I’m fed up,
I looked in the mirror, and I’ve lost all my upper eyelashes, lower ones went a while ago, and more than 60% of my eyebrow has gone. My eye took around 2 hours to open without pain, and my foot is far worse. A month ago I was walking 1 km and now I can barely move to the next room.
Whatever will I come up with next, to keep going?
Roland, The Martian
Nope, it’s just time to go visit your doctor again 
It just sounds like some kind of eye infection going on, like madarosis or something. Don’t over think this, just go 
And if push comes to shove the doc might refer you to Dermatology or Ophthalmology.
Nope, definitely not going to Doctor. I spent over £500 visiting 2 ophthalmologists to no avail a couple of months ago. I have 20-20 vision. I doubt they even believed half the stories I told them. I’m having my eye pressure measured again in a fortnight. Nobody has a clue what’s going on ; the person who can understand the most ( let’s say 10x more than anyone else, but still not everything nor why ) is my Chinese Doctor. I know I’m on my own with this, and I wish this were all, but it’s only one out of a list of unexplained symptoms. None of them are life threatening, but they are baffling.
If we pooled together all the weird and unexplained stories as a result of stroke, then I’d realize my stories are unique, and so are everyone else’s. But thanks for the madarosis post,
ciao, Roland
Sorry to hear that @pando. The human body is a complex machine. Hopefully just be down to stress. Acupuncture etc is fascinating and it’s great you have a good Dr. Got family history of high eye pressures and was checked out last year on referral from optician but all checked out ok. Got retinopathy pictures taken yesterday as part of diabetes checks so 3-4 weeks to see what they are saying.
Steve
Yes Steve,
Thanks for your answer. Eyes and skin are indeed very sensitive to stress, and the best thing for me is to be productive and happy about my recovery. Easier said than done, though, and I do have dips when my confidence takes a knock. I need to regroup and focus, and believe in my recovery,
much appreciated, ciao, Roland
@pando the mysteries of the human body. It’s amazing the thungs that happen when we’re unwell or stressed. It’s time you were given a break.
Keep smiling you’ll get there - even if it doesn’t feel like it right now.
Thanks Ann,
I feel like a bit of a fool for this thread ; people are up against much more serious issues. Various “experts” have assured me, without a shadow of doubt, that I will get back to the things I was doing before my stroke. I have chosen to believe them, but the endurance and stamina required to get there is considerable. And an agonizingly slow process… I just have to settle and enjoy the journey. Don’t we all,
Ciao, thank you, Roland
Not at all @pando its part of your recovery that’s unique to you. Other people might be able to relate to it.
Steve
@pando you shouldn’t feel like a fool it’s something that’s affecting you & is very valid & someone else might also relate to it.
I don’t know about you but when there are so many things going on being told something that, in isolation, might not bother you suddenly has a massive impact on how you feel. I remember leaving a physio session in floods of tears - not because i’d been given bad news particularly but just because they’d put a name to what was affecting me. Nothing had changed other than it’d been given a name.
You have to believe you will come out tue other side of this & uf anyone can you can. I don’t think i’ve come across many who work harder.
What was it ? I think I know what you mean. I remember being told that my oscillating foot had something called clonus. I didn’t like that moment either !
ciao, Roland
It’s baffling indeed, last night I felt horrible. All sorts of unusual sensations, was it painful, no? But it was disconcerting, I had to check myself, and flow with the feelings. But some time ago, I was riding a bus, and feeling a bit cold as I had waited an hour for it at what they call bus shelters but are really just some sort of avant-garde public fixture for people to uncomfortably lean against. On the bus, I was warming up my hands by blowing on them and rubbing them together. All of a sudden, my index finger started turning white. The blood at the tip of the finger started to drain down. My finger was becoming numb. I panicked a little, thinking perhaps my whole body was gradually going to lose sensation and I was going to die, and I had stupidly bought a day ticket. So, my whole index finger was now white and completely numb. I bashed at it and flung it about, kneading it and wriggling it about. Should I alert the drive and ask him to call for an ambulance? Thankfully, after about five minutes, the blood returned. Afterwards, I did a bit of research and had experienced Raynaud’s phenomenon for the first time in my life, but it all came down to stroke with me. I thought it was linked to stroke, of course, every ailment I get now is tied to that fateful day. There’s no moral to my story, just that acquired conditions after stroke are a big, old psychological mess for a rewiring brain to have to rationalise and deal with.
Yes, Hello, Rupert,
The rewiring the brain has to do must be a nightmare! It’s as if I had to rewire my hifi… well, I’d be lost (since I use a non-standard config, in that I bi-wire my speakers with 2 amps… it’s called Vertical Bi-Amplification). But imagine I had to, I’d be thinking where does this wire go from and go to ? Meantime, a finger, or possibly a whole leg would be out-of-action. I’ve come across one person, years ago who’s fingers swelled up, and it turned out to be Raynaud’s.
I realize we all go through anomalies during recovery, including the well-documented phenomena of old injuries starting to hurt, and the body trying to repair them. Well, I could write a little list of these anomalies, and maybe I will, but I think stroke survivors go through them. Sometimes people who have had no stroke go through them… my very fit cleaning lady of 21 just told me she gets tingling in her glutes when she runs. Peripheral neuropathy? We all go through that.
The complexity of the human body knows no end. What I need to do is not interfere, and not panic. Of course I do both, but try not to. Thanks for your Raynaud’s story.
Ciao, Roland
I checked carefully, it turns out I haven’t lost all my upper eyelashes. But they are certainly thinning out, and I’ve lost the lower ones and 60% of my eyebrow. So… not dead yet. (although my foot almost is)
Hi Roland, the name of my condition is Functional Neurological Disorder. I had never heard of it at that point. I think I was just upset that my stroke had caused something else as if having a stroke wasn’t enough.
@Pando… Well, now, if you are being foolish, I must be a donkey by another name. Actually, I grew thin white hair in my reddish long, straight hair, then the white fell out. Then the reddish Mostly fell out, to be replaced with very curly dark brown hair. About four months ago, my eyelashes and much of my eyebrows fell out. The lashes are now coming back but still very short. And finally, at least I hope, the curly dark hair is falling out but the reddish straight is growing again.
My understanding was this was because of all the stresses of being so ill. I am just very surprised at the cycle and that some of it has been happening at this late date.
Hi DeAnn,
thank you so much for this story. I feel comforted somewhat, and wonder if this phenomena is perhaps much more common than we realize. I think that some people will not even notice these metamorphotic changes, report them incorrectly, or attribute them to the ageing process. I have heard about eyelashes recycling but your story brings it to life… I agree about putting it down to stress.
I feel comforted in that I am not the only one, and I feel less of a freak, now. The journey post stroke seems so unsettled, and I’m sure it can’t be just me who has it rough. Last night, bedtime, I struggled so much with my lower leg (which only strikes on alternate days) and concluded it must be neurological… or something like Functional Neurological Disorder, as recently described by Mrs5k. Anyway, today is a good day, even before it started,
thanks for so much for sharing, ciao, Roland
Aye, take those good days by the horns, we deserve it.
Hi @pando
You are not alone.
All sorts of things happen that we don’t necessarily understand. Medications more often than not have side effects and then if you taking multiple medications these can cause further issues.
I care for someone who has lost eye brows, eye lashes and a lot of hair has fallen out. As far as I can see none of these have started to grow back.
The GP didn’t offer anything other than eye drops to moisturise - winter heating dry eyes etc.
The loss of hair was almost certainly down to a stressful period which thankfully has now past. The eye brows and eye lashes may also have been down to the same thing.
Many other things happen from time to time, but the person I care for soldiers on. She is quite a remarkable person and an inspiration.
Wish you all the best.