It is just over 4months since my brain bleed stroke. In that time I have been mobile but recently I feel worse now than when I was discharged from hospital. Frequent morning headaches and light headed and fatigue. I feel I was progressing well but feel that I am deteriorating. Has anybody else felt their recovery progress has deteriorated?
Hi
It’s common so is the fact that the medical profession don’t tell you anything about it 
The Welcome post says a little bit about the first few months and then the potential for other factors to kick in later.
There are very factors like a climatizing to meds, bodily processes to clear up oedema and necrotic tissue may be finishing, brain chemistry adjustments.
I think I can say most of us seem to pass through it not for nothing that we so frequently say two steps forwards one step backwards.
Have a read through posts about other people’s journeys by searching for things like “going backwards”, “recovery stopped”, “steps back” etc
Caio
Simon
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It is your post that made me join this group. Although my stoke was ischemic, I have hit a period after learning to use my left arm and hand and to walk, I thought I had hit a plateau. I was wrong. I am regressing from trying to find my gait to tottering like one year+ grandniece. I am having a proprion problems, a balance problem I had once 20 years ago. My appointment with the neurologist is scheduled for February 2025. To stay positive until then, I try to create ways I can rehab at home. I am always tired, but today I am going to walk/totter about our yard pitted with holes dug by my boxador.
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p.s. My stoke was five months ago.
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Hi @trooper
Hello and welcome although sorry you have had reason to join us
It’s not clear who you’re referring to but anybody’s post that encouraged you to reach out for support is a good thing 
Ischaemic is a sort of stroke - caused by a clot - rather than a bleed -hemorrhagic- and lacuna is a location (the small vessels that supply blood to deeper brain structures)
The full reference to the welcome post is
There’s lots of stuff on here about exercise regimes mostly we have to be our own recovery director so that our actual needs for daily living are matched with the components of rehabilitation that we practise. There’s a lot of YouTube stuff that we’ve found that can be located with the forum search magnifying glass.
Happy to point some out if you need
Simon
Ps You can edit a post with the little pencil at the end of your own posts and you can mention people specifically by typing an at sign - and a lot more facilities are available on this rather complicated platform!
For example I’m going to like your post and you will receive a welcome badge which will then turn up in your notifications and emojis are added by typing a colon
Pps how about a picture of your boxer
Here’s one of me Tyger and Beryl the Barrel
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Simon, thank you. Btw, my boxador looks more like a lab, although his 14 cousins on Embark do not.
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@Osttyrol i wonder if part of the reason you feel worse is because you have increased your activity levels. This is quite common & should settle once you get used to the new levels of activity or you might need to slow down a little bit again. Have a look at stroke decompensation.
If you are really concerned though you should seek medical advice.
Best wishes
Ann
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@Trooper hi & welcome to the community. Sorry to hear that you feel you are going backwards. Stroke recovery is about ups & downs & often taking a coyple of strps backwards before moving forwards again.
I have posted a link in my reply to @Osttyrol on stroke decompensation which might be worth you having a look at too.
Best wishes
Ann
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Dear Mrs5k, I went to the link and read it and it answered questions I had when people talked about plateauing. Now I understand the “why.” Thank you. Trooper
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Glad you found the link useful @Trooper
A glass half full or ½ empty point of philosophy…
Don’t talk about plateaus. Instead talk about brief pauses to consolidate before the next push for progress
And…
From the references to yard I guess you’re in the States? Where?
Caio
Simon
Still hoping for a picture of a yr boxerdor
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Simon I E
Virginia Beach, Va
I appreciate that the UK is much more appreciative of alternative medicine than the IS is. Is the term for yard “garden” there?
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Oooh nice apart from during hurricane season I guess! Your out of tornado territory aren’t you.
There are a few other Americans here. @DeAnn @axnr911 @Outlander (who we hope is ok cos we haven’t heard from him in a while) & others
Yes yard is generally garden in the UK
I didn’t get the “alternative meds” ref
Caio
Simon
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Ah Thank you here’s one more to add to the others, being on the forum has been a good distraction for me on days of feeling anxious and overwhelmed, never done anything like a forum before, a year has gone far too quickly, with lots of ups and downs, I’m not very good and getting my thoughts down like others are so don’t often say much but the like button is really helpful, when I can’t say much best wishes 
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Yes, many times
My stroke was severe. I didn’t have my first spasm until 6 months after my stroke. It was a powerful contraction of the adductor longus (a muscle in my thigh) that would hurt every other day for 1 year and 1 month. It took some stamina to get though that, but I discovered a CORE strengthening exercise (which I called “X-Frame”) that got rid of it.
That wasn’t the end of my ailments, but I got the feeling that rehab was going to be a series of ups and downs. Despite that, the trend is that I’m slowly resurfacing. It took 17 months for my nerves to kickstart a wake-up process ; the start of a transitional phase of innervation (I’ve heard people describe it as “thawing out” and I sometimes call it “coming online”). Then, along the way I acquired and overcame several injuries, all due to the rigidity or lack of flexibility typically experienced after a bad stroke.
I felt I was deteriorating many times ; the more progress I made, the more I was dissatisfied with my condition, and the more progress I would expect, or even take for granted. Finally I understood my body was doing the best it could, and I felt I could let go a bit, and just try to stay out of trouble, (cause no harm) until better days.
I’m more stable now, though anything unfamiliar upsets me. I boast I’m not touched by fatigue, but I can only do a fraction of what I could before stroke. I say I have no fatigue, usually, because I rarely exceed my expected level of performance… if I do, then I call it fatigue…all it means is I tried to do too much that day.
In time you will notice the bigger picture, hopefully
Good luck, ciao, Roland
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Hi trooper and welcome. I had my stroke in january 23. I find i go backwards when im poorly. Its so frustrating. This group have been really supportive
Anne
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Many thanks for your encouraging reply
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My stroke was at the start of April. I had a multi lobar ICH that initially affected my right side and my speech. I made a rapid recovery for the first seven weeks.
However I feel like I’ve plateaued since then and am wondering if I am going backwards, particularly with my speech. It is comforting to find other pepole experience this.
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Give it time
Time plus effort generally = progress
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