ksmith

Mike, I agree with spending as much time together and say everything you want to talk about. My heart aches with the sadness you have to go through but I'm glad it will be shared between the both of you 💓

yes!!!!!! I do , as well , and I can't help it. I remember hearing somewhere that where , on the brain, you have damage or something like that opens the door with cursing. I tell people that cursing is something I do like breathing air. I never cursed as much as I do now. I found this article cursing

I do the same and I sometimes have a short in my brain and I have a brief moment anger. I shout or "freak-out" but that lasts for only a minute then I bounce back. I tell people that I need to get it off my chest, which is true, and once I say or do what I need to say, or do, I feel immediately better

Living in Florida for a time, I have FOND memories spending all day putting clear nail polish to try stop the itch. And in New Jersey, I was introduced to Chigger-X and thay kinda helped

my cerebellum was also effected so I can empathize. One thing that my therapist told me during a session, I went to a renowned center for vestibular rehabilitation in New York City, sometimes when you have damage to your cerebellum ( and I have issues in my brain stem and other aspects of my brain due to the severity of my stroke) the balance issues may never get better. That sounded harsh.. yes... but he was being honest. Some issues do get better or more tolerable over time.

Sadly, no. But where the eye patch/contact helped out and in the beginning of my stroke, my Nystagmus wasn't as profound as it is now so just having prisms in my glasses, to straighten my eye sight helped. As my nystagmus became more evident it was harder to keep my balance. As I said earlier, I still walk like I'm very drunk ( i don't drink.... anymore 😉 ) Have you had you ears checked? What is Nystagmus? balance exercises and traning for eyes vestibular disorders <------ my favorite website

That must have been heaven

The Life-Changing Habit of Journaling

How Complaining Rewires Your Brain for Negativity Mission Mission Repeated complaining rewires your brain to make future complaining more likely. Over time, you find it’s easier to be negative than to be positive, regardless of what’s happening around you. Complaining becomes your default behavior, which changes how people perceive you.

I was doing the exercises for a few years. In therapy 3x a week and home exercises too. Unfortunately none of them worked. That was mainly for the areas in my brain that were effected more from the stroke. Those exercises were good for eye coordination and balance and , yes, I had eye issues but no exercises were able to fix them. I had to have surgery to realign my eyes. Some problems are from inner ear issues. Again, mine were fine but my cerebellum, controls balance amount other functions, was damaged so none of the things I was tasked in doing would've helped. It sounds like something I had to deal with. The muscles in my eyes weren't fully stretching to allow my eyes to remain level and focused. I used prisms to help with the gaze to keep better focused. With the nystagmus, my eyes bounce and still bounce so no matter the prisms to see one image, together, i still had issues, My neuro ophthalmologist and I had decided that I , either, wear a patch over my eye or a contact to block my sight , when wearing. I'll admit I'm vain so I chose the patch. I still have balance and dizziness problems, especially when I'm tired or bad weather. It's been over 11 years so I've come to adjust. It's not sun all the time but I can manage. I walk like I'm drunk but it is what it is

That's great you are working on your steps. Yes Humidity is a killer , just do what you can do and that's awesome

Welcome. I can understand why you were depressed. You were through so much right after your stroke. Most importantly- congratulations on your swallow test!!! That is a great Accomplishment. As you probably already know, the first few years of any traumatic event, stroke for us, is the roughest. We aren't accustomed to the changes we have gone through and that could cause anyone to be depressed but a lot of folks have , over time, began to find new ways of doing things to make out lives more tolerable. I hope by talking to the great people here, we can assist in your journey out of depression.

Welcome Liam. I can understand about your dizziness. I, too, have that issue and for that I am sorry. All the gaze exercises I was told to do was not helpful for the issue is in my brain. Over the years, I'm 11 years post now, my brain has found a 'new normal'. Is it all gone? No. I have to wear a black out contact lens ( it fits like a normal contact just blacks out my eyesight) over my right eye for I have Nystagmus Nystagmus info in both eyes but worse in the right. I can see out of both eyes but with out that lens, I see everything double. let us know if the gaze therapy helps. Also see about getting your eyes checked. Saved me. I started out wearing prisms in my glasses to a surgery to align my eyes.. I paid A LOT of money for therapy that wouldn't ever help. 😞

I am late to the thread but I did. I collect SSDI and work very part time.. Like two days a week

Sarah, I'm so sorry. Sometimes, looking from the outside, everything seems good but I am sorry that he, and others, feel like they may be alone in their thoughts but they aren't. We may not understand or think what troubles them is as painful as they feel but I wish some people don't down play to them. Sometimes folks see it is an "easy way out" but we have no idea. My heart goes out