Hi! Anxious about posting, but anxious about everything anyway! I am having a pfo closure in a couple of weeks and wondered what the recovery is like?
I had a stroke over a year ago, dismissed as a migriane so went straight back to work but struggled with fatigue, anxiety, breathlessness, daily headaches, nausea, and some word finding difficulties, pushed for mri scan which shown stroke. Ive been plowing on but now hit a wall, have my pfo date and now decided to take time off before the oparation. Now have more time to get anxious and overthink pfo recovery. Any advice please 
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Hi @Miss
Welcome to the community. I’m sorry to hear about your stroke and that this was dismissed as a migraine.
There are a few posts on here about PFO’s. If you use the magnifying glass in the top right corner and put in PFO this will bring up other peoples experiences.
I also know that the charity Different Strokes has a section on their webpage about PFOs and of people’s experiences of this which may be of help to you.
Anxiety before a hospital procedure is something that a lot of people have, it’s understandable. Maybe try reaching out to the hospital doing the procedure to get any questions you have answered and that might help your anxiety a little. I’m sure there will be some more people along shortly to offer their advice too.
In the meantime, if you need anything whilst using the Online Community please don’t hesitate to tag me using my username and the @ symbol.
Anna
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@Miss Hi & welcome to the community. Sorry to hear of your stroke. PFO closure is quite common after a stroke. I haven’t got a PFO so have no direct experience but i am aware of many who have had the op. The majority report being really anxious pre op but pretty much say afterwards that they Don’t know what they worried about.
Anna has mentioned Different Strokes. I’d advise having anlook at their Facebook site as there are many on there who have been through a PFO closure.
I think you’ve made the right decision to take some time off work before your op. You didnwell to continue working after your stroke. Try and occupy yourself with things you enjoy doing to stop you over thinking about the op. You could speak to the hospital / dr about your concerns and get them to answer any questions you have.
Best wishes
Ann
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Fair play to keep working post stroke!! I had what I’d call a small stroke/minor compared to most you’ll speak to and it floored me for 2+ months. And that was good.
PFO… I haven’t any experience yet as I’m still being checked but have heard in person, the procedure is simple. I have went under general before so in that regard all minor procedures are the same 
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Thanks have requested to join their fb page!
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Hi @Miss
Welcome 
Sorry you have had cause to join us 
You shouldn’t feel anxious about posting. The actual community members are very relaxed about where people post and what you express. We’re empathetic to challenges of all things post stroke
Anxiety about everything else is to be expected, is very common and may get better with time or with either mindfulness techniques or medications such as SSRIs.
100% of us have a PFO at birth and about 25% of the population have an undiagnosed ongoing PFO through life. When discovered it’s quite often treated with blood thinning medication rather than an operation to close it.
When closed via operation It’s done under a general anaesthetic where a catheter is inserted via the groin & often as an outpatient procedure. Post stroke intolerance of excitement probably mean it’s a tough day but it shouldn’t be from other perspectives.
You’re advised it is ok to resume normal activities after a week and you may have an echo bubble test at 30 or 90 days to confirm success. Also expect your blood thinners or antiplatelet medication to extend for 6 months beyond the date closure
For most people it’s a there and then fix For some they need to go back for further investigations & potentially a repeat procedure.
Fatigue is common and make go on for a long time if it’s a challenge then you could keep a journal activity noise sound food hydration medication and fatigue onset nature relief etc and then try and correlate over a few days items or combination that are the triggers or the reliefs.
Breathlessness might need to be separately investigated. Same with headaches and nausea. Various supplements such as iron and B12 and other things have repeatedly been suggested on here as being avenues of investigation - that would need blood tests
Caio
Simon
SIG
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Tbf I think I ended up going home early the next day and took a couple days off before returning , think this has been a huge sacrifice on my own wellbeing and anxiety etc.
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