Hello, thankyou for adding me. I’m feeling a bit lost at the moment and would appreciated any suggestions.
Briefly I suffered a bad migraine Wednesday with aura. My blood pressure was around 210/110 which is when I decided I needed to ring for help. I was confused, rang 999 but my speech not right and I couldn’t even say what was wrong. call handler told me to get a neighbour and she took over the call.
I was admitted to hospital to get checked out, due to the speech problems, in case it was a TIA.
Discharged a few hours later. Back in on Friday for an MRI, and I was told that it wasn’t a stroke this time but the scan shows I’ve had a stroke in the past (I didn’t know).
I’m already on blood pressure meds and have been told to take aspirin daily but I don’t know what else to do. I live alone, (with my dog) and I’m terrified of it happening again.
Any suggestions would be very welcome. Thanks for reading.
Could you arrange with a neighbour or friend for them to be an emergency contact in case you feel really poorly or just to talk to if you’re feeling anxious? The anxiety will hopefully subside in time but i would definitely arrange an appointment with your GP to talk through your concerns & get them to refer you to thexstroke team.
Keep posting on here too & ask questions if you need to. There’s usually someone who has experienced similar & can offer advice.
Similar to how I found out I had been having TIAs. My CT scan showed recent infarcts in my brain but it also revealed that I had what they described as ‘‘old infarcts’’ in another area.
After some thinking I recalled 2 minor blackouts and minor dizziness 4 years earlier. I had just passed these off as maybe I was tired or had a minor infection. Had I realised at the time thet were in fact small strokes then I would have sought medical help - but I didn’t.
On reflection, I now realise that it is always important to seek immediate medical help if blackouts occur - no matter how minor they seem at the time.
Always best to get things checked out.
Hi @LilyRose and welcome to the forum and so sorry you’ve had this need to join us. I hope you find it as useful and supportive as we all do
It must have been a frightening experience for you fortunately there are measures you can take to give you peace of mind in the future. Both the Stroke Ass. and AgeUK have care lines, they will be able to help and advice on ways to keep yourself safe with the use of such things as personal alarms and setting up a safety support system with your friends/neighbour as other have said above.
Here’s some links and numbers to look into for personal alarms, helplines and such.
As for the worry of this actually happening again, it’s a matter of time before you relax to some extent into this. Unfortunately it is with us all, but so long as you stay on top of your medication, healthy diet and plenty of exercise there’s not a lot more one can do. Find things to distract your mind from the worry of it, the first 6mths are hardest as you suspect everything and anything, even the slightest twinge, and night time can be the worst time for that; distraction is key.
Thankyou Ann,
I don’t usually like asking for help but I had to on Wednesday and my neighbour was amazing. She even stayed in my flat with my dog while I went to hospital.
Shwmae @LilyRose, as I am not medically trained, I can’t offer any advice in that way but I would try and have a discussion with a neurologist or stroke consultant as to what might have caused the stroke. They put you on aspirin, so I assume they think the prior stroke was ischemic and not a haemorrhage. I wonder what led them to think this?
I guess the important thing now is managing that fear. Put into practice therapeutic routines that allow for calm and pleasure. Living in fear is counterproductive but familiar to many stroke survivors. You say you live with your dog. I was not a dog person but have been swayed by my fairy recent companion who has shown me that a canine friend can help with quietening the mind and providing support that doesn’t absorb brain energy.
Thankyou,
that’s interesting, I didn’t ask any questions, I was in shock. I will try to speak to someone.
Beautiful dog and, yes, they really are great companions.
