Last updated February 2025
Every stroke is different. In many ways I was more fortunate than many.
Some may be interested, so I created a page:
I am giddy almost all of the time.
I am now more clumsy.
It seems that my auto-correct function is not working as it should: spellings that would, in the past, have screamed out at me, no longer do.
I get very exhausted after quite brief physical or mental exertion - normally this is after about 5-10 minutes.
My voice is poor.
I am able to drive, but do not enjoy it. I estimate it is now about 10 times harder than before my stroke. All the time I am aware of potential dangers. I also drive slower as 50mph seems like 70mph. It is as if my brain takes longer to process things. I no longer drive far. Also, I seem to have lost my instinct for driving: it is if I am driving for the first time again.
Being driven is hard too. It feels stressful. I do not like being driven.
Subtitles seem to change too fast and I find it hard to keep up. It is as if my brain runs slower. For this reason I try to avoid foreign films. Some I enjoy, but they are hard work.
Black coffee and tea are easier than drinks with milk. Real coffee is easier than instant coffee.
Eating is not an issue.
My writing is poor now and I feel tired much of the time.
I think I get more anxious.
My sense of smell and taste are "different". Once I had sugar in tea and coffee, but not these days. Some things I cannot taste or smell properly.
Outwardly, I look "well". I have a healthy tan. Others do not realise that life is a real struggle most of the time. Many mistake total exhaustion for laziness.
My feelings are best described as "giddy, exhausted, clumsy, fog". On a holiday a few years ago someone else who had had a stroke said to me, "others just don't understand". Quite right.
My brain feels overloaded.
I am unlikely to see further improvements, so my efforts now are on coming to terms with my condition. My after-effects of that stroke 11.5 years ago seem worse now than a few years ago. Perhaps this is also old age.
Onwards and upwards!