r/stroke

My father 45 had an ischemic stroke on 15th, doc said clots in his artery, he recently had an mri again on 19th, clots are still there but no new clots have formed, how much time will it take for him to recover, is he going to be alright? He is able to talk, though sleeps most of the time in hospital, is able to walk as well but gets tired after physiotherapy, in one of the best hospitals rn, anything to worry about ?
Doc comes on round and says that he is doing fine.
He was in icu till day before yesterday but got shifted to a room as doc says he does not need an icu

She suffered a haemorrhagic stroke four days prior, with below recorded on first admission. She was transferred to a major trauma hospital were surgery was an option, however she had significantly deteriorated neurologically and the bleed had grown, so surgery was no longer viable.

My dad, sister and I under advice from medical staff opted for palliative as per mum’s DNR requests and lack of quality of life. She was unconscious 4 hours after stroke onset.

Her funeral was last week, and as I slowly re-enter ‘normal’ life, I’m second guessing everything. We watched her die, in a manner we would never let our closest animals suffer. There was nothing peaceful about it, and we questioned everything in her struggle to transition.

I see success stories, but doctors described it as a catastrophic bleed with mass effect.

Please reassure me that there was absolutely no coming back from this with any quality of life or independence?

- Right eye deviation
- Dense L hemiplegia
GCS 13/15
CT demonstrating Large right frontal intraparenchymal hemorrhage measuring 9x5.3x4.3cm (axial x
craniocaudal) with moderate vasogenic edema and causing mild leftward subfalcine herniation.
Moderately effaced right lateral ventricular with intra-ventricular hemorrhage extension. Mildly effaced left
lateral ventricule. Subdural extension (thickened falx) and scattered subarachnoid hemorrhage (bifrontal).

Dangerously I have been using cannabis as a medicine for a stroke I had earlier in my life. I have fully gained movement in my body neck down. I still have facial weakness on the left side of my face.

After inhaling the plant I would begin to stretch and still do til this day. It’s like when I smoke I feel more relaxed as it’s like I get to be who I really am. Sometimes when I’m sitting my face twitches. I have identified it as muscles that’s connected through the neck. The muscles seem to be raveled up and stretching unravels the muscle allowing more movement all the way down to my toes.

Sometimes I dream about smiling and I wake up thinking that the next day I can and then I look in the mirror and see things are the same.

Stretching definitely helps but it’s a slow hustle and it takes patience. Be easy on yourself cause this is different and no one will understand so just focus on balancing recovery and work.

Let me know if anyone else has had experience?

hi everyone!

i just received some news that I’m trying to process.

For context, im a 33 year old female with no major medical history other than infertility issues caused by anatomical abnormalities.

when I was about 6 months pregnant, I started having tinnitus in my right ear. A year later, it’s still there so I went to my ENT and they ordered an MRI to rule out a tumor. turns out, I don’t have a tumor but they did find evidence of an old stroke. I’m in shock about this as I’ve been tested up and down due to my infertility issues and nothing has ever come up. they suggested I go to a neurologist so this is my next step. does anyone have a similar story or experience? I’m worried about what this means and what it could mean for my future. thank you!

so me (23 F) am dealing with my dads stroke (57 M). he had a stroke that affected the basil ganglia and the deep white matter of his frontal lobe. we are currently on week 4, and i am really struggling. i am his caregiver because im really the only person he has that’s able to take care of him. i really want his old self back. he keeps going in and out like he’ll be himself for an hour and then the next he’ll act weird, disoriented, or confused. i’m just struggling to accept the fact the he will never be 100% himself like how he was before the stroke and it really breaks my heart because my dad is my bestfriend ever and im very close with him. does anyone have any advice on how to cope with a situation like this ? it’s very difficult seeing someone you’re very close with just not act like themselves. i just want my dad back and i heard it takes 6 months - a year for a good recovery. i just don’t know how to handle this honestly

WARNING: this a morbid, heartbreaking, ethical, suicide related, and honestly just depressing and know I am sorry for asking this but I need to know

My dad has stopped reciving treatment near the end of April. He has a blockage in his neck artery of about 75% at least. His blood pressure is unbelievably high with his avg before stroke being 220/160 in 2025, even with many medications for blood pressure it was still stage 1 hypertension.

4 weeks after stopping medication he had a back to back seizures again, the first time being 4 months ago from this event.

On many many occasions he has implied or straight out said he doesnt want to be alive anymore. He is miserable to the point that I dont think misery is even the right word.

He told us if he is ever having a seizure and or stroke to do nothing and just make him comfortable. My mom had a stipulation that if he bit his tounge to the point of bleeding that hes going to the hospital. But me and him and my brothers do not have that agreement and we are not going too.

I know it sounds like we are letting him die and will just observe him leaving this world unheartedly and wanting him to die. Its not, we all know and agree that he is never going to get better, he is almost basically blind and his cognitive is so obliterated that he cant talk past basic concepts and remember most things like facts and anything.

This knowledge of him dying soon and at any moment is quite possibly the hardest and worst thing I've ever had to witness and wait for. Because as I see it, he is committing suicide, at the end of the day that is what it is. It is not accepting his fate. Because he is fully aware of what he is doing and is hoping it happens.

I do love my dad and I will miss him dearly when he is gone. I just hope when he dies its quick, painless, peaceful and no fear.

So this is my question: if you dont do anything when having a seizure or stroke. How high are the chances of death and what happens when you die. Because honestly the biggest worry is complete brain death. Its known that when you die your brain is still active for a while after the heart stops. Does that still happen even when having a lethal stroke?

Again I am sorry for asking this because of the subject matter but I feel alone in this and just want to know he dies peacefully. Because there is absolutely nothing I can do to stop this, I wont do anything to speed this up either even tho I've considered it (not seriously). Because my dad has asked me to kill him, in anger but thats honestly what most of his reaction are. It is so rewarding to see him smile and laugh, its the one thing I missed since the stroke

Looking for where to start on what to look into for my husband wanting to return to working while having Aphasia. Almost 3 months post stroke, his language center was the only thing affected, but greatly so. He has been on Disability since. He really wants to get back to work, but he also is struggling with speaking what he wants to say. Typing is pretty good and comprehension pretty good, too.

Anyone have experience with navigating this? Is there a resource I can look into before we talk to his HR team about how the return to work looks? Just want to know what we can ask for or if it's a lost cause. He works from home for an IT company in customer support. Wondering if maybe we could ask for a different role with less speaking and more typing. Just trying to navigate his options. Thank you.

dont know if "survivor" is the write descriptor for this specifically,

in july 2023 i had what i thought was a migraine which temporarily impacted my abilily to form coherent sentences, i brought it up to my doctor and got a CT scan in november in which there was a dark spot but it was mistaken for artifact

december 2025 i was still having migraines and headaches that were responding to anti-migraine meds, a neurologist referred me for an mri which is where they saw the "old left cerebellar infarct which was present in 2023"

today i (26NB) had an appointment at the stroke clinic and was told that the symptoms i experienced had nothing to do with the placement of the stroke, which means i have had 2 "neurological events" and i dont even know when the stroke actually happened

i just finished a 48hr holter monitor this weekend after an EKG showed a sinus arrhythmia and i told my doctor i had fainted once in 2017, i've had an echo before for EDS but the clinic ordered another one along with the contrasted CT scan which was recommended by the neurologist, and i also need to monitor my blood pressure

i have to quit smoking and vaping. i've never been known for having much willpower and i've been using them as vices since 2016. im also not allowed to take estrogen birth control but i havent had a period in 3 months because of the progesterone-only one and i dont like that at all.

i have always carried a lot of stress and anxiety and the unanswered questions and uncertainty of all this is only making it worse. i have 5 weeks until i get my career certification and then i'm supposed to start my life for real and do the things i want to like become a mother and create a home for my family

im so scared

Hi all, my had a stroke 2.5 weeks ago and his peripheral vision is bad shape. I am wondering if there are nay rehabilitation exercises he can do. Also does it improve? I am worried about his drivers linsense not being returned and independence.

My 75 yo husband is nearly three weeks out from his second stroke and he sleeps nearly all day at the rehab facility - is this to be expected? He can barely open his eyes, although he is aware that I am by his bed and holding his hand. He has aphasia. I am very worried, but ut recovery takes time, right?

My mom had a stroke on her left brain two weeks ago. The doctor said she had only two to three days but today is her 13th day. We were told half of the brain is damaged and there was swelling (brain edema) after the surgery. She squeezed my hands when I talked in the first week. She opened her eyes on Day 9. But the doctor said she will be like that and will not recover. I pray for the miracle. Can someone share your journey to me?

I’ve been quietly reading posts in this community since late January, shortly after my stroke and brain surgery changed my life overnight.

At the time, I was trying to make sense of a completely new reality. I was scared, confused, frustrated, and honestly struggling to understand what my future would even look like.

Reading your stories helped me more than I can explain.

Some of you shared victories.

Some shared setbacks.

Some shared fear, exhaustion, anger, grief, or hope.

But through all of it, I found strength here.

You reminded me that recovery is not linear.

You reminded me that life after stroke still exists.

You reminded me that even in the hardest moments, people keep fighting forward.

That became a meaningful part of my own healing journey.

In a few days, I’ll be launching a podcast called The Chair. It’s not specifically about stroke. It’s about the human side of life changing moments, resilience, identity, recovery, grief, purpose, and what happens after life interrupts the version of ourselves we thought we would be.

My own stroke story will be featured in Episode 1.

I just wanted to say thank you to this community. Truly.

To everyone currently recovering:

Please keep going.

Even when progress feels invisible.

Even when your old life feels far away.

Even when people around you don’t fully understand what this journey feels like.

You are stronger than you realize.

Wishing every single one of you healing, strength, peace, and continued recovery.

Hi, my mom had an stroke ( i think on the left side as her speech is effected) Im not sure about all the details as I was only 16 almost 17 when it happened ( im now 18)...

Its been a lot to go through and process, I now take care of my mom alongside my dad, she luckily can walk very short distances ( she has to use an wheelchair now) and can use her left arm but she cannot speak and use her right arm due to the stroke. Post stroke I thought I was doing ok "dealing with it" but a year on there has been very little improvement ( I understand improvement can take longer than a year) and I have been dwelling on things that I miss about my mom before the stroke, like her cooking or her driving me to college or just having a conversion with my mom. I don't know if I can call it grieve as my mom is still here but it feels like it. I feel selfish for missing my mom before her stroke as she is still here and happy for the most part. I also feel that no one can really relate to my situation as no one I know ( except my dad ) knows what it is like to go through this. Is this bad...

As for my education I am unsure if I should go to uni now as I am torn between wanting to move out and to see my options but my mom is also now on my mind as I feel that I have to decide between my future and caring for my mom..

Another aspect that I am slightly worried about is that strokes run on my moms side of the family and that I could potentially have an stroke one day and end up in a similar situation to my mom ( which I don't want).

For my mom's speech .. she can say some words like I love you or good morning but only if prompted.. I want to keep hoping that she will speak again properly but I doubt it. And as for her understanding I believe she can understand everything but she just really can't reply ( she only says one word ... no )

sorry if this doesn't really make sense - Angie

Has anyone else who suffers fatigue noticed it get worse suddenly. Im 2 years post stroke and the past week or so I have noticed that I have become increasingly fatigued I don’t overdo myself and I know my limits but I am extremely fatigued to the point I can’t focus on anything.

Everyone, good afternoon. I wanted to see if anyone has dealt with something similar and what symptoms you experienced.

Lately I’ve been having neck pain, headaches, and what feels like a constant fight-or-flight reaction. I also get episodes throughout the day where I’m not sure if it’s dizziness or vertigo. At one point it even felt like my heart was fluttering, so I had an EKG done along with blood work and an MRI, but everything came back normal.
I still have this strange dull pain in the back of my neck that gets worse as the day goes on. The only time I really feel relief is when I’m lying down.

I train in jiu-jitsu and I’ve had my neck cranked a few times during training. I also crack my neck pretty often, and a few times I’ve felt a lightning-like jolt when doing it. I’m just wondering if anyone else has experienced similar symptoms or has any insight on what it could be.
Any info would really help. Thank you.

Hi, I had a concussion at work and was taken to the emergency room and given a CT (can’t get an MRI because metal implants; and yes I had a concussion, but the doctor said I’d had a stroke (a remote left basal ganglia lacunar infarct, for whatever that’s worth) “greater than 90 days ago”.

To the best of my knowledge, I never had any symptoms. She put me on a daily low-dose aspirin and said I should be okay.

A physician assistant I know personally said that it made me more likely to have other strokes in the future. I’m not looking for medical advice (everyone I know is levying that at me) but should I be worried? I’m gonna be 51 this year.

Also, I received a bracelet in the mail that says my name and “stroke victim”. Am I required to wear that? Is it a good idea?
Gosh I sound dumb. Sorry for that.

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for thoughts, experiences, or honest perspectives from people who have gone through something similar with a parent or loved one.

My dad is 67. Last Wednesday, he collapsed sometime between 6am and 11am (we don’t know exactly when). When he was found, he couldn’t communicate, couldn’t move, and was barely conscious. The ambulance arrived within about 20 minutes and paramedics suspected a stroke immediately.

At the first hospital he received thrombolysis (clot-busting treatment), and initially he responded surprisingly well. He regained consciousness, became coherent, and started regaining feeling in his limbs. At that point we felt hopeful.

Later that day (around 4pm), he was transferred to another hospital about 40 minutes away for a thrombectomy. By then doctors told us his condition had become very serious.

During the thrombectomy, there were multiple brain bleeds/hemorrhages. After the procedure he deteriorated further and developed severe brain swelling (malignant cerebral edema), causing increasing pressure inside his skull. Doctors decided to perform an emergency decompressive craniectomy around 2am to relieve the pressure.

At that point, before surgery, his breathing was still relatively okay (only minimal oxygen support), and his circulation was stable without medication support. The craniectomy itself reportedly went well.

However, we were also told that the damage to his brain was already catastrophic, and that if he survives, he will most likely never be able to live independently again.

He was kept in a medically induced coma and moved to ICU. Over the following days, doctors continued describing him as being in critical condition. We were told the malignant brain swelling was not responding to treatment.

By Saturday, things worsened further — he required support for both breathing and blood circulation, and doctors told us he could not survive without it. Sedation was stopped, but he did not regain consciousness.

It is now Tuesday and there has been no meaningful change. The swelling has not improved and he still has not regained consciousness.

I know nobody here can predict outcomes, and every stroke is different. I’m not looking for false hope, just real experiences and perspectives from people who have gone through severe stroke, malignant edema, decompressive craniectomy, or prolonged unconsciousness after complications.

Did anyone experience a loved one improving after things looked this bad? How long did swelling take to improve, if it did? What kinds of outcomes did you see, realistically?

Thank you for reading and any responses!

Edit: I should have added, he suffered from diabetes for 15 years, smoked cigarettes and had a history of heart disease and had clots removed in both legs around 19 years ago.

Veterans Day, 2025, Japan.
A fitting date for an American body to finally declare war on itself.

I went to bed at forty-two years old thinking my biggest problems were blood pressure, bad sleep, and pretending Strong Zero counted as hydration. Somewhere around three in the morning, my nervous system decided to reenact Pearl Harbor personally.

It started in my left pinky toe.

Not pain exactly. Worse.
It felt like ice lightning.

Like somebody shoved a frozen cattle prod into the wiring of my body and slowly dragged it upward. Toe. Foot. Calf. Hip. Rib cage. Shoulder. Neck. Every inch of it cold and electric, creeping higher with absolute confidence. By the time it reached my brain, I had just enough time to think:

“Well. This seems medically inconvenient.”

Then blackout.

People describe near-death experiences like warm lights or peaceful floating. Mine was apparently the Windows shutdown noise.

For the next several weeks, I existed mostly as hospital folklore.

I “woke up” sometime later in a Japanese hospital room with the confused awareness of a man returning from the dead only to discover paperwork was involved. I couldn’t walk. Couldn’t talk correctly. My left side hung there like it belonged to somebody who had stopped paying rent.

My blood pressure had apparently spent a month in the 190s over 120s, which in medical terminology roughly translates to:
“Sir, your arteries are trying to speedrun you to the afterlife.”

The strange thing about surviving is that everyone congratulates you.

“Congratulations on not dying.”

As if I had accomplished something through grit and determination instead of unconsciousness and pharmaceutical intervention and 2 blood transfusions.

Meanwhile I felt guilty immediately.

Because hospitals are full of ghosts that still have pulse oximeters attached to them.

You see people who won’t recover, the people in the ICU with me at the start apparently didn’t make it. I don’t remember much of that other than an impossibly old man asking for help for days “tasukete” is all I remember hearing in between monitor beeps. In the “Stroke ward/Rehab” People relearning words letter by letter. People who stare at walls because the wall is the only thing left that makes sense. Then there was me, somehow improving faster than expected, collecting nurses like Pokemon because apparently the young American with the dark humor was “interesting” also I had my loving sister to get me Reese’s peanut butter cups so I could give them to anyone who came to check on me as a bonus.

My neurologist started calling me “Miracle Boy.”

He said it with the same energy someone uses when naming an ugly stray dog they accidentally became emotionally attached to. He was blunt and stoic.

The first time I tried standing up on my own I slipped.

Cracked my head.

Got a concussion.

Caused a rebleed.

Which is an incredibly efficient way to almost die twice before Christmas.

I remember the disappointment more than the pain. The staff had looked so hopeful watching me shuffle down that hallway with a walker. Then suddenly everybody was moving fast again, alarms were going off, and I was back in bed wondering if the universe was trying to revoke my return policy.

That’s the thing nobody tells you about surviving neurological trauma:
you become suspicious of your own recovery.

Every good day feels temporary.
Every headache feels loaded.
Every moment of dizziness becomes a negotiation with mortality.

And yet here I am now in May of 2026.

On a good day, nobody would know.

That’s the strangest part.

https://preview.redd.it/3mivdcm0ez1h1.jpg?width=285&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e3f15aa2edfbdd5ef043ebf2a38911fcc75ac1e7

 

People see me standing, talking, joking, existing normally. They don’t see the hospital socks. They don’t see twelve weeks staring at ceiling tiles wondering if this was the permanent version of me now. They don’t see the panic of trying to move a limb that ignores you like a disconnected game controller.

They definitely don’t see me mentally checking whether my smile is symmetrical every time I pass a mirror.

Recovery makes you an impostor in your own life.

You start feeling guilty for looking okay.

There are people who never came back from strokes. People younger than me. Kinder than me. Healthier than me. Meanwhile I somehow got rebooted in a Japanese hospital while making sarcastic comments to neurologists and eating surprisingly decent hospital rice.

I almost joined the Black Parade.

Instead I got discharged with blood pressure medication and trauma.

Sometimes survivor’s guilt feels selfish. Sometimes it feels arrogant to even claim it. But it’s real. Because surviving beside people who didn’t recover teaches you something ugly:

Outcome is not morality.

The universe does not hand out survival based on worthiness.

Sometimes the artery bursts.
Sometimes it doesn’t.
Sometimes the brain rewires itself.
Sometimes it leaves the lights on and nobody home.

And somehow I got lucky.

That word irritates me.

Lucky.

Like I won a raffle nobody wanted tickets for.

But maybe that’s what survival actually is:
a horrifying lottery followed by paperwork and physical therapy.

These days I walk through Japan differently more slowly and focused but not taking a single step for granted.

https://preview.redd.it/gkq59cm0ez1h1.jpg?width=349&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=da5dc9cb14afbbbc62c626e90c84676e7fc0d564

Mount Fuji looks less like scenery and more like proof I’m still here to see it. Even the hospital trays filled with miso soup, scrambled eggs with ketchup, little cartons of Japanese milk  feel sacred in retrospect.

My neurologist still calls me Miracle Boy.

I still laugh at inappropriate things.

And somewhere deep down, part of me still feels like I stole somebody else’s recovery.

But maybe surviving isn’t about deserving it.

You just keep swimming even if you cant always feel your left fin.

https://reddit.com/link/1th5bvb/video/p2dxylv2ez1h1/player

 

My partner had a stroke on new years day, got out of hospital at the start of March and has had no support aside from physio, he cant speak, he has none of the necessities to be safely left on his own so as of March ive moved in with him, but its impossible, ive tried so much to try and help him however I possibly can, anything to keep him fighting and trying to get better. But now he doesnt seem to want me around anymore, hes locked me out the house twice already and I know its only a matter of time before he decides not to open the door, dumps all my stuff outside and kicks me out back to my own house. I dont know the man im looking at anymore, it feels like the man I fell in love with is dead and I dont know how to deal with any of it, ive got absolutely no support, my family dont understand what im going through, as supportive as they are, they cant support me through this, and im barely holding together anymore. I dont want to lose him, but it feels like im already too late for that. I have tried to reach out to nearby organisations for help and support but no matter who I speak to im told the same thing "youre not his next of kin so we cant do anything for you". I want to help him get better but instead im watching him get worse and im totally helpless