Fear of Stroke Returning

I had a stroke 5 weeks ago and had seizures. I was in hospital for 5 days and have anti seizure medication.  My speach was good when I left hospital.  However occasionally at night I feel I have a slight problem with my speach and I panic that another stroke is going to happen.  Has anyone experienced this?

Thank you 

Hi Fifi-- It's only been  short time since your stroke.  The brain takes a long time to heal.  This takes energy (the brain uses up 20% of the body's energy)and is tiring, and it could be that you'll have odd symptoms for a while as it's rewiring and healing.   I had leg spasms at night for months after my stroke, but they eventually subsided.  Since you notice lapsing into speech problems at night, my guess would be that your brain is tired after working all day .  I notice even after almost 3 years that when I'm tired I don't do things as well as I do when I'm not. Sometimes eve the leg spasms return.   Also,  have they found the cause of the stroke?  I was told to see a GP, neurologist, and cardiologist when I leftt  the hospital,  The cardio. found I had afib that caused the stroke & put me on medication to control that, so I don't worry anymore.  It helps your state of mind to find out the cause and take preventative action.  Glad you joined the forum!  My best to youheartLove, Jeanne

Most nights and days I used to worry about having another stroke it is quite common but it will pass and you will be alright  It is early days yet so you must give it time. I hope you soon feel better. Best wishes Norma.

 I have now  had 4  strokes since the age of 27 , im now 47 and i go through a similar fear. However i noticed the more tired i get (not just physically!) the worst my speach gets. dont panick, Just take your time to think what is you are wanting to say and say it with a slightly slower pace ( just like you are thinking of the sentance ahead of what you are going to say. ( it is bloody annoying but its the only way you get understood!) Just stay calm and relaxed Fifi you 'll be just fine chuck

Dear Fifi

just about all of us have the concern about a second stroke. But once you get through the first month then with the medication, diet and exercise, you are now far less likely to stroke again. 
 

your brain did not like the stroke, so it will tell your body to do anything to avoid another one. Sadly, we are programmed to run away, or to be over concerned and so we get very frightened of another stroke. 
 

your brain does not feel pain. So it sends out all sorts of odd messages to your body, mostly telling us to avoid another stroke. 
what we need to do is to keep every part of our body working each day, to remind our brain of what it is controlling.

if you smile, the brain will assume all is ok. The smile can be fake, false, forced and best of all real.

you are now at the beginning of your recovery. It is a slow process. Very slow.

if you think positive thoughts things will move along.

so well done Fifi. You have survived. Now for the recovery. The stroke association booklets are very good. Please read them.

best wishes

colin

After having 4 strokes and a heart attack since the age of 27 and various other things inbetween. i reach a 4/5 year stale mate where Like Fifi im expecting something to happen, but more importantly it would be  nice to get some help when something does happen!, I have made numerous calls to vairous Associations and help centres looking for advice and guidance and even the consultants. And they all fail to return my calls or get back to me when they say will.what the hells wrong with people or me? every day now im waking after just 2/3 hours sleeps thinking "what fresh hell is this"?

Dear Colin

Thank you so much for your reply. I am trying to keep active every day and will try to think of all the positive things I have in my life.

Thanks again and very best wishes

Fifi

Morning, sorry to hear about your stroke, it’s natural to think about another but as colon said the first 4 weeks are the biggerst risk.

My speech is the same the later it is or more Iv done that day i struggle with what I won’t to say.

Hope all improves soon amd just keep positive 

Hi, thanks so much for your reply.  I felt slightly panicked last night but just told myself everything was ok and I calmed down.

Thanks again and very best wishes.

Thank you Norma.  As you say its early days.  I'm just trying to stay calm and think of all the positive things I have in my life.

Thanks again and very best wishes Fifi

Dear Jeanne,

Thanks so much for your reply. 

I was told I had a acute infarct in left frontal lobe but not what actually caused it.    My blood pressure was soaring but has been checked several times since and is back to normal.  I am due to see the GP soon so I will ask some questions.

In the meantime I am trying to remain calm and think about all the positive things I have in my life .

Thanks again and very best wishes Fifi

I went through a patch of slurred speech, and trouble gettting the right words out, shortly after coming out of hospital. I am now nine months on and my speech has imrpoved. My consultant advised me that unless symptoms become acute, there is probably not much to worry about. I made a point of talking aloud to myself and speaking to others as much as possible to get my brain back into speaking. The thought of having another stroke is always somewhere in the back of my mind, especially as no cause was found, but I more so fear, complications arising from the stroke I had, or an underlying cause for the stroke they missed which might be serious. In any case, I am a bit neurotic, so have had to practice banishing intrusive thoughts and taming my "monkey mind". 

One thing I have found is that one does get accustomed to the symptoms, so at first the symptoms seem like alarms bell, over time, one gets to know them and also dislike them. You will start to recognise symptoms that you will need to work on with exercise and therapy in order to reduce them or eventually correct them. For instance, I have quite irritating tinnitus, but because there a name for this symptom, and we know it is annoying but harmless (I am to believe) it isn't something that causes concern, but anything connected to our original circumstances when we had the stroke, like for me, dizziness or nausea, will automatically ring alarm bells. However, I have now lived with dizziness and nausea for nine months, and it is getting a bit boring now. Whenever it crops up (which is pretty much every day) I usually say to myself, 'for crying out loud' or sometimes something a little stronger, instead of being anxious. I do still get anxious, especially if the symptom feels more acute than usual, but I have also come to recognise that fatigue creeps up and seems to exacerbate my symptoms, as does overthinking or anything emotional. 

So, you will start to identify what symptoms are recurrent and most likely nothing to worry about over time. Just spend a little time working out, investigatively and calmly, what is what with your symptoms, what improves them, and what reduces them. This should help put your mind back in control. This is important because anxiety feeds anxiety, and can actually increase the acuteness of a symptom. 

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"just like you are thinking of the sentance ahead of what you are going to say." This is good practical advice, I would do this and still do it, sometimes I get my sentence ready before I see the person I want to say it to. I also run through conversations in my head, so I can work out what I want to say, how I want to say it, and to remember what I need to talk about.

I completely  agree with you, has the world  gone mad ? ? I recently  attended  my first  hospital  appt in nearly  2 years !!  My stroke was in Feb 2017 and we have had to fight for every bit of help. I'm lucky I have an amazing husband  who is more than capable of  fighting  to get the help I'm entitled to but I'm sure there are lots of people on their  own with no one  to fight their  battles. 

With my husband's  help I do a daily  exercise  routine but it's  not the same as working  with a Neuro Physiotherapist and and my gp has referred me to  our local Neuro Rehab team, who I'm hoping will offer me a few sessions  with a professional, although  I doubt that will be any time soon, if at all.

Sorry for ranting. Stay  positive  and remember  you are  not alone.

Regards Sue 

 

 

 

Hi, have you looked at the Different Strokes  website ? They are a  UK charity providing a unique service for young stroke survivors. Thought  it might be of interest www.differentstrokes.co.uk  Before  Covid  I was attending  a weekly local support group  through Different  Strokes, which we have found to be  very helpful  and informative. 

Regards Sue 

thank you Jane its good to hear that. ( i think?)

 being truthfully honest I have lost track of who i have tried and who i havent. it just seems like the ones i tries are "yes we can support you and we will give you  a ring in  a week and see how youre doing to see if you need any more support and in the mean time i will look into something else and get them to call you  and nobody has returned a single call despite leaving 4 messages with the initial person...but thank you i will try different strokes. regards

 

its ok. if I can help somebody with  life experience I will. but I wont do anyone a wrong doing or give them false information. Stay strong Fifi.x

I understand how you feel  I felt I'm walking on eggshells and it's very difficult to get any support as we are unable to go to stroke clubs I've found we get good support from this forum how others cope and give good tips  hope this has helped