Hi all and thank you for allowing me on this platform. My dear mum had a double stroke in 2016. The first stroke affective her balance and she had left sided weakness… she was making good progress when six months later a second stroke in her vestibular artery really floored her. She is such a fighter - my hero - and remains very active at 82. Her ongoing and most severe symptom is constantly feeling dizzy and nauseous. She says it’s like having a bad hangover without the fun before! I wondered if anyone had found anything helpful in counteracting these horrible symptoms? She goes to stroke exercise classes which she loves, but recently the dizziness seems to have got worse and it gets her down when she can’t be out and about doing things. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thank you 
This was my main symptom. I am 33, for the record.
It’s taken 4.5 months of constant work, neuro physio, to rid a lot/most of it. There was no magic trick for me and unfortunately I can relate to the awful symptoms.
Good luck
Did you get referred to a specific physio clinic? My mum had her stroke 9 years ago and just goes to a stroke exercise class. I don’t know if I can ask for her to be referred to something specific to help her symptoms, and if after this amount of time it could even be reversed. I’m so glad you’ve seen an improvement in your symptoms.
I just went private to someone who deals with stroke/brain injury. Worth the £ for me.
You could try looking up vestibular rehab on YouTube, that’s a good starting point
Welcome to the community KerriM and thank you for joining us and allowing us to help and support you 
I expect you will get some useful steers from other members of this forum. It’s a great place to find some comfort, support and advice.
Care and support from the NHS and post-stroke healthcare varies significantly depending on where you live, how old you are, the type of stroke you’ve had etc. Hopefully, someone with similar experiences to your Mum will see your post and chip in with their advice.
Wrt referalls, there is no harm in asking your GP. Again, based on our experiences, GP responses can vary and many GPs are quite “ignorant” when it comes to helping stroke patients.
It is not clear from your post how long your Mum has experienced this dizziness. Her first (double) stroke was way back in 2016. Your Mum is a fighter and going strong at 82 
and I wonder if she has tolerated this for a long time and it is now becoming less tolerable or if it something new that is happening.
I should note that dizziness might simply be an age related symptom and not related to the stroke - your Mum is a fighter, and active, but at 83 she would fall into the aged category and so the dizziness may be part of getting old.
Either way, you have identified that it is a problem and time to address it. Try with the GP and see how you get on and follow up with any advice you get from this or similar forums.
Wishing you and your Mum all the very best.
There you go
Namaste|
Hi @KerriM
Welcome to the community, I’m sorry to hear about your mum’s strokes.
We’ve had a few conversations on here recently about dizziness and balance, you can use the 
in the top right hand corner to put a search in for either ‘balance’ or ‘dizziness’ and this will bring up lots of conversations for you to look through.
We also have a webpage with some information on about dizziness which may have some helpful information for your mum. You can find the webpage here.
If you need anything whilst you’re using the Online Community please don’t hesitate to tag me using the @ symbol and my username.
Anna
Thank you for your reply. Pretty much since my mum’s stroke if I ask how she is she says ‘dizzy’ 
some days are worse than others. She is so determined and is back to cycling (with quite a few falls 
) and even climbing! I think it has been hard for my mum to accept some things she may never do like she did before and, as you say, that may well be age related as well. She really misses the exhilaration she got with rock climbing and anything that could give her an adrenaline rush. She goes to a stroke bike class every week which she loves, and her favourite bit is going on the back of the tandem with her instructor as she can go fast then 
Kerri,
I recommend mapping the body with her awareness ; her knowledge of the position in space of her limbs. Are her motor & sensory cortex intact? Then I would suggest Somatics. She needs to reinforce her vestibular system ; I challenge the proprioceptors in my ankles to wake up by walking with my feel closer together, even though that means I’m falling over (or about to) all the time. Her Inner-Ear is where the vestibular system come together (it uses many parts of the brain). You could look up the words in bold font ; that would be a start. If she’s cycling, then she’s doing better than me ; I’m 60 years old
Good luck, Roland
Hi Roland,
Yes she is cycling, but I worry that she spends as much time on the floor as she does on the bike sometimes, but I have huge admiration for her tenacity 
. At least she wears a bike helmet now. Thank you all for your advice, I will pass it on her to her. I think she would really benefit from being a member of this community, so I will see if I can set up an account for her. She’d particularly like the games bit!
Totally agree - your Mum would be a welcome addition to this here community
What she has done and what she continues to do at the age of 28 is truly amazing and we can all learn from her
Please enrol her asap.
Looking forward to meeting her.
@KerriM hi & welcome to the community. Sorry to hearvof your mum’s ongoing dizziness & nausea. I had a different type of stroke but dizziness & nausea have plagued me since (3 yrs now). It isn’t as bad now as it was but it is still there.
Have you asked for an ENT referral? I saw ENT & they ruled out otger causes e.g. ear related. Your mum might benefit from some vestibular exercises depending on the cause of the dizziness.
Start with the GP & take it from there.
Best wishes
Ann
Hello . I’m a newbie,had a stroke Nov 30th and got off very lightly but haven’t been fit for years due to other issues, am 2 years younger than your Mum.
I too am getting nausea as a recurring feature of my recovery, but it could be due to something entirely different and I guess good to rule out other ideas mentioned for your Mum (my anxiety, old gastritis rearing its head, post nasal drip, or the brain readjusting, could be culprits for me)
I’m chipping in because I know how horrid nausea is, even when you can eat in spite of it, it’s very wearing for her I would think.
She sounds a super star,I wish her well
I can certainly identify with the inebriated experience. I have used exactly the same words to try and describe how I am feeling - slightly and unpleasantly drunk without the fun! (3 years after brain stem stroke). A neurologist at the hospital expressed some surprise at this - she thought that with all the physio etc I was doing that I would be feeling better. My doctor weighed in with, perhaps this as good as it gets - much to the annoyance of my counsellor! I myself am determined to improve ny balance and will continue to work with my mind and body in the patient belief that neuroplasticity will find a way through. There are a number of sites that offer exercises, it’s worth having a good trawl about. We have also engaged a freelance physio who periodically gives me a psychological boost.
I must say David @Indra that this type of comment from a doctor or health professional is very annoying and in my view unnecessary, I believe they say it to “set realistic expectations”, but the truth is nobody actually knows what can be expected and what the outcome will be. We see time and again people making recovery and progress at their own pace and perhaps they are helped with a gentle nudge in the right direction even faster 
And in this case, I can only guess the doctor was “naturally” responding to the comment made by the neurologist
And in some ways I can understand that too, since someone else in your situation might be seeking reassurance that OK, this is indeed as good as it gets i.e. after three years.
So I can see both points of views and perhaps both are valid and as individuals we choose the path we wish to follow.
I wish you success in achieving your goals.
Namaste|