Weird symptoms post-stroke...anxiety?

[Cat12345]

Hi all,

Nearly 8 months ago I had a stroke due to a bilateral VAD. Since then my arteries have healed and the only medication I'm on is baby aspirin.

I've had some weird symptoms that I've chalked up to anxiety because I've seen my neurologist and an eye doctor that say everything is OK. I've had lots of eye floaters, after images, and some visual noise in low light. My neuro ophthalmologist said these could be related to the stroke but that my eyes are healthy.

I've had some tingling in my arms and legs only recently, several months after the stroke, which I believe to be from carrying my increasingly heavy son and pinched nerves. I had a medical massage and that has improved, although I still get this.

The past few days I've felt like my right forearm and right leg feel icy, like a cold wind is blowing on them or like icy water is running in my veins. This is a new symptom I haven't had before.

I feel anxiety daily since having the stroke and am constantly worried about having another one, having other medical problems, you name it. I never was a hypochondriac before. Now I'm worried these symptoms could be MS.

I've had several MRIs of my brain done, with and without contrast, most recently two months ago. Would these have shown If I could have MS?

I really would like to believe this is all anxiety, but then again I never thought I'd have a stroke at 29, so now I feel like anything could happen to me.

Thanks for reading!

[Cat12345]

And as far as going to see my neurologist, I already feel like I have seen him too many times for what turned out to be anxiety and it is getting expensive. Of course I will contact him if symptoms persist or if they get worse. I just wanted to get a quick sanity check. Thanks. :)

[ann007]

I can totally relate to you, and think they are anxiety related. About a year ago I had my first ever migraine with visual symptoms.. but as I had never heard of migraines causing visual symptoms I totally thought I was having a stroke and called 911. Off to the hospital and basically pumped so full of drugs that I was out for 12 hours. I was totally freaked out and scared about having another one.

I had a lot of eye floaters but my eye doctor could only see 2 or 3 when he examined me. I don't really notice them now except in dim cloudy light. I also have after images and visual noise. I cannot find any explanation for these things. One theory I came across is that we are hypersensitive to things that most people’s brains just automatically ignore, like how we ignore our noses, even though its right in our visual field.

All I can say is it gets better, and as long as everything checks out, its anxiety. My anxiety is mainly caused about worrying about having another migraine, even though I’ve had a few since that initial one. Hopefully your symptoms will start to lessen.