Has anyone like me, suffered disassociation? Not recognizing my reflection because of losing so much weightt and atrophy to my face muscles due to lack of use not eating, talking, smiling. Months later my brain tells me its me, logic taking hold but a stranger stares back at me. Does anyone else look different post-stroke?
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I donât feel I look different post-stroke, maybe more weathered and weary at times, however, I have experienced disassociation and found it quite unnerving. At the time I used Mindfullness and grounding techniques to pull myself together.
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I have lost a lot of weight too & really donât like what I see in a mirror but canât say I gave ever had dissasociation. I do though look different due to the amount of weight I have lost. I was relived when I renewed my passport this year as I was convinced Iâd get turned away at passport control as I looked nothing like my passport picâŚmaybe thatâs not a bad thing 
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Thank you @mrs5k itâs comforting to me to know someone has experienced something close to what I have, I too donât like the look of the person staring back at me, just doesnât feel like itâs me yet. I suppose it will take some time to reacquaint with myself. Iâve lost a lot of weight in the past but didnât feel like this. This feels different.
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Yes itâs weird isnât it how things after a stroke affect us differently to how they did pre stroke. I remain hopeful i may put some weight back on although it is taking its time.
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I was never âhappyâ with my pre-stroke weight, I wish Iâd known then what I know now-it really doesnât matter!
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The thing I will say here Michelle is that very strangely, anyone looking at my Mum as she is now, six years after the stroke, would likely not think she has had a stroke. I cannot say with 100% certainty how she feels when she looks in the mirror, but me looking at her, I see the pre-stroke her but having aged a little (only very slightly).
I wanted to respond to your post because I have seen a few times on this forum, members saying how they get upset when someone says âOh, you donât look like youâve had a strokeâ. I can try to imagine why this might cause upset to the stroke survivor, but at the same time I want to put forward why that might be being said. I honestly donât think if someone was to say that to my Mum they would be saying it because they are being inconsiderate due to their ignorance of how a stroke survivor feels, but rather, she really doesnât look as though she has had a stroke. She looks like she did before the stroke apart from her right fist which she keeps closed but even that might look ânormalâ.
I guess I might not know for some time yet what my Mum thinks of herself as a stroke survivor but looking at her, in the main she seems happy with her lot 
Apologies to anyone who as taken offence when someone has said to them âYou donât look as though you have had a strokeâ. I feel I might be capable of saying that to someone like my Mum, as that is what I see - I donât see her as someone who has had a stroke.
Just thought Iâd share that with you.
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Thank you for your response @ManjiB,fortunately no one has ever said to me âyou donât look like youâve had a stroke.The only thing that has ever been said to me was when a carer at the rehab hospital a carer said your daughter looks like a photocopy of you,I was frankly elated because perhaps it meant I hadnât changed that much!
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