discharged me into the care of the cardiac team, back in April this year, and I had the hole plugged on Tuesday. I'll still be on the thinners for the rest of my life, but luckily I've noticed no side effects yet.

All the best with your recovery, I hope it all comes together for you.
 
Jammy Dodger said:
My speech slowly returned as did the ability to swallow, I made sure I never missed a physio appointment. I still have frozen shoulders, hardly able to walk and my right hand is almost unusable - I can't boil a kettle as I don't have the strength to lift it and I'm frightened I will drop it and burn myself.
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keep fighting the fight Fraser,if you want a hot drink you can get kettles that tilt, as long as someone fills it up for you in the morning, you will get several cups out of it to do you through the day
 
Brendan Mulachy said:
keep fighting the fight Fraser,if you want a hot drink you can get kettles that tilt, as long as someone fills it up for you in the morning, you will get several cups out of it to do you through the day
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I purchased a Breville 'one shot' kettle; you fill the kettle with cold water so its safe then place it on a stand, you then put your mug underneath the spout and it boils enough water for one cup which I can manage :)
The thing that surprisingly effects me most is when someone asks me to sign for something, as my right hand starts approaching the paper it starts shaking violently, upsetting me so much I usually start crying. :(
 
There are hot water dispensers that hold several quarts of water and they are well insulated to keep it hot and ready. It also has the ability to bring the temperature back up quickly, should you forget to add water and run low. Dispensing only requires pressing an unlock button, followed by pressing and holding the dispense button for an electric pump to dispense the hot water into your cup. You need to hold this dispense button on until the cup is filled to your liking, but this step goes easily for me. My wife fills it with water every night before bed time and for us, it will last about 48 hours should she forget to add more water. There is a sleep button that you can press for several hours of it not heating, but it will then turn itself back on and heat the water to just under boiling to be ready for your first cup in the morning. The one that we have was made by Zirushi and we got it through Amazon. It has been working perfectly for over 3 years so far.

Charley
 
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