When I’m rolled around in bed being dressed or placed onto the sling to be hoisted into my chair I often get dizzy spells and even start wretching. Does anyone else have dizzy spells post-stroke?
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Hello Michelle - I think you said you are on PEG feed and I am not sure if then makes this an observation worth considering.
Because Mum is on a PEG feed we were told as part of her care instructions on discharge to make sure she was always in a sitting/upright position (minimum 30 degree angle in bed) during feed and for at least half an hour post feed. This was to minimise/eliminate the risk of aspiration. Mum was bed bound in the early days and so this was something we were ultra careful about and made some of the feed sessions tricky.
For this reason, when we were preparing her for transfer we only ever gently rolled her if this was happening after a meal (but not before the 30 minute rest period).
We never saw her experience dizzy spells nor did she ever wretch. Is it possible some of your stomach contents are refluxing?
Just a stab in the dark based on our experiences about the challenges with PEG feeding.
Other times i.e. if food digestion period has been observed, we do roll Mum a little more “energetically” just to give her different sensations and she does enjoy the slide sheet “whish” to adjust her bed position.
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Thank you so much @ManjiB.Yes I am on a PEg too and like your mum try to sit in my wheelchair for much of the day or elevated in bed exactly as you have described.Thanks again for your response.
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With Mum having aphasia it makes it challenging to help her.
There aren’t that many people here on this forum who are in the same situation as Mum and especially with the PEG and the challenge it poses when you are totally nil-by-mouth apart from water (which she always refused until just recently).
So it’s really nice to be able to compare notes with a fellow PEG fed stroke survivor 
Strangely we seem to have a few other things in common too.
East Africa - My father spent time in Kenya, Uganda and Tanganika - he was fluent in Swahili.
I have cousins who live in Mombasa, Nairobi and El Doret.
Small world we lives in
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Doesn’t surprise me that you have family in Kenya.The British Empire made the world a whole lot smaller!can your Mum write my daughter’s put a marker pen into my right hand my dominant hand and non-stroke side and I began to write albeit unintelligibly This ‘repaired’ my aphasia as does typing on this iPad which I Use as an AAC communication device using an app called speech assistant which ‘speaks what I type.Changed my life although it has made me lazy with learning to speak.
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I have had many dizzy spells after my stroke. For the first 2 years I was pretty much dizzy every day. I still get dizzy and nauseous now.
Are they monitoring your blood pressure? It may be that the rolling around / being hoisted is affecting your BP which cpuld make you dizzy. Does it only happen when you are moved? If so, they may need to be a bit more gentle with you.
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Thank you so much for your response @mrs5k. Yes pretty much whenever I’m moved I also have funny spells that feel like a wave has come over me.no my blood pressure is rarely checked here at the care home in the rehab hospital I wore a finger probe continuously to monitor my blood pressure blood saturation and heart rate.The funny spells I Talk of may be as a result of the menopause which I’m battling as well as post-stroke recovery.
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When I was in hospital, they would take my blood pressure sitting down and then again when standing up. Quite often it would drop significantly so that they said it would be to dangerous to do any exercises. So back to bed I went.
I still get a wave of lightheadedness when standing up from low positions, but I just know what it is now and ride it out.
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I would ask them to check your BP or get a monitor and check it yourself.
It could be the menopause- or at least that could be contributing towards it. Menopause can cause all sorts of weird & wonderful symptoms.
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Thank you @wolfie.Yes I
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Thank you @mrs5,I will heed your advice.
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It’s funny you should ask that.
We have seen some significant “firsts” in the last few months and though she has not done it herself, like your daughter, my sister got a pen and helped Mum hold it in her left hand (non-paralysed) but she is a natural leftie though as with many of her generation she wrote with the right hand. Anyway, for about a month, Mother and Daughter used to sign a “Guest register” which was a pre-requisite for Mum to get to watch TV at tea time.
I also bought an electronic pad on the advice of one of our contributors, I think it was Lorraine @EmeraldEyes and tried to get her to use that, but she did not seem very interested. She did however sign into the register for a few weeks before she said, “Sod this for a game of soldiers” and refused to play. She’s like that, our Mum. Once she’s had enough she’ll move on as she if to say I don’t need to prove this or do this any more, let’s move on
There’s a way to go before she speaks properly, but no doubt she is chipping away at whatever needs to needs to be done to achieve that.
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I was dizzy for about the first 8 months post stroke. Whether it was coincidence or not, by that time I was put on folic acid because blood tests showed I was very low. Anyway the dizzyness stopped, but I still had balance issues to overcome.
It would be worth getting your vitamin and mineral levels checked out as dizziness is a symptom for being low in any one of several nutrients. And we do burn up a lot of nutrients in healing and recovery from any major illness or surgery.
Lorraine
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Ah, but have you tried her more recently with that? Her brain may not have recovered sufficiently enough the first time to be bothered with that. But she might be interested now, considering how well she received this round of physio. Its worth trying periodically.
Right, got another hot date at the tip, better go, mustn’t keep him waiting 
Lorraine
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OOOh, you and your hot dates at the tip!
Yes, we do repeat things periodically and as you say we get results as she makes progress on her journey. You can almost see the cogs whirring away if you sit and watch her when she is awake. It’s quite fascinating.
So my sister is trying to get her to write and brush her teeth.
It feels wonderful to see these “new” behaviours in Mum.
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That is excellent advice thank you so much @EmeraldEyes
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Electric toothbrush makes my life hevan.
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Hi, I get dizzy spells everyday currently, but manage this with vestibular exercises which work really well for me. My stroke was on my left cellebrum, which is for balance and co-ordination so apprentley is completley normal. Hope you are recovering well. Andy
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Thank you Andy @Nuttall986 i had a left side aneurysm but not in my cerebellum.
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