over the past six years a handful of SS reported that they had started writing poetry.
I am still searching for any new skills that stroke might present.
I now struggle to read. And as for numbers, well they really are a problem.
and the nightmares still persist. Very unpleasant. Spoils many days, they are horribly real to me. Last nights dream was a detailed journey by a new travel device. A family trip from London to Brighton in just a few seconds. Not as horrid as most dreams, but disturbing because the travel machine didn't work 100%. From where did that all dredge up.
I don't miss the errant functions. I do miss having enough energy to garden, walk, clean the car and so on.
I also miss the numbers on this site. Used to be lots of contributors. Very few now.
Hello Colin, poetry has not come easily to me, as I prefer the long-form. However, I am employing the technique of poets I like such as Dylan Thomas who used his journalistic skills to shape the poem. So, this takes time, time which I need. It also makes the process more enjoyable for me from a syntax point of view as I am not an "arty" creative person, and am more pragmatic about writing ... so the Russian poet Vladimir Mayakovsky's slant on poetry rings true for me ...
“Formerly I believed books were made like this: a poet came, lightly opened his lips, and the inspired fool burst into song – if you please! But it seems, before they can launch a song, poets must tramp for days with callused feet, and the sluggish fish of the imagination flounders softly in the slush of the heart. And while, with twittering rhymes, they boil a broth of loves and nightingales, the tongueless street merely writhes for lack of something to shout or say."
My grasp of calculating numbers was poor before my stroke, so I have just accepted any further complications as adding to the already extablished disorder. Your dream is interesting. I keep a dream diary, for my own interest. I tend to revisit places in my dreams, and have reoccurring themes. It seems none of my dreams are particularly disturbing, in fact, most are fairly intriguing to me. I rarely have any anxiety dreams, yet can get terribly anxious during the day.
I miss having the energy to go out and garden when I please, it's also dissappointing because sometimes if everything was getting on top of me, I'd go and garden for a few hours as a means to escape. That escape route is temporarily closed off. Being unable to go for walks has also been a drawback, and especially now as I suspect the Penny Buns are popping up in my fields, and if I don't get to them soon, the slugs and grubs will beat me to it, but I don't feel comfortable going for a long walk in isolated spots without a companion yet.
I picked four small corn cobs to go with Sunday dinner. About four more then they are finished. I do have one enormous American corn plant. Cobs on that look small. I am letting them go to seed so that I can use the seed next year.
I have good numerical skills. Well pre stroke they were good. For reasons unknown, I thought that my wife can get the marriage allowance for me. So a claim needs too be made.
many of my dreams are horrid and very upsetting. I make a point of blanking them as soon as I wake. Otherwise they ruin the whole day. I call them night terrors. Then there are bad dreams, nightmares, that don't upset so much.
whatever is going around my brain cell is a mystery to me.
Penny Buns, are a type of bolete, and ones I have found can fetch up to £70 a mushroom. I grow sweetcorn, had quite a decent crop this year despite the weather being erratic. Further research on the hippocampus points toward dreams being a way for the brain to be unfitted to the knowledge or thoughts incurred during the day, it's a way for our brains to general knowledge and thoughts to give us a better perspective on what we need to think about.
£70: that's a big difference from a penny for a bun.
Still have a few sweet corn to harvest. They are my favourite vegetable, although not a true vegetable. struggling with the removal of the finished plants. The American plant is still growing. That will need a pick axe to dig up.
yes, I have read about the hippopotamus in the camp. This is at odds with my dreams which dig up memories long forgotten, mixed with some current stuff and then some new oddities added. And always horrid disturbing dreams. So much worse post stroke. Possibly linked with far too much TV.
is this linked with the way our brains file away memories. I guess every one of us differs, dependant on where the stroke struck and where our brains individually store functions and memories.
I am rubbish at writing English. Numbers yes, words no. What is changing at a rapid rate is the loss of writing and the introduction of throw away bites. Go back just five years and compare the posts on here. Change is rapid.
AS an accountant, not being to handle numbers would be a blow to you. I had the same problem with music. I would look at a sheet of music and know that all those icons meant something....but what it was escaped me! It took a while to recover from that dilema but by degrees I got it back, I'm nowhere near the ability of pre-stroke but at my age I cant expect to be fast at anything.
Dreaming is another thing completely. I have had aggressive dreams as long as I can remember, over a year I found out how to fly and that gave me a lot more control over them. The flying skill is still with me on occasions. A few years ago I had regular semi-nightmares where I was being bullied by the same person. One evening in bed waiting for sleep to come I decided to take a gun with me on my dreams and shoot the offender. One half of me objected saying there was no way I could kill in cold blood, but another part of me said "but its only a dream". So I mentally carried one and the aggression stopped! Armed with this knowledge I have had a lot more control over my dreams but if I could find a pill that would stop me dreaming I'd be happy to take it. Another trick I've added to my repetoire is to avoid aggresive books and TV and the extra bit is to not watch TV for the half hour before bed. Instead I read 'brain candy'!
I have gradually got more and more able to do things that the stroke put on hold but have to accept that there are great limitations. To do any physical work takes planning and can only be endured for a short time. Tiredness I've had to live with and have just recovered from a uncomfortable bout of bronchitis which has put back my exercise routine.
I can remember some years ago your dismay when the written notes would not come right. Yes indeed, it's quite a good parallel, accounts figures and musical notes.
I classify my dreams in three levels of horror. First is dreams second are night mares and third are night terrors.
there is so much aggressive behaviour recently. And it's all aimed at white older males. TV radio newspapers all aggro.
My black male cat loves me. I will settle for that.
If I can't sleep, I get up and watch TV.
I use an ipad rather than my desk top. Treated myself as a reward for having open heart surgery. I learnt the basics, then had the op. Virtually everything I had learnt has gone from my memory.
I guess I can not join in with the majority who live on the internet.
I need to book my car in for a safety recall. My telephones are not working, I need to book an engineer. But to do these tasks require a certain modern logic that escapes me. I do despair.
nice to hear from you Deigh. Spring must be imminent. Very nice
If you could get your dreaming under control I'm sure things would be a lot better for you. I uderstand what you say about violence on TV. I avoid these like the plague. My suggestion about you watching TV if unable to rest, is to listen to music instead. I have 98 jazz recordings that I have accumulated over the years and have transferred them to a USB memory stick which is permanently plugged into my bedside radio. When sleep escapes me I switch that on and listen through a pillow speaker. This device means that Valerie, alongside me, cannot hear but I have the full benefit of the music which is timed to go off after an hour if I should drop off.
I use the same system regularily listening to a local National radio concert programme which has no advertisments and what is even better is that from midnight till 6 am they go onto a pre-recorded mode and there are no irritating announcer interruptions. Classical music can get extremely boring at times but when that happens I can just move the speaker away from my ear to enjoy silence!
The next thing to consider is your diet. Here the evening meal is the main meal of the day and much as I enjoy mushrooms I know that I can have hectic dreams afterwards. There are other foods that can have similiar effects like cheese for instance. Have a look to see if you are falling into that trap!
Colin, I seem to have lost you E-mail address, will you send me a message please so I can get you back on my list.
when sleep was seriously difficult to achieve, I used a tinnitus relaxer. Worked nicely.
As I progress past the worst of stroke issues, I have ignored sleep and diet. Desperate to get some lifestyle back, I have skipped the insistence to get good night time sleep. Your reminders serve a good purpose to send me back on the sleep regime.
I have also ignored the regime of sensible diet. I restrict alcohol and tea and coffee but otherwise I have ignored the medical advice about food. I think that I have done so much to overcome stroke and my reward is heart surgery, cataracts, stomach issues and creaking joints.
I am now trying to relate evening meals with bad dreams. Good point Deigh and many thanks