Sorry for the long post...
I was 46 at the time no prior history..

Glad I found this thread. I had my stroke on July 5th 2018. None of the FAST symptoms at all. Apart from pain in my neck for about two weeks prior, which I put down to over doing the weights at the gym.

I woke up at 5am with a groggy type of feeling at the back of my head. Went to get a glass of water then all of a sudden the dizziness hit. It was beyond anything I can describe. Then I lost control of my legs and then vomiting arrived. My daughter heard my calls for help and my wife called the ambulance.

Next thing I know , I woke up in hospital. CT showed nothing, MRI showed stroke in left and right cerebellum , thalamus and parietal lobe.
Given a strong antihistamine for dizziness, it made me high. The dizziness went the next day but not completely. Apparently my speech was slurred but I do not remember this.

From what I was told, CT does not show cerebellum strokes too well because of the location near the bone, can anyone confirm this? Anyhow as a result the stroke was only discovered hours later, too late for TPA.

Further investigation and a bubble echo revealed PFO. Head and neck CTA and legs showed no concerns. Doctors put me on Clopidogrel and Statin, even though my blood appeared normal. Was sent home two days later although I was not ready to go home.

As I could walk and talk , no help was offered to me. Doctors were unsure ( or did not want to commit ) of what activity/exercise I could do. This is still the case today ( December 18 )

I feel well enough in myself but initially I was very tired, exhausted to be honest.

The biggest thing is that my mood has been affected, fortunately I have a wonderful wife!

I do get depressed but I force myself to get on with things, it is hard, some days I feel like checking into psych ward just for a break from reality for me and my family. I get easily distracted, once I remember something it is not an issue, it is more things like remembering to call someone, I will remember hours later or the next day. Very frustrating.

In October I started running again, something I used to do a few years ago. This has really helped with my moods but it is so hard. I am now doing 5k three times a week.

I am waiting for my cardio appointment in FEB 19 to confirm closure of the PFO, the main concern is recurrence of stroke until PFO is closed. The neurologist did not seem concerned but as I said to him, unless you have a stroke understanding the anxiety is rather difficult.

I just want to say to everyone, stay strong, find a distraction if you can, for me it helped but of course our journeys and experience are all unique to us. Don't let anyone ever judge you or tell you where you should be in your recovery.