Besides significant improvements in my work life, the big win for me was eliminating some anger problems that showed up after the TIA, and getting my sense of humor back! Considering my brain is my money maker, it was completely worth it (around $4k for 30 or 40 sessions, I believe).
My TIA involved significant turbulence in my blood flow, so perhaps my capillaries were extra clogged, but you should seriously consider it, if you have any lingering changes. There are quite a few studies about it. The most promising I found involved Oxiracetam, so I included that, as part of my treatment (with my doctors approval, and proper choline supplementation).
As I said in my previous post, I'm extremely lucky. I recovered on my own about 30 minutes post-onset, although I do have a small remaining permanent clot (presumably from the original one breaking up) that has caused permanent injury to a small area that my neurologist says should cause no noticeable impact.
I'm terrified though that even though we haven't found any deficiencies yet, there might be long-lasting personality changes that are harder to pin down. At least so far all my friends seem to believe that I'm still pretty much the same person I was prior to the stroke, which is an enormous relief. But I'll look into that therapy just in case we do find a reason to pursue something like that, thanks!
If I may ask, the worst part of it for me so far is that I haven't had a good night of sleep since. Since it happened while I was sleeping, it's like I don't trust that my body won't try to off me in my sleep again for no reason. So I wake up halfway through the night in a panic that my body is betraying me again, and it takes awhile for me to convince myself that everything is alright to be able to go back to sleep. Have you dealt with anything that at all?
Yeah, I think I went through something similar. The realization of fragility really got to me for a while, and I think my perspective about how temporary life is has permanently shifted. I feel like I'm just more anxious, in general, because I feel like it's going to crash down at some point. It makes me feel like I'm always in a hurry. Maybe it will eventually be a positive, where I came to terms with it, and put more effort to cherish every day, rather realizing it when I'm old, and it's too late?
I would still consider the oxygen therapy, since it could bring back some of the tissue around that clot. I also did it in an attempt to reduce the chances of Alzheimers, which we are now many times more likely to get.
My quality of life decreased after my booster shot. Had severe reaction and my athletic performance dropped quite a bit afterwards never going back to the baseline pre-vaccine. Also having more heart palpitations and a decrease on VO2max.
But apparently when I talk about this, I am either labelled anti-vaxx (even though I got the damn vaccine), a conspiracy crazy or people try to justify my issues with something else that magically coincided with the date I took the booster.
I'm far from antivax, and have had 3 shots myself. But it's crazy that you aren't allowed to talk about this stuff without being labeled a conspiracy theorist.
I did, of course, post my own anecdata. But it's much harder for people to choose whether or not to actually become infected by COVID than it is to decide whether or not to vaccinate.
You'll also note that we are now in fact having the pointless argument I predicted.
I'm 38 years old, exercise vigorously for 10-12 hours per week, am a healthy weight for my height, have good blood pressure and cholesterol, and have zero known risk factors other than a COVID infection a bit under a year ago. I'm not ready to blame COVID just yet (we're still searching for an underlying cause) but my doctors and nurses all described a highly concerning uptick of strokes over the past few years, including for those like me who are generally in good health.
I was lucky to have recovered with essentially no noticeable deficiencies, but many of those with similar stories I've spoken with in the weeks since weren't so lucky and have permanent impairment.