Hi all, it’s been a while since I’ve been on but I’ve enjoyed catching up tonight!
I’m now 4.5 months post stroke and am finally starting to feel more myself! Fatigue and anxiety are my biggest concerns at the moment.
I have my first occupational health meeting tomorrow from work and must admit my anxieties are heightened! I’m thinking I’ll be back at work next month but have no idea how I’ll cope.
I’ve been trying to lose weight ( have been for about 35 years!!) but I’ve noticed since my stroke and an increase in my medication it’s really slowed down. I’m eating what I ate previously and could easily lose a couple of lbs a week now it’s maintaining or a gain. I just wondered if anyone else has found this too?
I’m on Clopidogrel, statin, Ramipril, Amlipidopine, Mirtazapine .
Hope you’re all keeping well.
Sam 
x
I wish I knew. I have done nothing but gain weight! And I don’t think my food is the cause, possibly lack of enough exercise. My appetite is lighter than ever and the food choices could be better, but aren’t over the top at all. Mostly veggies.
The best way to find out about the meds is to check them in an online search. I have not bothered as I have omitted all medication that is not necessary for blood pressure and blood thinning. Perhaps I will remember to check tomorrow on mine. Too late for tonight.
I hope you find your answers.
@DeAnn Thank you, My pharmacist has said Mirtazapine can but my Slimming World consultant is adamant the club say only water tablets can cause weight gain. 
@Sammy1 it’s possible that some meds can cause weight gain but i wonder whether you’re less active aince your stroke & that is contributing to the weight gain. I hear a lot of stroke survivors saying they have gained weight. Fatigue probably means you are resting more at times when you might have previously been pottering.
Hope your occupational health appointment went well & they’re able to help facilitate some adjustments for your return to work.
Best wishes
Ann
Mirtazapine can cause weight gain and is an effective one in the treatment of anorexia nervosa .
One of the less common side effects of statins is also weight gain and the same goes for Amlodipine.
As Ann suggested, inactivity due to fatigue is a common cause of weight gain, particularly if you are still eating the same daily food portions as you did before the stroke.
That combined with say one more biscuit/potatoe/spoon of rice/or whatever than your usual daily food intake can quickly mount up to too many more calories onboard to burn. Like smothering a coal fire when you put too much coal on top, the fire goes out. In the body, that fuel still has to be stored somewhere until it gets burned, hence the weight gain.
Might be worth speaking with your doctor about it to work out which medication is doing it…IF that’s the reason. Or get your doctor to refer you to a dietician, they can give an awful lot of useful advice. Very helpful for me when I was first diagnosed with diabetes.
I think some medicines do feed the munchies. Certainly they do for me and at times feel very hungry even after eating.
It’s also possible that if sensations are impacted, that could be all manner of sensations like being full up or hungry.
Really it must be quite difficult to separate medicine impact to reduced exercise.
Hmmm, that’s odd. My water tablets (diuretics) help keep weight down (from fluids, anyway). I am reminded now to check mine online.
Thanks, both real thanks and sarcastic…let’s see. You have listed two of my medications, and Nigelglos has mentioned my lesser exercise, and I have been waking in the middle of the night unable to sleep because I am hungry… Unfortunately, I doubt they will allow me to give up Atorvastatin or Amlodipine, so perhaps I will have to try even smaller amounts of food, but more often, and to get my tail in gear to exercise more frequently. Who is going to help me light the fire under my feet now?
https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content.aspx?contentid=DM300&contenttypeid=56
When your Weight Gain Is Caused by Medicine:
list of some meds that cause it, good advice for what to do.
I reduced my amlodopine from 10mg to 5mg as it looked like someone had fitted an air pump to my weaker foot.
Had to take two other BP medicines to compensate.
So you do won’t want to know about BP medications severly lowering the libido then 
which undoubtedly detracts from any fitness regime 
Hey-ho back to the treadmill🤣
Omg I thought it was the menopause!! 
Oooh interesting, my amlodipine has been upped from 2.5 mg to 5 mg but I’m on 10 mg of Ramipril too.
Well I’ve got the drs this morning and I’ll be asking about side effect!! X
I should certainly check that out as well…or maybe not, come to think of it. I find one of the good things about stroke is my sudden disinterest in a relationship. I think that was much more dangerous to me than some silly ole’ strokes!
Hi @Sammy1
Good to hear that you’re progressing 
You say you’re up at 4 1/2 months mark so watch out for any decompensations that could manifest as the typical two steps forwards one step backwards that people often post about. You’re at that sort of time scale and being aware of its possibility even probability can save you being disheartened. take it as just the unfolding of the journey.
If you’re considering going back to work that would be the sort of thing to trigger fatigue and possibly more challenges with sleep and with any strokee effects both physical and emotional .
You mentioned anxiety; seemingly the largest and least explained topic in the typical wobblers post stroke challenges. I think part of the problem here is that people have a pre-stroke understanding of anxiety like they have a fatigue and that masks the post-stroke realities of both anxiety and fatigue
If you haven’t already then it would be worth exploring the techniques for breathing and distraction of thoughts.
I’m less able to comment on the weight situation but I would speculate there are multiple factors combining and the medication might be one but isn’t the only one or even the dominant one. The amount of energy that goes in and the amount of energy that’s used will be a prime factor and the amount of water will be another. Personally I found my weight goes up in steps so it will be stable to within a pound or two for 6 months and then it’ll go up two pounds.
immediately post stroke it went down 3 stone maybe that was hospital food?
I wish you good luck with a continuing and progressive journey onwards and upwards
Caio
Simon
Thanks Simon, yes I’m going back to work next month but on a phased return for 8 weeks, luckily it will then be the 6 weeks holiday so I can rest again.
I think tiredness is the biggest issue now, and sleep is becoming a joke again! It’s mad how you can be sooo tired yet wide awake!!
Hope you are well x
Fifteen weeks here and worse than I was throughout February. My aphasia/ dyslexia is worse than it was since January. Struggle to do any reading or writing for days. Struggling to speak at times. Low energy. Beginning to get very concerned. Took 15 mins plus to writing this.
@JPS how’s the sleep &
meds side affects & nutrition &
ability to cope with screens (TV, phone,…),
Lights & and sounds & shopping/people?
Maybe keep a diary of affects/ abilities & stimuli
Look for patterns across 1 to 5 or 7 days
It normally does improve , going backwards for a while is common 
Hugs
I’d advise you see your gp and ask for a blood test to check your vitamin levels. You are on a new regime of medications so just to rule that out before concluding its just due to the pattern of recovery.
At around the same point in my recovery, I had annual blood tests done for my diabetes, and they found I was very low in folic acid. Once started on that it was like a new lease of life for me. That may or may not be the case for you, I don’t want to raise any false hopes, but it’s worth checking.
You also burn through nutrients in recovery; and B vitamins, in particular, are water soluble so can’t be stored in the body…and the B’s are vital a vital food for the brain, particularly in recovery from trauma.