Anxiety

I had my stroke in June, it was a haemorragic one. I've done well and got my speech back and most of my right hand side. I'm left with anxiety now, in case I have another stroke and also keeping my bp down. I'm on tablets for the bp, but when I go into hospital setting it goes high cos I'm so scared. Any ideas what I can do! I'm a nurse as well which makes it so embarrassingight.I should be back in January to work but head is not right, it's coming around so quick.

 

Hello Nao,

The anxiety of having another stroke rears its niggling head for most of us I think, I had my stroke two months ago, ischemic cerebellar bi-lateral infarction. CBT is useful but I also think as individuals we can find our tricks to keep this anxiety at bay. It's not always foolproof but anything that helps has got to be better than the exhaustion anxiety causes. 

One thing mentally that works for me is if I am feeling particularly out-of-sorts, and I start to worry, I tell myself that I have been through this feeling before and gotten through it unscathed. This bolsters my resolve not to let it bother me.

Also, distraction works wonders for me, I've started restoring a bicycle, something I would never have conceived to do before my stroke but in times of anxiety I either lose myself in tackling that task or lose myself thinking and researching what I've got to do next. It gives my brain a break from myself. It also gives me a future goal, to one day be riding that bicycle. For me, future aims are quite essential as stroke anxiety is stuck in past events. 

Unfortunately, post-stroke symptoms can be like pre-stroke symptoms, so it is unnerving at the best of times. For me personally, any sort of "normalisation" helps. It's all a bit of feeling around in the dark sometimes.

I also suffer from panic attacks, have for decades. Not to fob off the severity of a panic attack, but nowdays for me, a panic attack is relatively easy to deal with over post-stroke anxiety. 

I start work again in early December and I am not really ready for it but will have to face that hurdle when I get to it. I hope you find some useful techniques that work for you in easing your anxiety.

 

Anxiety after stroke is common, but eases in time. I had a haemorrhage stroke nearly five years, but I was retired. By always goes up in hospital or at the doctors. Mine always does. Hopefully, you are on the right medication and you certainly seem to be making good progress. A yoga or relaxation class might help.

Thank you, some really good ideas.

Thankyou for the help.