What advice would you give yourself in those early days after your stroke?

Young survivors of stroke share the advice they would have given themselves in those early days after stroke.

Find out more about the Young Stroke Project here. (18 - 54) 

Here is advice from survivors in Facebook and Instagram too.

shelley a christie (Instagram)

Rest and be kind to yourself. Don’t be so tough you don’t have to do this all by yourself. The trauma is massive and life changing. You will mentally and physically go through so many changes and that’s ok. The early days are overwhelming but it will get better.

The best thing about your recovery is that F.A.S.T came into play and you got thrombolised so quickly it saved you from so much more.

As time goes on it will be confronting

Those times you stand there and forget your daughters names

or

Nearly set the kitchen on fire 😜

or

When an anger hits you you can’t control and don’t know why

or

When your left side doesn’t work like it used too

or

When the tears start to fall and you don’t know why

or

When you are in a conversation with someone and have no idea what the other person is saying - you feel stupid or

When you get told your mental health issues are a problem for some by friends

or

When get told ‘gee you look so good you must be doing ok, what’s the problem’

or

When you say you have a headache today, the fear in your daughters eyes is something you will never forget because of the trauma they have been through

or

When your husband worries all the time that you could die is heartbreaking

or

the best is When you meet someone who has gone through her own different trauma you become awesome mates, so grateful

Or find the best support in healthcare - happy days

The day you start to heal and let go and forgive those who walked away because they couldn’t handle it themselves, forgive those who should have but didn’t ask how you were going or ask your husband and your kids because this was a massive trauma for them and still is.

More importantly you forgive yourself and embrace your changes.

You will be ok, it won’t be easy but you will be better and stronger than before.

courtney rubie (Instagram)

It’s ok to be unsure of how to feel, it’s ok to be really scared, it’s ok that things aren’t the same.

Justin Reid (Facebook)

Be patient, don’t be so hard on yourself, remember your awesome and you can achieve anything.

Kath Baillie (Facebook)

Focus more on rest than worrying about money and work.

You’ll get yourself back on track, entirely on your own - and you absolutely got what it takes to do it 👌🏼

Ian Frost (Facebook)

Thank you for sharing this!

It's a journey not a race...my brave friends ❤🤜🤛

Meg Peterson (Facebook)

I would tell myself to do physio/or harder and longer as that time of optimum recovery is too short and it definitely slows down after a while

Tania Shirgwin (Facebook)

I'd tell myself - "you'll get through this. It's going to be a huge adjustment, and your life will change, but you still have a full and contented life awaiting you". (six years on stroke survivor & thriver!

Please add your own advice in comments. It may help someone else.