My Mum had what the consultant described as a ‘small stroke’ in late July (they were initially described as crescendo TIAs, but then the diagnosis was revised to a full but small stroke as her symptoms didn’t resolve within 24 hours).
She’d been feeling breathless on mild exertion for 3-4 weeks beforehand which is unusual for her, and this breathlessness has continued since the stroke (although isn’t as bad as before the stroke). Other post stroke symptoms such as fatigue and supressed appetite seem to be slowly but steadily improving.
My question is - is mild breathlessness a recognised or common experience after stroke? The consultant doesn’t think there’s any issue with her heart, especially as she’s had it checked recently for another condition, although she is due to have an echocardiogram and 72 hour ECG in coming months to be on the safe side. She isn’t due to have a review with the stroke clinic for some months yet, and despite my Mum’s consultant saying breathlessness isn’t a typical experience, I’m wondering if any of you lovely people might be able to comment please…?
Hello Lem - nice to meet you and I am sorry your Mum is having some health issues that are concerning you.
I don’t know if others who have had a stroke (I will not distinguish since in my view the end result is the same to a greater or lesser degree) experience breathlessness, but it is not something my Mum (she is the stroke survivor has experienced).
If it is any consolation, your Mum’s health checks for which she has been tested including her heart gives no rise for concern to her consultant. That is a good place to start. I am sure if there was anything to worry about the consultant would have raised it with you, but you are entitles to follow-up to see if it is possible they may have missed something.
Also, you say other post stroke symptoms such as fatigue and supressed appetite seem to be slowly but steadily improving, which again is a nice positive to have.
I am trying to think of things that may cause breathlessness and nothing is shouting at me other than the activity she is doing that causes the breathlessness. Is this something she used to do before without getting breathless? Did she have a long period of inactivity and became active which would possibly cause breathlessness, but that would be normal as your body is having to adjust to the extra workload?
Also, these activities that cause breathlessness - are they normal activities she would do as part of daily living or are they extra-curricular?
Apart from that, I cannot think of anything. Might it be worth discussing this with the GP and/or the stroke consultant?
Hi @Lem as a stroke survivor I can’t say this is something that I had an issue with and have never really come across people saying it is an issue. However on looking it up on internet it does say the following
“Breathlessness after a stroke is a common symptom called dyspnea and can result from damage to the brain’s control of breathing, weakened respiratory muscles, or indirectly from difficulty swallowing (dysphagia) leading to aspiration and pneumonia.”
That wouldn’t explain why she had it before her stroke though and I would want to get that checked further if it was me. Maybe the GP can help there.
I’m in my eleventh year of recovery and in my opinion there is no end to the variations of stroke results. Some of the major hurdles I managed to get the better of in the first year came back at me in the fifth year wearing different disguises! Many I beat and that enables me to live fairly comfortably.
Deigh
I spoke too soon! last month while being treated for Lymphobia I got very wheezy when a flue bug circulated the country and I caught it. I ended up calling for an ambulance to help me breathe. I was taken to hospital and introduced to a breathing gadget as used by asthmatics. I was only in hospital one day and was released once I’d learned how to handle the device. I had had one hours sleep and was full of stuff they had injected me with but was pleased to be get home.
The episode left me with admiration on the way I was handled and treated by all concerned and the odd wheeze is controlled now and device rarely used.
Deigh
Hi Lem, very much so in my case, the breathlessness was very much evident especially as I was moving house, it nearly killed me.
I had gone to my new GP who would have gotten around to investigating given time, but I then had a haemorrhageic stroke due to Atrial Fibrillation, I had always checked my BP, had ecg’s and a 48hr monitor, but as AF comes and goes it was never picked up. Post stroke, I still get a little breathless going upstairs and no longer do cardio exercise at the gym.
