“Prepare for the worst”: How I survived a stroke at 20
Although diseases of the heart and blood vessels are considered a problem of the elderly, they are found at a young age, even among those who lead a healthy lifestyle. Unfortunately, people who have suffered a stroke - an acute violation of cerebral circulation - or myocardial infarction in their youth, often face distrust or even accusations of using drugs or doping: many do not believe that the disease can occur "just because." We talked with Anastasia Martynova about how her life changed after a stroke in twenty years.
I am twenty-three years old, and I work as an executive assistant, in parallel I am leading two projects: I am engaged in subleasing real estate in the United States and sending Russian models to work abroad. My husband and I left St. Petersburg six months ago and have since been traveling non-stop. Now we are going to spend the winter in Sochi - it's warm there, but my relationship with the cold is not very. I am cheerful and talkative - at first glance, it is impossible to say that two years ago the doctors confidently prophesied the rest of my life in a wheelchair.
I was an active teenager: from the age of sixteen I was engaged in wushu and went on foot for two or three hours a day. In Saratov, where I come from, this is the only way to move in a predictable manner, with transport always some difficulties. Like everyone else, I could afford to drink with friends once a month, but there were no bad habits, like smoking or drugs. My mother is a doctor, so the whole family was always thoroughly examined, everyone knew about their features and chronic diseases. The fact that I may have serious health problems was not mentioned until June 2015. Then I just moved to St. Petersburg to my future husband. One morning we had breakfast with a friend, discussing the tempting benefits of living in a big city. Suddenly my head was spinning, and, unaware of anything, I decided to lie down. When I sat up in bed and looked in the mirror, what was happening seemed like a terrible dream: the right eye was looking sideways somewhere, and the image was twofold. The husband immediately called an ambulance. Fifteen minutes later I could no longer walk, as if some inner “level” had broken down and the whole world turned 45 degrees. It even calmed me down a bit - I remember that in Oliver Sachs's favorite book “The Man Who Took His Wife for a Hat” there was a whole chapter about such a syndrome - which means that it is at least familiar to medicine.
By the time the ambulance arrived, the left half of the body was taken away, and not as if I had served it, but as if the brain had just forgotten about it - as if there had never been a second arm and a leg. Upon arrival at the hospital hallucinations began. There was a funny case: during the inspection I noticed that the oriental pattern on the doctor’s shawl was moving, and I was quick to report it. The doctor was very worried and began to fuss, because there was no shawl on her. After that, I lost consciousness and came to it only a couple of times in the evening, hallucinating and taking the nurses who came to deliver the dropper for my husband. This is not the most typical picture for a stroke, so the doctors threw up their hands and said: “We don’t know what’s wrong with you. We’ll do everything we can, but prepare for the worst.”
During the inspection, I noticed that the oriental pattern on the doctor's shawl was moving, and I hurried to inform about it. The doctor was very worried, because she was not wearing any shawls.
Oddly enough, the diagnosis of stroke - acute cerebrovascular accident - was a relief for the whole family: at first, doctors were inclined to multiple sclerosis or acute neuroinfection. With this choice, the stroke sounded like a gift. The diagnosis was made long and painfully: just finding out what happened to me took two weeks, a lot of tests, about five MRI scans and the efforts of a dozen doctors. By the way, there is a separate story with doctors: every new specialist says that I cannot have a stroke. Until now, half of the time of admission to any specialist of the okolonurologichesky profile goes to the screening of MRI scans and attempts to convince them of the correctness of the diagnosis (not always, however, successful). As it turned out, doctors are not inclined to trust their colleagues. Although they, too, can be understood, because the cause of the stroke was not found. The most plausible version seems to be a thrombus, which clogged the vessel in the brain, and then disappeared. As a result, they came to her for lack of anything better. There is not a single clue: I am still a completely healthy person, only with a scar inside the head. Nevertheless, the doctors figured out that I had a stroke, did everything I needed on time, and the recovery went by leaps and bounds. One day later I regained consciousness, after two I could stand up on my own legs, after three I could walk a couple of meters. Squint and double vision remained the longest - they had to endure for a week. After the prospect of spending the rest of my life in a wheelchair, the double vision in my eyes didn’t really scare me, and in my free time, I picked up a pretty pirate eye patch in the Carnival section on ASOS. Fortunately, it was not needed: the vision was fully restored. The hardest thing was to survive a couple of months when it was impossible to get out of bed and walk; any load led to a terrible headache. However, I remember this period only in fragments: memory after a stroke has deteriorated markedly.
Now it is difficult for me to walk for several hours a day and strong emotional or physical activities (for example, crossfit) are contraindicated for me. It became harder to say, sometimes I remember the right words for a long time. Sometimes an eye migraine appears - this is a temporary loss of part of the visual field. She scared only the first couple of times, now I know that this is a sign - you need to rest. It may have gotten worse with some complicated social distractions, and sometimes I may seem rude to people. Humor has become more childish and primitive, but this is more of a plus than a minus: it turns out that many people like tricks about shit, but everyone is afraid to admit it.
It became harder to say, sometimes I remember the right words for a long time. Humor has become more childish and primitive, but this is more of a plus than a minus: it turns out that many people like jokes about shit, but everyone is afraid to admit it.
I am incredible lucky: all those who lay with me in the ward, got off is not so easy. Someone left a speech disorder, someone has greatly changed behavior. In the corridor of the hospital, many people learn to walk again, painfully, step by step - and I can only thank God that this has bypassed me.
Now I just need to make a little more effort to feel good. Nothing too complicated: do not get tired, keep to sleep, sleep at least six to eight hours a day, eat well. Nothing that I wouldn’t do before the stroke. But most importantly - you can not be nervous and overworked. This is a true art, which I still have not learned until the end. Only stress can seriously disrupt the normal life of my post-stroke life. From experiences can begin eye migraine, or, for example, at the time of the abyss of speech. This is very motivating once again not to quarrel and not worry about trifles. For medicines, everything is simple: you should always carry with you a stock of inhibitor of free radical processes so that you can take it in case of a headache or any strange symptoms. These pills are sold in every pharmacy, so they have never had any problems with them. Before long flights, it is necessary to take aspirin to eliminate the risk of thrombosis - for the same reason, oral contraceptives are contraindicated to me. All the time that I was in the hospital, I was not scared. I have amazing relatives and friends, I felt support from all sides, and there was simply no time to plunge into dark thoughts. My mother and husband were constantly with me, every day someone came. I knew that I had someone to rely on, even in the worst case scenario. Probably, some kind of care for others was involved: I was sure that my family was much more difficult than I was, and supported them as I could - I was joking and smiling everywhere, even in an ambulance on the way to the hospital.
But then it became harder: to reconcile with the fact that from a healthy and strong person you turned into a patient is incredibly difficult. In the first months I tried to do the usual circular workouts and cried from powerlessness when it did not work. Now I understand that it was terribly stupid and irresponsible to strain so hard, but denial is denial. The worst thing is, of course, fear. Any dizzy scarecrow, because it was perceived as starting a new stroke, what can we say about harmless, but scary migraines. I do not know how my husband survived so much stress - I would probably have broken. Now, after three years, I have started a panic attack on the basis of my experiences, and I actively fight with them, and my husband helps me a lot with this.
There are incredible tips from the series “you just need to give birth” or “you need to read fewer books”, but it is rather amusing: when you are angry you can lose the speech for a couple of hours, you start to relate to such conversations
When everything happened, the doctors for a long time did not believe that it was not my fault. They accused of using drugs, tried to "split" by some police methods. However, I can understand them: not all patients admit to this, and this is incredibly important for proper treatment. I was lucky with the environment, and none of my relatives have ever condemned. Of course, there are incredible tips from the series “you just need to give birth”, “this is your husband who brought you” or “you need to read fewer books”, but this is more amusing. When out of anger you can lose a speech for a couple of hours, it becomes easier to relate to such conversations.
I can not smoke or lean on alcohol (and who can?) Can not be found in places where medical assistance is impossible (for example, to go hiking) - but the people around are quite strong "I do not want." Those close to me already know that with me, and distant acquaintances, probably think that I have been pregnant for the third year already.
In this story, a happy ending would not have been possible without timely help, so no need to be afraid to call an ambulance for any strange neurological symptoms. The wobbly gait, numbness of the left half of the body, nausea - this is a classic stroke, but it can manifest itself in a completely different way. Insist on an MRI for hospitalization with similar conditions, because the outcome of a stroke depends only on the speed of care. And do not be nervous once again: life without experience is much better and in the absence of a dangerous diagnosis.