I an sorry for your stroke. It will be stressful from a good bit keep on doing with your team for good things x
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My initial reaction to stroke was to be overwhelmed and helpless. I was very frightened and somehow thought this shouldnât be happening to me. I needed to get home continue living as I always had and leave this dreadful experience behind me.
I heard none of the answers to my questions that I wanted to hear.
Now, around two years later, I am, to a degree, coming to terms with what has befallen me.
I havenât a map with a route towards where I was before all this happened, but I do have a map that is evolving. I am beginning to find that life is still possible, it can be rewarding, the challenges are different but well worth taking on.
So I canât give you the answer you want but I assure you that you are capable of finding useful, relevant and satisfying answers of your own. It may take a little time but that makes the whole process more worthwhile and rewarding.
Stay in touch and . . .
keep on keepinâ on
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Hi Bobbi, thanks for your support and to everyone who has responded. Thanks so much for the support. I have been getting pins and needles in my chin, is this something I should be worried about? Could it still be after effects from stroke 14 months ago? I have also returned to work but my memory is causing me lots of problems.
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@LynneT there can be many reasons for pins & needles & if it is new for you it may be an idea to speak with your GP. I recently saw my GP about some new pins & needles / tingling in my affected arm (2 yrs post stroke) & she said it is quite common after a stroke but a chin may be different. It could be down to fatigue if youâre back working. That can take a lot out of you. Perhaps youâre feeling a little stressed because of your memory problems?
Hope it settles for you.
Best wishes
Ann
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Hi, was your chin affected by your stroke ? Is the sensation on one side or the other ?
I have copied some web page text which might explain this but I am not an expert.
"Most CPSP patients present within one or two months of stroke, but some develop this pain one to six years post stroke
Up to one in five people who have a stroke may develop central post-stroke pain (CPSP). It is also known as neuropathic pain or central pain syndrome. It usually starts within three to six months after a stroke, but it can begin earlier. CPSP happens when areas of the brain that interpret pain are affected by the stroke.
There are different types of pain you might experience if you have CPSP. Many people describe it as a burning or burning cold sensation, or a throbbing or shooting pain. Some people also have pins and needles or numbness in the affected areas. For most stroke survivors with CPSP, the pain occurs in the side of their body affected by the stroke. Some people find this pain becomes worse because of other factors such as movement or a change in temperature"
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Hi there
Thank you all for your ongoing support. No-one seems to think that it had anything to do with the stroke, I asked a GP and they were not concerned but did not know what has caused it.
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Hi I am nly 8 weeks in since my stroke and the main issue for me seems to be the relationship between my brain draining most of my energy, which prevents m from doing physical exercise, in the weeks since my stroke all i could focus on was getting back to driving, but when out walking i suddenly realised that this was not going to be so simple, I seem to have lost my street awareness, prior to my stroke I was aware of the traffic around me so that when I needed to cross a road it was very simple, now I have to stop stock still and literally look around me in very direction prior to crossing, and even then have once or twice not spotted on oncoming car I get confused in crowded places like super markets with all the movement going on, so it seems logical that I will not be able to cope with traffic all round me whilst driving, is this a brain issue or a vision issue or maybe both, can still read very small print with no issue, but often when typing I do not hit the key I intend to so need to check most of the time, miss letters out of words often. Plus my left hand /arm fails me sometimes and what I have picked up just falls from my grip onto the floor if I pick it up it drops again. All of this suggests to me that I have brain issues with re-wiring maybe is this called brain spacicity?Maybe I need an mri scan to check it out.
Anyway driving is out of the question, which is not particularly an issue as I live in an area served with very good public transport, so no loss of freedom involved
Thanks
Wattsy
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Unfortunately Wattsy, all those you describe are fairly common post stroke and all of them are what I experienced in my first year post stroke.
Even speech was a major issue and still have mild Aphasia. Reading was another issue, could only read very short lines in very small amounts.
Itâs taken me 3yrs to get back on track.
The first year was perfecting walking and regaining the use of my arm/hand.
For about 8 months I couldnât walk without my husband to link arms with, I didnât use a stick. And I was too slow crossing the road to manage on it on my own anyway. I need hubby to stop the traffic for me 
I couldnât walk a straight line and would wind up under a bus if I didnât have my hubby.
Same went for traffic awareness, couldnât trust myself out on my own. By the beginning of the the second year all that was reasonably fine, walked on my ownâŚin a straight line.
Walking went from 15mins, to half an hour, to an hour in the first year. Now I can easily do 6 miles in 2 hours.
I got my driving license back a year after the stroke, and about 4 months after that I started getting back into driving again. Three years on I can drive for a couple hours but I do not do motorways, theyâre just too busy for my nervous system 
Typing has improved a lot over the 3 years but itâs still not perfect, not as good as it was just before the stroke.
Even the kids notice the reduction in my speed as I was trained to touch type and used to type on average 200 words per minute, nowadays Iâm good if I can type 100 wpm 
but thatâs ok as I donât work anyway 
A couple of my fingers on my stroke hand do have tendency to go a bit ridged when Iâm tired, this also makes it awkward to type 
The clumsy pick up and dropping is another one you can expect to improve in just the coming months. Dropping and picking things up can easily be turned into a rehab exercise in itself for you improve upon. Just keep doing everything you would have done before the stroke. For me it was things like washing the dishes, pegging out washing, gardening, hand sewing, typing, reading out loud to improve speech . . . albeit all in very small doses, because you are still also battling with fatigue.
To me, I was the fatigue as brains way to shut me down to rest so it could process all it has learnt and to recharge the batteries so to speak.
So Wattsy, you are only 8 weeks into your recovery so youâve got a ways to go yet and the brain still has an awful lot of recovering to do. But it sounds to me you are on track with recovery so maybe try to stop worrying so much about it and start enjoying the journey of recovery.
Start setting yourself little goals, targets and milestone to work towards.
Take daily walks and keep building the time and distance now the weather is getting better. An hour a day keeps the doctor awayâŚbut itâll still be some months before you achieve that 
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@wattsy what you describe around roads & traffic is quite common. These things should improve in time. 8 weeks is very early days in recovery terms. I could barely get out of a chair then so if youâre out walking youâre doing great. I usee to get dizzy just being in a car - the traffic going past really messed with my head. Try building up your exposure to traffic slowly and hopefully the issues you describe will ease.
If youâre not surevif it is a brain of vision issue then iâd suggest getting an eye test so you can rule that out.
Best wishes
Ann
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Hi L
Loads of common sense advice as I have come to expect, patience is not a strong point of mine, as as I will be 80 in August time is not on my side with regards to driving but an eye test is a good idea and something I will do. May I ask if you gave up your driving licence or were forced to by the the DVLA and how difficult was it to get back a year later. Your walking is now very impressive something to aim at.
Thanks
Wattsy
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Hi
Thanks for taking the time to reply, some comfort in knowing that some of my symptoms are quite common , will get an eye test, and also an MRI, if I can, at least then i will know one way or the other.
Regards
Wattsy
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I had my stroke 11 months ago and Iâm driving again but only for 20 minutes and with my husband in the car. I had a situation today where I came to a junction and I completely lost the plot for a minute and I couldnât suss out who had right of way. Hence the need for a second person in the car. Itâs like you are a learner again. I was like you in the beginning rushing to get back to pre stroke levels, but it simply doesnât work like that Iâm afraid. Your brain sets the timescales you have to follow.
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Hi
It seems you are correct the brain governs everything and right now think a busy roundabout would freak me out, but who knows, feels i would like to try, but life and limb are at stake and not just mine are involved, glad you are back driving and making a recovery, very best to you going forward.
Regards
wattsy
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My licence was due for renewal anyway. So I filled out the appropriate forms, informed them of my stroke. They in turn contacted my GP and the stroke Consultant, keeping me updated all the way. Then barely a year later they just sent the new one back.
I still wasnât ready to get back behind the wheel though, so it was still a few months later before I started. And it was very much, as @clibbers1 said, like learning to drive all over again
Yes, time is not on your side when youâre just about to turn 80. But as you seem to be doing so well, all things considered, I believe you still have in you to enjoy many more years to come. Keep up with your rehab daily, keep up with the walking and expect to see so much more improvement over the next 10 months Watty. So check back on this post next January to see just how far you have progessed, all being well
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Hi
Will do and thanks.
Wattsy
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