Carotid Artery Dissection my 10 Month Update
by
Cliona Kelliher
- Sunday, April 17, 2016
I decided to do a 10 month update of my Carotid Artery Dissection progress. If you are new to my blog you can read about my diagnosis and subsequent progress here - Carotid Artery Dissection.
Even though nothing major has happened in a while, I was reminded recently of the fact that others have read and been helped by previous posts so this, I guess, is an encouragement for those going through it and still struggling perhaps.
The good news is that day by day, things are improving. The bad news is that many days are still plagued by fatigue and feeling down because of my inability to have the life I had before. I suppose my main goal at the moment is to genuinely come to terms with it and properly accept my limitations.
A very common occurrence with those of us who have had carotid artery dissections is to completely overdo it on the days where energy levels seem high, This can result in a total crash and burn afterwards which is psychologically difficult.
The key is to be aware of this and not overdo it - much easier said than done I know!
I'm sure others have different ways of coping with this but for me I've learnt that if I start doing loads of things and don't give myself the opportunity to sit down and rest for at least an hour in the day, I suffer with fatigue, feeling overwhelmed and the head/eye socket pain returns.
Having returned to work (possibly too soon) after my dissection, my routine is now pushing myself through the days I'm in work (just 3 thankfully) and trying to rest as much as I can over the days I'm off. I also have my candle business, though, and the level of activity I kept up pre-dissection is just not possible for me anymore. Friday evening is just pure exhaustion, Saturday not much better. I usually have a nap every day I'm off although by Tuesday I'm starting to feel more normal. Then it's back to work on Wednesday :)
Today, though, I'm feeling pretty positive - I visited my good friend Sue at the weekend, drove nearly 5 hours to get there on Friday, managed to have drinks on Friday night and the two of us danced like mad for an hour and a half and I still felt ok enough to go for a beach walk on Saturday without feeling totally awful.
I drove back this morning and although I'm super exhausted I feel like I've definitely made progress.
I'm really hoping it won't all hit me like a tonne of bricks during the week but, you know, the joy of being my normal self made it all so worth it. I really chilled out and it felt like a weight lifted off me.
Also, being in Donegal just soothes my soul, how could it not, it's so stunning
Even though nothing major has happened in a while, I was reminded recently of the fact that others have read and been helped by previous posts so this, I guess, is an encouragement for those going through it and still struggling perhaps.
The good news is that day by day, things are improving. The bad news is that many days are still plagued by fatigue and feeling down because of my inability to have the life I had before. I suppose my main goal at the moment is to genuinely come to terms with it and properly accept my limitations.
A very common occurrence with those of us who have had carotid artery dissections is to completely overdo it on the days where energy levels seem high, This can result in a total crash and burn afterwards which is psychologically difficult.
The key is to be aware of this and not overdo it - much easier said than done I know!
I'm sure others have different ways of coping with this but for me I've learnt that if I start doing loads of things and don't give myself the opportunity to sit down and rest for at least an hour in the day, I suffer with fatigue, feeling overwhelmed and the head/eye socket pain returns.
Having returned to work (possibly too soon) after my dissection, my routine is now pushing myself through the days I'm in work (just 3 thankfully) and trying to rest as much as I can over the days I'm off. I also have my candle business, though, and the level of activity I kept up pre-dissection is just not possible for me anymore. Friday evening is just pure exhaustion, Saturday not much better. I usually have a nap every day I'm off although by Tuesday I'm starting to feel more normal. Then it's back to work on Wednesday :)
Today, though, I'm feeling pretty positive - I visited my good friend Sue at the weekend, drove nearly 5 hours to get there on Friday, managed to have drinks on Friday night and the two of us danced like mad for an hour and a half and I still felt ok enough to go for a beach walk on Saturday without feeling totally awful.
I drove back this morning and although I'm super exhausted I feel like I've definitely made progress.
I'm really hoping it won't all hit me like a tonne of bricks during the week but, you know, the joy of being my normal self made it all so worth it. I really chilled out and it felt like a weight lifted off me.
Also, being in Donegal just soothes my soul, how could it not, it's so stunning
We even enjoyed some champagne for Sue's birthday :)
Like many who have had a dissection, I will remain on aspirin for life as the artery is healing but narrowed somewhat. I need to monitor blood pressure and cholesterol but doctors can discuss these types of things as they are on a case to case basis.
My focus here on the blog is to talk about all the symptoms that have been poorly researched and are not thoroughly understood by the medical profession (except for some specialists). I do hope and pray that this whole area will be looked at much more carefully and that all the many symptoms will be properly documented and related to specific CAD areas.
This can be one of the most frustrating aspects of CAD, having physical symptoms dismissed or not connected to CAD. Having read the stories of so many others, I thank god regularly that I discovered the Facebook support group and all the lovely people there who have gone through the same experiences as myself.
If you are going through this or have just been diagnosed, please don't hesitate to contact me for chat or support and remember that it does get better!
Here are the Facebook links again:
Facebook Carotid Artery Group (Closed)
Facebook Carotid Artery Group (Public)
