sicknfedup Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 (edited) Hi my name is Dave. I am needing any help feedback, as to whether anyone else seems to have or have had recurring stroke like symptoms, 3years after a small stroke. 8years ago, at 39 yrs old I was a senior manager at a large uk ftse company, I then had a massive nervous breakdown. This was due to 20years of 15hour day 6days a weeks workaholic lifestyle, in business management and also running my own parttime business as well as working for private and public companies. I was and still suffering with hypertension, high cholesterol, and abnormal heart electrical QT wave signal diagnosed when I was 24years old, due to constantly having heart pain, I underwent stress tests which I couldnt complete and after having an angiogram,it was found that under stress, my heart arteries and blood vessels constrict severely causing me pain. All this eventually with my high work ethic, caused me to have a breakdown 8years ago, I then was unable to work and fell into severe depression. 3years ago whilst having a nice stroll near the beach at cleethorpes,with my wife i experienced loss of feeeling in my left leg for approx 10minutes and then the same thing in the left arm. My wife and I laughed it off, wondering what was going off, I also felt unwell and dizzy so we decided to drive back home to Doncaster. My left side felt weak, so after having a couple of drinks he went to bed early. The next morning I was unable to get up properly, so my wife came upstairs and noticed i had the drooped mouth and eye on the left side of my face. I was unsteady and weak on my left leg and left arm, and I had a severe pain behind my left eye socket and was very slurring and unsteady due to dizziness. Luckily my 24year old daughter who had popped in stated that this looked like a stroke, and the paramedics were called and came out and confirmed hospital treatement. I was treated for a stroke and subsequent scans and consultant reports within the next 48hrs states scans have shown white changes on the left hand side of my brain, which should have affected the right hand side, and I had no changes on the right hemisphere to cause the left side issues. A conundrum as one specialist called it. I am on treatment, for the above confirmed illnesses, but ive been told that the stroke type symptoms are due to stress and called functional symptoms and I have been recommended for psychotherapy,but will not be allowed down this road until my depression stabilises. My grown up children, aged 30, 24 and 21 and myself and wife are getting exccedingly worried, as I am having more of these episodes especially over the last 8-10months. These episodes are now as frequent as three times a day and sometimes 7days a week, where I suffer episodes of stroke type symptoms, during my sleep, and twice during the day. These attacks which can be from light to severe attacks are as follows, a light attack feels like an electrical current going through my head to a bad one sometimes precedes with a tingle initially in lefthand side of my face, which then ends with me displaying the symptoms as already described on numerous occasions and literally ends with me sleeping,and my leg and arm feeling like a lead weight, these have been seen by many medical professionals within Royal Hallamshire Sheffield Hospital, Doncaster Hospital, the nurses at the local GP and local CMHT. Once i have recovered ie woken up after a sleep from 2 to 4hrs, i feel sometimes like I am drunk and hungover for a day or two, and i am unable to walk once these attacks happen and i am very weak on my left side leg and arm continuously. A heavy attack has the following symptoms,severe pain behind my left eye socket, dizziness, pain in my head, a drooped mouth and left eye and left handside face, weakness in left arm and left leg, unable to walk, slurred speech, tingling in the lefthand side of face, blurry vision. These attacks whether light, medium or heavy, always ends up with myself being completely fatigued and then my brain forces me to sleep, from 2 to 4 hrs or so. These attacks happen during my sleep, as my wife is unable to wake me up in the morning and when i do finally wake up, i have the telltale left sided face droop etc, they can happen anytime of the day, whilst im sat watching tv etc. sometimes 2 to 3 times a day for upto 7days. My memory is terrible, i am unable to concentrate for long periods,i also lose my balance a lot, painkillers do nothing for the pain in head and eye socket its a nitemare. Ive been tested for bells palsy, ms, but no joy..does anyone have these effects or symptoms after 3 yrs after a stroke? Im under a neurologists at Sheffield Royal, but theyve put it down to functional symptoms due to stress,..we need help or any info from stroke survivors, has anyone suffered or experienced anything like this...ps excuse the length of this. I have also been experiencing in addition to the other symptoms, pain in my bones on my left side and back, especially when i retires to bed at night, to the point where we have had to obtain a loan to purchase, a £3000 hospital type adjustable bed, which has not really alleviated the pain. I have never ever regained the strength in my left leg or arm, this was only a small stroke, due to furred up carotid artery the consultants have informed me. I am constantly in turmoil over this, feeling very depressed and very suicidal on a daily basis, I just need some answers or other experiences and how they have coped or resolved. This is affecting my whole family too, in a depressive way. So 3years ago I had a mild stroke, and since that day, ive been having TIA type attacks near daily. WHY? I need answers and help PLEASE. Just to confirm, my stroke was not a bleed, it was a mild stroke, possibly caused by a clot from the diagnosed furred up carotid artery in my neck. My mri scans show white matter changes in the brain left hemisphere and i have been diagnosed as having cerebral vascular disease,hypertension, angina, diabetes type2, reflux, glaucoma, asthma, depression. I am on medication for my issues as follows,clopidogrel 75mg, amlodopine 10mg, montelukast 10mg, atorvastatin 40mg, irbesartan 300mg,bendroflumethaizide 2.5mg,pregabalin 600mg, metformin 500mg, isosorbide mononitrate 60mg, lansoprazole 30mg. salbutamol and seretide inhalers. Glyceryl nitrate GTN spray for angina. Cocodamol and paracetamol for pain. The odd times,when im not suffering with these attacks, my left hand side arm and leg are weak, but not as weak as when i have the attack. However after an attack, my limbs are weak for a day after. In addition i still get the pain in the head or pain just behind my left eye socket, during an attack and also when im not suffering an attack that day.I take painkillers but unfortunately the doctors are unable to give me anything else for the pain, due to my medication, which could cause internal bleeding. I do get dizzy spells when i have attack and also when im not having an attack. However im only slurring,or mumbling during an attack, my speach is clear when im not suffering attacks however my wife and children have stated that sometimes i say the wrong words or speak sometimes putting the wrong words that im trying to say, in the wrong part of a sentence, which they find amusing, and i find frustrating and angry with myself for doing that, but i dont have slurred speech outside an attack. My memory short term is terrible and i struggle to concentrate ie i use to enjoy watching football,but now struggle to watch a full football match. My vision has deteriorated since the stroke, and my left eyesight is terrible, i have just been diagnosed with glaucoma and diabetes, and they are looking into my eyesight issues with no joy. I am under a psychiatrist for depression, but nothing seems to be working for me, im on medication, ive been tried on different medication over the 8years and im currently on 40mg of fluoxetine a day. My depression seems deeper since the stroke and i am struggling daily. I feel like im a pain to the medical profession, and as a previous management and business troubleshooter and consultant who has worked in performance and productive environments and with working knowledge of performance measures within the national health service, i feel im a problem to performance and productivity figures as i am still on the consultants caseload. However these are just my feelings. I believe the medics feel that the current issues are all in my head and they have called it functional symptoms caused by stress. My wife and children and finally myself, is starting to think theyre wrong on this, as my attacks are increasing and they seem to take something out of me each time the attacks happen. The only person i could excuse from this statement is my local GP, who is understanding and very GOOD I need help and answers and im praying loads, please help someone, i feel very suicidal..Doing this is very hard mentally as i am constantly drained,it has taken me 3 weeks on and off to try and compile this email with the help of my wife. Thanks Kind Regards Dave and Nicola -------------------------------------------------- Admin note: Would members please reply on the following thread - http://www.behindthegray.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?7836-Help-Has-any1-got-stroketype-symptoms-3yrs-after-initial-stroke Edited June 24, 2012 by Karen 3 identical threads on 3 forums - please post a reply on http://www.behindthegray.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?7836-Help-Has-any1-got-stroketype-symptoms-3yrs-after-initial-stroke Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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