Paula's story

What happened?

Throughout August 2023, I was experiencing headaches that would wake me from my sleep and felt pressure on my head similar to having a head cold or sinus infection. I could also hear my heartbeat in my right ear (known as pulsatile tinnitus), which made it difficult to sleep. When I went to my GP, he initially diagnosed me with a sinus infection and put me on a course of antibiotics. 

A week later on the evening of the 31st of August, I was working from home on my laptop and my vision became completely blurred.

My GP then referred me to the Mater Hospital Eye Emergency Department to get my eyes checked and didn’t recognise that I had a stroke. The Doctor in Mater Eye Emergency confirmed that there was no issue with my eyesight and referred me to A&E for further tests to see what caused my vision impairment. To my surprise, the Stroke Team confirmed that I had several strokes. 

In hindsight, I should’ve acted sooner and gone to the hospital straight away. I never thought that I would have a stroke at 36 and accepted my GP's diagnosis that it was a sinus infection or migraines.

Biggest challenge

My biggest challenge was post-stroke fatigue because I was always too tired to do my daily tasks, exercise or socialise with family and friends. After any short amount of exercise or concentration on any activity, I would need to lie down for a few hours.

I had to slow down and prioritise one to two activities a day, and factor in time for rest before and after. It took me a while to adapt to my new circumstances and accept that I may never make a 100% recovery. I found socialising very stressful and tiresome trying to keep up with people’s conversations and answer questions.

I also have blurred vision and floaters since the stroke, particularly in my left eye and have sensitivity to natural and artificial lights. Unfortunately, this never improved and I have learned to work with the vision I have and adjust my setting if my lights or my vision is bothering me.

Living well

The biggest change I made was my outlook on life and that I need to focus on the important things such as my health, family and friends.

I work in a demanding, fast-paced industry (tech) which can be stressful and has long working days. When I return to work, I plan to prioritise my health and personal life and live to work not work to live. I also stopped being a people pleaser and learned to prioritise myself more. After having a life-changing experience, I now manage stress better and don’t let the small things affect me.

Stroke advice

After a stroke, you will have good and bad days. You need to listen to your body when it is fatigued and rest to give yourself the best opportunity to recover. Eventually, you will see more good days than bad days and will slowly see progress each day.

Early Supported Discharge service

I worked with an Occupational Therapist at home for 3 months when I was discharged from the hospital. She helped me to identify that I had post-stroke fatigue and vision loss and helped me to manage both better and adapt my life accordingly. She taught me the importance of rest to recover from a stroke and how to slowly start exercising and daily activities again. 

She did cognitive rehab to help me to return to work with memory, numerical and problem-solving tasks.

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