Gay Alford's Attack
I have a cartaroid artery dissection resulting in a stroke leaving numbness, tingling and pain on the
RHS of my body. I am on Warfarin pending my next scan & pills for blood pressure, cholesterol,anxiety,
depression & Gabapentin (Neurontin) for pain.
How I feel now
Some days feel terrible-others not so bad. Luckily I am fully mobile. Can they operate on these artery
problems? I do not know yet.
I had my stroke in mid-October of last year and like so many people,was mis-diagnosed as suffering from:
a) sea sickness
b) trouble with an abscess on my tooth!
Finally, a visiting Doctor realised I had a serious problem and had me admitted to the Neurology Section
of a hospital in Nottingham (England). My right side became totally numb from my neck down.
When I was discharged, having had all the tests available including an MRI/MRA scan, I was put onto
Warfarin tablets and various anti-depressants and medication to bring down cholesterol, etc.
Vertebral Artery Dissection
They found my stroke had been caused by a dissection of an artery in my neck - this is apparently rather
unusual - I go for a re-scan later this month. I had not expected to start experiencing further side
effects after all of this and just thought that, as time went by, I would start to get better - then the
pain started!
The Pain Started
I am so fortunate in that I have full mobility in my limbs, however, the pain does begin to affect me
badly when I walk any distance and over-exert myself. Most nights I am relieved to take a knock-out pill
which gets me to sleep and away from the pain which always intensifies as the day goes by.
My neurologist confirmed that Gabapentin may be of some help after my husband (Mike) had by chance heard
that it may help from talking to another doctor. I think it may have helped me a little. I also tried
Tegretrol which made me confused and the pain intensified so I have, for the time being, reverted to the
Gabapentin. My pain seems less intense some days than others. All this inactivity has also piled weight
on which I am very unhappy about especially as I have no energy to exercise but get very hungry!
I guess I should be more strong-minded about the amount I put on the plate!
As you say, its just not easy to describe to people who aren't or haven't experienced this kind of thing.
This club is so helpful and informative to say the least & it seems, everyone who is having real
problems is here in the club which is so supportive because I can relate better. Just talking about it
really does help.
One has to be braveto go back to work. I find that I am doing my paperwork from home at about a quarter
of the speed that I used to which is very frustrating.
My husband has been very supportive during all these problems and provides me with terrific back up all
of the time. It's as hard to be a carer as a sufferer and we used to be such busy folk that I feel now
that I am always "letting the side down".
Like MM - I recommend that you try things like Gabapentin (I think there are about 5 different medications
available) I just feel that I have to keep searching and searching for answers/help, hate being on so
many pills, but have to find out if there is something out there to help.
Gay
