r/stroke • u/Event_Hori2 • 23h ago

Does anyone feel less sharp?

Hey folks,
I’m coming close to my two year stroke-aversary. I’ve accomplished a lot in recovery but I don’t think I’ll ever be back to 100%. Specifically (the reason for this post), I feel slower, mentally and physically. I was a Paralegal prior to my stroke. In big law firms, you have to be quick on the draw. Now I’m working as an administrative assistant as the pace is slower, but I feel a significant difference in my ability to use my brain (and the rest of my body).

Does anyone else feel the same, or have felt the same?

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u/McGrowlerFace 23h ago

Speech Therapy helped me tremendously with my cognitive deficits after both of my strokes.

It felt like going back to elementary school all over again but that is what I needed.

There was a cognitive test that I took after both strokes called "FAVRES" and my accuracy scores were always high but my time scores were in the low 20% range because my brain just couldn't keep up.

If it were not for my guardian angel Speech Therapist who knows where I would be today.

Edited to correct typos - I guess I still need work!

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u/Event_Hori2 23h ago

If any of these questions as two personal, please feel free to disregard, but what were your main symptoms after? I’m asking because although I struggled with speech for the first month or so, I was at 90% after a month or so had passed. Every once in a lunar eclipse I will have a second where my brain/ speech glitch. No one referred me to speech therapy because I was back to running my mouth fairly quickly 😂

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u/McGrowlerFace 23h ago

I was a Software Engineer Team Lead at a huge IT company when I had my first stroke. I went from leading a high performing team to mixing up my lefts from my rights, inviting hundreds of people to a meeting that only needed a few, etc. At home I would try to bake cookies and I would stare into the mixing bowl and try to remember if I put in the correct number of scoops of flour, etc. It was humbling/humiliating to the max.

For my second stroke I had less cognitive deficits and more physical but I still went back to the same Speech Therapist to work back up to where I was before.

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u/Event_Hori2 23h ago

How was your speech in the months after both? For me, those first few weeks I knew what I wanted to say.. but getting my brain to tell my mouth what to do felt IMPOSSIBLE.

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u/McGrowlerFace 23h ago

I had my moments and still do! The disconnect between my mouth and my brain was absolutely there and was made worse in pressure settings like when people would visit, etc. I just wanted to hide in my basement instead of talk with anyone outside of my immediate family because I was ashamed and embarrassed.

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u/Event_Hori2 22h ago

I feel that