Patient Advice
Topic 7: Deal with anxiety about my recovery and future
Manage your energy
Helen’s advice: Worrying too much about things – I found that I did that a lot. I think it was just managing my energy and being conscious that when I’m tired, I was always a bit too anxious about things.
Look at your improvements
Mel’s advice: In the end, it came down to me to try and improve things as much as I could. When I could see things improving, it gave me a bit more hope that I wouldn’t be that way the rest of my life.
A stroke can be the beginning of something new
Eileen’s advice: Unfortunately, I’m one of those people who are susceptible to strokes. But in some ways, having a stroke can be the beginning of something new. I, for example, never thought I would enjoy art classes and the end result was hopeless in the beginning. I learned that it’s not about the actual something. It’s about how you do it and what you get from it. That’s freed me up. It took me a long time to get there, but I’m now using that on everything.