Running post Stroke

Thanks for these posts, they are very encouraging. I had a stroke 2 weeks ago. Fortunately my symptoms are very mild – unsteady walking, numbness on right side, watery left eye, more frequent urination. I was diagnosed two days ago with a rare form of stroke – Wallenburg syndrome. Prior to this I was a very competitive 55-59 age-group runner and I’ve run a bunch of sub-2:40 marathons and more recently sub-3:00 marathons. Like other people in this thread I had no known risk-factors for stroke, I’ll be having a lot of follow-up tests on my cardiovascular system, so we’ll see. I’d barely even tried to run since my stroke, and had assumed my running days and certainly my competitive running days were over. Anyway, inspired by this thread I went out and had my first post-stroke run this morning – 1 mile in 10:46 – so who knows? Thankfully, it looks like I have a long road ahead.

Certain blood regulators are more likely than others to cause muscle ache. Talk with your doctor about the options. Your doctor will likely also recommend a few supplements to take that are theorized to help you feel more normal while on a blood regulator.

Stay hydrated. That will help immensely. I don't just mean pure water, either, but slightly saline solutions, electrolytes, etc. It will help your running and reduce risks.

Update on my post stroke recovery -

http://www.runnersworld.com/new-york-city-marathon/for-nyc-marathon-stalwart-one-streak-ends-another-endures

Had a right occipital CVA a little over a year ago, caused by a clot that formed in my atria following an extended bout of A-Fib. Was in Northern NH on business, went into A-Fib, was ok till I got home, went to the MD, got some Xarelto, too late. Converted to NSR on the way home from the MD, however the next day went down out cold like a bag of rocks in Home Depot. Have had idiopathic A-Fib since my mid 20's, comes and goes (used to run myself out of it).............have had several successful cardioversions. All symptoms resolved within an hr. of getting to the ER, following the ingestion of copious amounts of aspirin. Started running again a week later, also swimming as I do that competitively also. Still have a nice white spot on my occipital lobe though. Lucky SOB am I.

Congratulations on your great strides in your recovery. I know it took a whole lot of blood, sweat and tears. I’m going through some of that now, climbing back from a major stroke which occured on the operating table after a suffering a carotid artery disection while out jogging before work one morning last May. Recovery has been the toughest hill I’ve encountered thus far, and I sorely really miss both the pure enjoyment and relief I previously achieved through running. After many months of rehab, relearning to walk independently, with an ongoing goal of resuming to run, an AFO was suggested to me, to help keep my left toe up to keep from tripping while i begin to attempt to run. The AFO finally arrived and I took it for a test drive. Disappointed doesn't begin to adequately describe how i feel. The AFO successfully supports my foot/ankle, but it also completely immobilizes it. I don’t know if theres a better option out there. And my therapist doesnt think it would be safe for me to try to run without assistance. I’m at a loss on my next step. Any suggestions or advice would be appreciated.

hi i to had a stroke where my left side was compleatly paralised and like you my firs start on recovery was good due to the fact i was very fit b4 the stoke mine was a while ago now but still affects me but i have now started to jog again i used to be quite good at running used to run for a club but im finding it hard just to jog the left side is good walking but jorgging runing is a whole new ball game and ive now pulled my calfs which i think must be down to thw way im jogging and my gait must be all over the place so need to get a pair of trainers to fit my limp as it were be more than happy to chat as im to trying to get my 5k time down to somthing under 30 for now a far cry from the 2 london marathons ive done but does make you feel better

I suffered a carotid dissection while out running on October 1st. I am in the best shape of my life and was 14 weeks into an 18 week training plan to break 1:30:00 in the HM. I'm still in shock and wondering when I'll ever run again. I'm not fast by LR standards, but I was competitive in some local races for my age at least. I was up and walking within the next couple of days, but I still have some deficiencies on my right side that I'm working through. I'm going to PT 3X week and walking on the other days, but damn running seems so far away. Not only that, it's going to be on my mind mentally being that I had the stroke WHILE running.

“It always comes down to just two choices. Get busy living, or get busy dying.”

I had my first stroke in second grade. I recovered from that fairly good. Ended up with some deficits with language that I still struggle with. Physically everything was ok after a few weeks. At least I'm guessing, it was diagnosed as some type of virus that knocked me down for a few weeks. Ah the 70's

Second fairly large stroke was between my Sr. year of HS and Fr year of college. Fortunately, I did not have any physical issues with this one either. I was diagnosed with mono but did not test for it. I think I slept over 20 hours a day for about 2 weeks. In about a months time I was back to running. My school suffered a good deal from this one. My running suffered a good deal too. Seemed like I was always exhausted.

6 months later I had another stroke. I was very fortunate on this one too because I didn't have any physical issues. Ended up sleeping 20+ hours a day for 3 weeks this time. I was diagnosed with mono again even though I didn't test for it. Good thing though is I was allowed to red shirt the track season. I never fully recovered from this one though. I had a hard time staying focused on something. Thinking was physically draining on me. I ended up dropping out of school because of it.

10 years ago, I had another stroke. This time the left side was numb, had a really hard time walking for a bit, I could speak ok but would mix up my sentence structure and such. I had an MRI done after this happened. I have hundreds/thousands of lesions on my blood vessels in my central nervous system. Diagnosis is something called a stroke gene. Mutation on CCM6 which causes me to be prone to brain bleeds.

I went back to work after 3 weeks. Only was able to do this because my boss would let me take naps at lunch. Otherwise I'd of not been able too. Anything that required any amount of thinking would drain me physically. reading, typing, paperwork, even talking. My physical issues went away within a few months. Dang was it frustrating, I'd forget simple things, I'd go to my locker to get something, forget why I went, then remember why I went, then forget my combination, then remember, then forget why I went in the first place. This would happen several times a day. A few times I just locked myself in the bathroom at work and felt sorry for myself I got so frustrated.

Spent about 5 years like that. Mentally I was getting better everyday. It just took a long time. Physically I turned into a wreck. I'd go to work and go home. 90% of the time I would just sit on the couch or sleep. I was to tired to do anything most days.

Watching Shaw Shank one day I heard that quote from Andy and said screw it. Walked over to the track and proceeded to run 50m before I was completely out of breath. Been working on it ever since. Oh well, I enjoy doing it.

To the OP, just be careful and have fun. Let someone know your route or where you are running. You may have some setbacks from muscles not firing as well as they should. Just do what you can. BTW I ran sub 24 for 5k recently. I'm sure you will be able to too.