Thank you for allowing me to join. I’m 35 and recently experienced a ministroke and arterial dissection as the result of an assault. The care I’ve received has been amazing and I’m recovering well at this point but, if I’m honest, I’m overwhelmed and feeling the emotional/psychological fall out.
I thought it would be a good idea to reach out to some people who might be able to relate to what’s happened. And so I had a place I could come to for advice on coping. I have fantastic support from family and friends but none of them have experienced this, or known anyone who’s experienced it.
The last 2 months have been a blur and I know I need to wrap my head around it and what it means for me.
I hope this isn’t too stressful/emotional a post. Am looking forward to getting to know everyone and working on moving forward!
Thank you for choosing to join us and share your story/experiences. It’s good to know you have a fantastic support team comprising family and friends - this is a huge help and not everyone is fortunate enough to enjoy such support.
This forum will provide the support that your family and friends can’t necessarily provide which is the “lived experience of being a stroke survivor”. I note you are 35 years old which is relatively young for stroke survivors and I know there are members of this forum who have been through what you are likely going through.
@sole hi & welcome to the community. Great to hear you’ve had some good care after your stroke. It’s fairly common for people to feel overwhelmed & anxious after a stroke and you have come to a good place to get advice & support. Whether as a stroke survivor or carer we all have the lived experience & know a bit about how you’re feeling.
I had a stroke caused by a dissected carotid artery & for the first few months I was paranoid that if I moved my neck it wouls dissect again. I expected they would repair it but no it was left to heal itself. The only thing I would say is that over time I worried less mainly because I had been dping things and nothing untoward had happened. There was no reason why my artery dissected - it was just one of those things. As yours was caused by a specific event you would be very unlucky if it happened again.
Hi @sole and welcome to the forum. I dare say what you are experiencing is shock and emotional trauma both from the assault and subsequent ministroke. Have you talked to your doctor or your stroke team about this? Perhaps some counselling would help.
It is a bit of an emotional rollercoaster after any major trauma and you’ve had two! You could have a touch of PTSD, and it all takes time to calm down again. Any medication you are newly on will also be affecting your emotional equilibrium. Keep talking, don’t hold anything back, unload yourself basically. And find things to make you laugh daily, be it YouTube, Tiktok, your favourite comedian, Peter Kay, Lee Evans, Billy Connolly to name but a few . It lowers the stress hormones and releases those feel good endorphins
Laughter will also aid your recovery in lowering or keeping your blood pressure down, allowing the brain to relax and concentrate more on repairing the damage done by the stroke.
Thank you so much for the suggestions. I’ve been thinking about maybe contacting a therapist. I’ve experience of therapy as well so I know the benefits. I think I’m avoiding it because I’m not ready to get into the deeper elements of it yet - I’ll keep circling back round to it and maybe in a few more weeks I’ll feel ‘normal’ enough to have a go again.
I hadn’t thought about the possible impact of the meds as well. It’s been a rollercoaster dealing with those and they’ve changed A LOT due to a (horrific) allergic reaction that had me BACK in the hospital, and then a resistance to the other. I’ve been in hospital more times in the last month than I have in my life so I think all that would be contributing to it all too.
I’ve definitely gone back to some of my comfort shows but I love the idea of seeking out some comedies - really get the laughing muscles working. And I do love a good laugh.
I’ve been in hospital several times over the years, giving birth, hip replacement, broken ankle. And in all those cases I was given pain meds such as morphine, ketamin,codeine, co codamol etc, as well as the usual paracetamol. The trouble with them is that they do put you on a bit of a high. And what goes up must come down. They can take longer to get out of your system than they are to get into. Did you receive pain management like that in hospital? That can also be some of what you are experiencing now.
When you were in hospital you would also be experiencing your own adrenaline high. That too eventually crashes, trouble is, half the time, that happens when you’re back home and faced with the reality of it all.
Naturally keep an eye on your mood changes, but chances are they will settle down soon enough over the coming weeks without any intervention. But if nothing improves or it worsens over the next month I suggest you see your doctor. Did they not offer you counselling after the assault ?
I did get some pain management but on top of all this I have a chronic pain condition so I’m well used to the pain meds they give out these days. It’s all well out of my system now but I wonder if the fact I’ve been on so many different meds in such a short space of time means my body is trying to play catch up with itself?
I think as well the hospital was just scary. I’m not keen on situations I don’t know or environments and I was on my own the first time, when they admitted me. They’d no bed space so I was on a chair all night and the pain caused to my joints as well as having none of my usual comforts AND a dying phone just exacerbated the negativity I think.
Re. the assault - I didn’t report it at the time, which was week or so before I first experienced symptoms. There’s a number of reasons why that I won’t go into here but I’m getting some help to report it so maybe some support will come with that.
And if support is not offered then ask for it. And your body is trying to both catch up and keep up. And you’ve only one brain to run it all, at a reduced rate due to the stroke, so it’s limping it’s way through it all.
But you do seem to be doing well from the way you talk here. You’re thinking logically and rationally and sounding positive considering what you have been through.
Night time can be the worst time for negativity, worry, stressing, can’t sleep. A good coping strategy might be to come on here and write it all down. Chances are there will someone else on here who can’t sleep either. Alternatively you could keep a diary, journaling what happened and your daily progress since then. This is always good to look back on to see just how far you have come. I’ve kept track of my own stroke recovery by being able to look back on old posts from when I first joined
Welcome to the community, I’m sorry to hear about your mini stroke.
It’s understandable to be feeling overwhelmed and anxious. We have some information on anxiety and the emotional impact on our website that you may find helpful to have a read of.
It’s great to hear that you’re familiar with therapy and are thinking about this for the future, it can really help with the emotional impact.
I hope you’ll also find this community helpful for your recovery. If you need anything whilst you’re using the Online Community, please don’t hesitate to tag me using the @ symbol and my username.
You’re so right. I’m not always the best at asking for help so I’ll make sure to keep a check of myself. Night time is definitely the trickier time for me, and first thing in the morning. I always wake up a bit panicked.
I think a journal would be a great idea, even if I’m only noting down a couple of sentences. I can imagine it’s very grounding which is exactly what I need to stop the overthinking
I found a journal really useful in the early days. I always made sure I jotted something positive from the day in it too - however small a thing it seemed.
I am 4 1/2 years on now & only recently stopped completing a journal.
Regarding the feelings of being overwhelmed I can only say that when I had my stroke it mainly affected my vision and, having already suffered Glaucoma (but mild and controlled by eye drops) I assumed it was something to do with that. So when told that they suspected a stroke and I “went into the system” I kind of went into shock. In fact even now 2 1/2 years later I remember very little of that first day and a half in hospital!
But, down to earth, how are you know and what effects are you left with? You’ve found an amazing group of people here (of which I am the very least and seldom visit as much as I should) so You Are Not Alone!
. It lowers the stress hormones and releases those feel good endorphins 
