I actually had my stroke almost 10 years ago now. It was October 20, 2010 and 2 days before my 22 birthday. They now know that Yaz birth control that I was taking for 3 months formed a blood clot that went to my brain. I have had many tattoos since I was 18 and before that I had a bunch of piercings. At the time my daughter was 3 and we lived at my parents. I woke up at 6 am to get ready for work and right before I got into the shower I felt like my brain was on fire and dizzy. I atleast had the sense to go in my parents room and wake them up and tell them something was wrong before I collapsed. My parents called the ambulance and my neighbor was luckily a nurse that was called over. She could not tell what was wrong with me because they put me on the bed and I was awake, but frozen stiff. I even almost swallowed my tongue and couldn't say anything. The ambulance kept taking forever to arrive (this was after being called 2 more times by my neighbor). When they did arrive, they assumed since I was so young with tattoos, piercings, n a kid that I overdosed. They were talking with a tone as if I couldn't hear them and my neighbor actually argued with them because she said it was obviously not an overdose because of the symptoms I was having. She even put in the IV in for them to keep me hydrated until I was at the ER. The ER assumed I just had an overdose as well and just gave me an x-ray. By this point I was in and out of conciousness and just an x-ray doesn't show signs from a stroke they let me basically sit there. My parents and my daughters aunt kept insisting on an MRI and was told my normal physician has to come in with my past history and sign for the MRI as well. This was early in the morning and so I had to wait until he could leave his office to do so. I ended up waiting almost 9 hours for a test to prove I had something else wrong with me and not the overdose that was assumed by taking a look at me and judging. In this time waiting, I would randomly be conscious and speak to people fine and even took care of any metal I had on me because they told us I needed to for the MRI. By the time I was given the MRI, I was in a coma and then transferred to a different hospital for a stroke. At that point the doctors said I had a 5% chance of living and to have people say their last words to me, because I was the worst in the stroke ward. They did an operation on me, but my brain was swelling too much and temperature wouldn't go down. They ended up freezing my body to cool it down and that obviously killed me n I was revived. This didn't work and they don't try this procedure 2 because it usually doesn't work if it doesn't the first time n so my parents were told I'd be dead soon. My mom lost it because they wouldn't try again and eventually the hospital agreed to try again after a new waiver was signed. After I died again n was revived, I actually got to be stable. I stayed in a coma for a month or so and all together was put in 3 different hospitals as different treatments were needed (that doesn't include the ER).
I had to literally relearn everything. My eyes were crossed, I couldn't speak, and I couldn't move. After months of doing physical, occupational, and speech therapy, I finally was functioning. I was told horrible things on that journey (like my eyes wouldn't go back to normal, wouldn't eat, or even that my voice box was paralyzed n I wouldn't be able to speak again, or even make noises).
I ended up coming home after some months and even talking. My speech sounds horrible in my opinion, but I guess it's better than nothing. My eyes are even straight and I showed them that almost everything that was said I'd never do again was wrong. Yes, I still have a strange voice, I can't write really, walk, or drive. I still am a single parent of a 13 year old and don't have to live with my parents. I have a boyfriend and basically just live one day at a time.
After my stroke I started to have anxiety, depression, and just plain stress. I have to take stuff for my "tremors " which I don't see my tremors nearly as bad as I've seen other people have. I recently found out I was misdiagnosed for almost 10 years and I'm bipolar and not just depressed or having anxiety. I keep having my meds changed, but it could be a lot worse. My daughter could have a dead mother and a may be in a wheelchair, I still do a lot more than some people do. I hate my rollercoaster emotions, I understand I have s someone that relies on me and I'm trying I think that actually talking about everything I'm thinking and feeling works a lot. I never felt the need to talk about my problems before, I kind of feel like I need to now in order to feel like I'm not just going insane. Even just reading or hearing people's experiences help me feel like I'm not alone.
Things have changed dramatically since my stroke (I lost my life basically when I was 21. I had to understand that this is life now and I have to live with it. It took me time to realize that, I'm very glad I did though. I just know that you have to do things on your time and whatever expectation that is out there for doesn't matter if your doing what you can to be yourself .