Hi Jason, I had a stroke on the 17 May, this year. I was sitting on a settee watching television and turned my head feeling a strange sensation on the side of my face. As it was nearly 10pm I decided to go to bed and struggled to say goodnight to my wife, I just put it down to tiredness.
Next morning, I got up and made a cup of tea for my wife. On entering the bedroom I tried to say 'I think we had a frost last night', I could not pronounce the word 'frost'. My wife looked at me and could see that the right side of my mouth had dropped. She could immediately see I had stroke.
I was taken to hospital and on the 20 May I had a carotid endarterectomy having been told I had 80-89% stenosis in the left artery. The whole experience came as a complete shock. I was someone who power walked regularly and had been doing so for last twenty years as well as using a home exercise bike. I have an allotment and eat plenty of fresh vegetables. Cholesterol was 5.7, not perfect but not too bad! I am 72 years old.
I have been very lucky because I have suffered no physical affects. It has affected the language centre of my brain and I sometimes struggle to pronounce a word(s) often when I am tired. Immediately after the stroke I also found texting difficult and the spelling of words but that has gradually improved. I do find my anxiety levels have increased, primarily with regard to my health and longevity. I dread having a similar experience, I am taking clopidrogel, aspirin and statins and hopefully taking the medication will minimise the risk.
The endarterectomy, which has been the worst part of the experience, has left me with scar tissue which has made the skin tight resulting in difficulties turning my neck. However, I am grateful to all the hospital staff and I am thankful that I have not been too badly affected. I hope to develop a positive attitude and to look forward to the future.
It would be interesting to hear from others with a similar experience.
Hello new man's. Welcome to the forum. Ten and nine months ago I had four strokes they knocked out my balance and I have lost part of my site in the left eye I am 78.i am so very tired all the time and have difficulty walking. I still have trouble with type and texting. My brother in law had the same as yourself 5 years ago. He is on clopidogrol. A blood thinner. He gets very tired and he has a short fuse now lol otherwise is good for 75.drink plenty of water and rest a lot.
Blessings judy I forgot to say I am on rivaroxaban to thin the blood. Supposed to have high merits.
I keep niggling about something you wrote, kept telling myself "I am not a doctor, so keep out of it" but its the fact that you are taking aspirin and clopidogrel. When convenient, I would ask why you need the two. I have no problem taking aspirin and I have no problem taking clopidogrel but not the two together. For me, the occasional double up is OK eg to budge a rare migraine, but otherwise I would only take aspirin when I have to stop taking clopiwhatsit.
Very nice that you have no physical affect. Being very fit and eating well will impove your recovery.
Keep smiling. be positive, lots of us are cheering for you
Yes! I have been worrying about my medication myself, the combination of Clopidogrel and aspirin and the fact that I am on a very high dosage statin, 80mg. I can only think they wish to thin my blood as quickly as possible and reduce my lower lipid levels, bad cholesterol.
The problem is with this wretched virus. My next hospital appointment is not until the 27 August, and that is going to be a telephone consultation. I will certainly question the Doctor about my medication because I cannot see I can safely stay on that level of medication for the longterm.
Thanks for your response. Sorry to hear you had four strokes, you have done well to have pulled through. One of the major issues with a stroke does seem to be tiredness.
Today, I went to my daughters and she wanted me to help her put up a trampoline for the grandchildren. As with all these things the instructions were not clear and there were a number of difficult connections to be made which required a bit of muscle. I did notice what a strain it put on me, particularly affecting the carotid scar I have. The Doctors do advise not to lift heavy weights or strain oneself after such an operation. My brain was also hurting trying to fathom out the instructions! When I got home, I went straight to bed and fell asleep immediately for an hour! I am going to have to accept I cannot always do what I used to be able to do for the time being.
Can you get any help with your walking? Would a frame help?
As Colin has mentioned, the Aspirin and Clopidogrel issue needs to be checked. My husband spent ages on a high dose of aspirin, this was not checked until I raised it with the stroke nurse and she said he should have only taken it for a maximum of 6 weeks, and then should be on Clopidogrel (or similar) as the maintenance drug - but not both together. I think you should contact your stroke team and get them to review this asap. You might have to be persistent as some teams aren't always as reactive as they should be!
Thanks for your advice, I will certainly discuss the matter with the pharmacist who I need to speak to tomorrow. In this Covid 19 era it is often difficult to speak to someone but I agree I should check it out.
Hello newmands. Well I went cold thinking of you putting up the trampoline. You must be careful after your surgery. Early days for things like that...... I use a stick indoors not practical to have a walker in my small victoriana home. I am very weak and shaky to go out yet. I also have heart disease. I live on my own my sister will help when needed. I hate asking for help. I have 3 cats. Two large tortoises. Budgies and a stocked pond. They all give me exercise. Lovely to know you. Take care. Blessings judy
Colin, I'm doing fine. The second stroke, although mild, really knocked my confidence, especially in my ability to walk. Community Support got me an ankle support for my drop foot and I am back to doing my walking. Have also been to four NGS open gardens of varying terrain and am now coping better.
The weird thing is the second stroke stopped the jerkiness in my weak arm, but also weakened it a bit further. However, I have reverted to some of my early hand and arm exercises and do these religiously. It has not been helped by the fact that lockdown put pay to my exercise classes. I do the Joe Wicks exercise classes for seniors on youtube every day and that is better than doing nothing.
i hope you continue to improve after your heart op. PS I can still cook, bake, change a bed and do a little ironing. Not down and out just yet!
Hiya! Thanks for sharing. Working as a coordinator I hear lots of peoples induvidual experiences of stroke and how those experiences now go on to rapid hospital admissions and treatment. Your wife done well to recognise what was happening and act fast in getting you to hospital. I remember meeting people when i first started in my work who presented to their GP, were told "youve had a stroke, ill prescribe asprin" - i kid you not, i heard such things.... weve come a long way.
The one thing thats always been consistent however is community support. The answers from others who responded to your post show that.. heres a short story...my grandmothers best friends husband had a stroke decades ago when i was little. My 'uncle Gordon' who introduced me to gardening and always entertained me with growing flowers and vegetables and took me to gardening shows suddenly stopped being able to speak, this was late 1970s.. I remember him going to a support group, i went with him once, it was busy and i remember it being very colourful? I was shown games to play with Gordon to encourage his memory and i remember helping him to name the vegetables and plants. Gordon and his wife 'Aunty Dolly' had a terrific amount of support for years afterwards. They attended a stroke support group run by the first colleague i had when i joined the Stroke Association... unfortunately uncle Gordon passed away when i was in my late teens.. but before that he regained a lot of speech, returned to driving and won a few more rosettes at flower shows :)
When Aunty Dolly passed away some years ago her family donated a cheque to the Stroke Association. Her family met me and gave it to me personally for me to pass on. At that point something personal 'clicked' for me which has informed my work since.. the communities we engage with throughout life shape us. Stroke is huge.. but with community support and understanding along with a bit of fun can certainly make recovery after stroke a lot easier. I'm really enjoying seeing the community on mystrokeguide light up when someone engages, they know what its like and they offer help and support instinctively.
I'm simply here to learn, cheer on and offer something when i feel i can offer it....
Anyway, ive rambled through this... i dont even know what ive tried to say?
Something like - Engage, learn, share and support. Your not alone!