EnableMe | enableme - stroke recovery and support

Sherree Morgan was as fit as she had ever been when she experienced a lifechanging stroke.

A busy and active mum, the Armadale personal trainer was outside preparing equipment to host a group fitness class when her vision went blurry, and she lost the use of her legs.

“I screamed for my husband who managed to get me inside, I told him I think I’m having a stroke and to call an ambulance immediately,” Sherree said.

“Unfortunately, I had to visit three different Perth hospitals before doctors would give me a diagnosis. I kept being sent away with medication for a suspected migraine.

“I can’t even begin to explain how painful my headache was. It was so much more than a migraine. It was hard not being listened to, I started to wonder if I was going crazy.”

Sherree says she began to self-advocate and even paid for a private MRI which revealed she’d had a stroke. She was admitted to Charles Gardiner Hospital where spent the next week recovering.

“The neurology team were amazing and very supportive. I was discharged with a Stroke Foundation information pack and told that I’d be making a full recovery,” she said.

“Two years later I’m still on that journey and learning new things about myself. I still see a physiotherapist, occupational therapist, psychologist and go to the gym a few times a week.

“What I didn’t know was how horrific and terrifying the residual effects would be. It’s a very long road to recovery.”

Sheree is among the 44,000 stroke survivors living in Western Australia. While stroke is often thought of as something which impacts the elderly, 24 per cent of stroke survivors are aged between 18 and 65.

“I know it’s less common for a 36-year-old to have a stroke, but it does happen. Me and my husband both have a history of stroke in our family, so we knew what to look out for.”

I'm into year 4. And, I'm still making improvements. I can attribute a lot of recent improvement to control of pain and a big reduction in spastisity. I am a nurse practitioner and I have struggled to get a good control of pain most of my care team down played pain issues!

Hi Jeff,

Great to hear that you are making progress. We were having a discussion about the recovery plateau last week.

Could you share what you a have been doing to help control your pain?

Diana

Understanding and managing pain seems to be very common. My husband struggles with constant pain through his affected left side. I ritos be very interested in hearing how others manage pain.

Hello Jeff and Trish,

Thank you for reaching out via EnableMe and sharing some of what you are going through. Sheree’s post has raised some really important issues to talk about, and it is great to see others reaching out. thanks for sharing your experience with everyone Sheree, it sounds like it was a really challenging time for you.

Unfortunately, pain can be very common following a stroke and it can be difficult to say just how long you may experience it for. After a stroke you may experience injury pain, neuropathic pain, or headaches. Pain can be treated with medication and a range of different treatments.

Jeff, it is good to hear your pain is now better controlled and as Diana has said, it would be great to hear more about how you have managed this. We are sorry to hear about how your pain was not understood more clearly by your treating team. Trish, we are sorry to hear about your husband’s constant pain. Hopefully the information below, and the information from others like Jeff will be of some help to your husband.

Pain after stroke can affect you in different ways.

Injury Pain

If you have damage to body tissue, you feel tissue injury pain. This is also called nociceptive pain. You may feel this type of pain if you have:

Shoulder subluxation – your arm drops out of your shoulder socket.
Contracture – a muscle gets shorter, fixing a joint in one position.
High tone – muscles are tight and stiff.

The pain will usually be on your stroke-affected side.

Neuropathic pain

This is caused by damage to the brain’s pain-processing pathways, rather than because of injury. It is also called central post stroke pain (CPSP) or nerve pain. This type of pain occurs more often when sensation is reduced after a stroke. The brain is used to receiving normal sensory inputs, and when it doesn’t, the brain itself produces painful sensations.

CPSP may feel like burning, stabbing, prickling, tingling or numbness on the skin. It mostly occurs on the stroke-affected side of your body. Often this pain is made worse if you are touched or moved, or the affected area is placed in water. CPSP may start days, months or years after your stroke.

Headaches

Headaches can occur after both haemorrhagic and ischaemic strokes or can also be a side effect of medicines. A dull, generalised headache can sometimes be part of post-stroke fatigue as well.

For general information about pain management, you can read more here, here and here. Another worthwhile resource that would be beneficial for anyone experiencing chronic pain would be to investigate is Pain Australia.They are Australia’s leading pain advocacy body working to improve the quality of life of people living with pain and those around them. Pain that lasts for more than three months is known as chronic pain. A pain management clinic can provide special programs to help you with chronic pain. Your doctor can arrange access to a pain clinic if appropriate for you or you can find available pain clinics or services here.

You might also be interested in reaching out to a psychologist who specialises in pain management. Psychologists can assist with techniques such as cognitive behavioural therapy, hypnosis, attention-diversion strategies and biofeedback. Stress management and relaxation techniques can also help to better manage pain. You can always talk with your Gp about a Mental Health Care Plan and a local psychologist or reach out to us on StrokeLine to find those local to you.

Additionally, you could look at registering for any clinical trials or research that may be relevant in the future on pain. You may find some current research trials here, or at the Australia and New Zealand Clinical Trials Register here.

We hope this information is helpful to you all, but if you would like more information, please do not hesitate to contact us on StrokeLine 1800 787 653 or email strokeline@strokefoundation.org.au. We are available Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm AEST.

Kind regards

Ariane and Siobhan (StrokeLine)