Life After Right MCA Stroke: Why You May Not Feel Like Yourself After StrokeLife After Right MCA Stroke: Why You May Not Feel Like Yourself After Stroke
Recovery After Stroke
Stroke survivor Heidi Loveridge shares how a right MCA stroke changed her mood and personality, even as her physical recovery progressed. The conversation focuses on emotional shifts, community support and the ongoing search for a new version of "okay" after stroke.
1:15:43•13 Apr 2026
Feeling Like a Different Person After Stroke: Heidi’s Story of Change and Coping
Episode Overview
- Physical recovery can progress well while mood and emotions lag behind, and feeling "not like yourself" after stroke is common.
- Right-hemisphere strokes may be linked to depression and increased tearfulness, even when life appears stable on the surface.
- Community support through church, women’s circles and honest conversations helps reduce the feeling of being alone in recovery.
- Meaningful activities such as walking and knitting can act as practical tools for coping with low mood and anxiety.
- Adopting the mindset that "you can do hard things" can support efforts like learning to drive, rebuilding confidence and facing ongoing therapy.
“I used to be so happy before my stroke and I'm not happy anymore.”
How do people find strength after a life-changing stroke? This conversation on Recovery After Stroke sits with that question by following the story of Heidi Loveridge, who experienced a right MCA stroke at 43 and now feels like a very different version of herself. Physically, Heidi’s outcome sounds impressive: she learned to walk again, moved from wheelchair and walker back to long walks and bike rides, and is even working toward her driver’s licence for the first time.
Yet her main struggle is emotional. As she puts it, "I used to be so happy before my stroke and I'm not happy anymore." If you’ve ever felt that everything looks "fine" from the outside while your mood is somewhere else entirely, you’ll relate quickly. The chat is warm, relaxed and occasionally funny – think knitting during the call, stories about dogs, dentists and cross-country skiing mishaps – but it never glosses over the harder bits.
Heidi talks about depression, crying in public, right-hemisphere stroke mood changes, and the strange shift from lifelong introvert to someone who now loves talking to strangers and joining women’s circles and church communities. There’s also plenty here for people curious about medical detail: migraines with aura as a risk factor, an IVF filter catching clots, blood thinners, and early experiments with red light therapy and laser acupuncture.
Throughout, the focus stays on what "okay" might look like after stroke, even when happiness feels out of reach. Anyone who feels "not like themselves" after a brain injury – and their families – will find comfort in hearing how messy, slow and very human this process can be. Heidi keeps coming back to one simple reminder: you can do hard things. How might that phrase fit into your own recovery story?
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