Stroke

[svetoslav80]

Since my onset 12 years ago, it's the first time that a doctor proposed to make a CT of my head, which I did , and guess what the results are: I have had a stroke at some point in the past without realizing it, but it cannot be determined at which point exactly I've had it. It's fair to say I've abused with methamphetamines in the past. I've taken no more than 20 times, but they raise the blood pressure a lot so this is one possible explanation for the stroke.

So the doc told me there's a chance this could be the reason for my fatigue. Or it may be not, it can't be determined for sure.

So, I didn't realize I had a stroke and haven't had any treatment. It's both good and bad that it recovered by itself. It would have been better if I have had a treatment though, but ... whatever happened happened. If this is the reason for my chronic fatigue I would be glad because I don't have diagnosis for more than 10 years.

 

[Hutan]

I'm glad you now have a doctor who is caring enough to look, and that you have part of an answer that you didn't have before. Will the finding help you access more help and a good monitoring plan going forward?

 

[svetoslav80]

Will the finding help you access more help and a good monitoring plan going forward?

Yeah, I forgot to mention that the doctor who appointed me to make a CT was a psychiatrist. She was the only doc who agreed with me that my fatigue is probably some undiagnosed physical disorder rather than psychological. Which, as you know is very unlikely with most psychiatrists. The other ones I've visited were convincing me my issue was psychiatric.

So, this one doc is going to appoint me to neurologist who will determine if I need to take any medications for the stroke or not.

 

[TigerLilea]

@svetoslav80 I'm glad that you finally found a doctor who took you seriously. Hopefully the neurologist will be able to help you with the fatigue.

 

[Mij]

Best wishes @svetoslav80

 

[NelliePledge]

Maybe they could also refer you to a physio who specialises in working with neurology patients to see if there’s any help they can give you

 

[sea]

It will be good to follow up on. My understanding is that treatment for stroke is only necessary at the acute stage to limit damage. I’m not sure that a stroke which was mild enough to not be diagnosed at the time it happened would have benefited from any treatment. Any underlying issues that can cause a stroke, such as high blood pressure, would be very beneficial to treat. I think that would be more to prevent future stroke rather than treatment for the one you’ve had though. Rehab for any lost function is important too. Both of my parents suffered strokes. My father had several mild ones that each left a little more cognitive decline. My mother had a major one following heart surgery that severely limited her mobility.

 

[MSEsperanza]

I'm glad you found that psychiatrist.

I agree with others' suggestions that ten years after having had a stroke there probably aren't substantially effective treatment options now.

To me it seems the new diagnosis might rather be valuable in acknowledging a potential or additional reason for your symptoms which could lead your doctors to take your illness more seriously and to offer support that allows you better coping.

So when you see the neurologist, I think it could be helpful to describe the dynamics and pattern of your symptoms as precisely as possible: Rather general fatigue or specific fatiguability; when do which cognitive and physical symptoms occur/ deteriorate/ improve, for how long -- things like that.

Best wishes for following up on these new findings.

 

[Arnie Pye]

There is a condition called Post-Stroke Fatigue (PSF) or Post-Stroke Fatigue Syndrome. If you google it you'll find loads of info on the subject :

PSF is associated with neurological deficits, pre-stroke fatigue, high blood pressure, heart failure, medication, eating or sleeping problems, damage to certain areas of the brain, or pain. Also, depression can cause chronic fatigue. Because the causes of fatigue vary, there is no single treatment.

While vitamins or antioxidants may help to alleviate some fatigue symptoms, they have limited effects. One drug, modafinil, has been shown to relieve PSF in patients whose stroke was located in the brainstem. This drug was originally given to patients suffering from hypersomnia (excessive sleeping or sleepiness) or narcolepsy (inability to regulate sleep-wake cycles) but has also shown some success in improving fatigue in stroke patients.

Source : https://www.strokemark.com/post-stroke-fatigue-treatable/

It is possible you have both PSF and ME/CFS. So you'd have to be cautious about which suggestions for treatment you tried in case something made one of the conditions worse.

 

[Louie41]

Sorry to hear of these findings, Svet, and yet glad that you found an explanation that might open up some new vistas for you.

 

[svetoslav80]

@Arnie Pye modafinil is exactly what I was prescribed. Unfortunately though, it doesn't seem to help so far.

 

[Arnie Pye]

modafinil is exactly what I was prescribed. Unfortunately though, it doesn't seem to help so far.

Sorry to hear that.

 

[Subtropical Island]

It will be good to follow up on. My understanding is that treatment for stroke is only necessary at the acute stage to limit damage. I’m not sure that a stroke which was mild enough to not be diagnosed at the time it happened would have benefited from any treatment. Any underlying issues that can cause a stroke, such as high blood pressure, would be very beneficial to treat. I think that would be more to prevent future stroke rather than treatment for the one you’ve had though. Rehab for any lost function is important too. Both of my parents suffered strokes. My father had several mild ones that each left a little more cognitive decline. My mother had a major one following heart surgery that severely limited her mobility.

Do you happen to recommend any stroke rehab resources/sources? Things that helped?

(ETA: bolded the relevant bit in your comment)

 

[sea]

Do you happen to recommend any stroke rehab resources/sources? Things that helped?

(ETA: bolded the relevant bit in your comment)

My mother spent 2 months inpatient in a rehab hospital where she had daily physio, exercises and learning to walk again with a wheely walker. She also had to relearn how to feed and dress herself. Some hand exercises were done with a mirror which tricks the brain into thinking it is the other hand you’re using and helps to build new pathways of being able to use something you could not. Rehab is personalised depending on what areas of function have been lost. For my mother it was mostly the loss of the use of her left side. Her left leg and left arm were the most affected. Her speech and swallowing were not affected.

It is best to start rehab as soon as possible after a stroke, but in my mother’s case because the stroke followed a cardiac surgery (which cut through the sternum) she had to recover from that first which was 6 weeks in hospital. The rehab centre were amazed at how much function she regained given the severity of her limitations and the length of time before rehab could start. My mother was very determined.

 

[svetoslav80]

I should have updated this thread a long ago but here it is: one of the nurses who first saw the results of the scan misled me that I have certainly had a stroke in the past. This might or might not be true. As far as I understand, the finding could either be ischemic stroke or Virchow–Robin space / cyst. I'm not familiar if the last is normal or not. From what I read in wikipedia these type of cysts may cause problems if they become too large.