Stroke recovery
Discussion
A dear neighbour of mine had a stroke a couple of months ago. He was a fit hale and hearty man of 54 fond of long walks with his dog. He is still recovering and seems to have been badly hit. He still can't walk, has no balance due to eye problems according to his wife who is bearing up remarkably well considering.
Any ideas if he will recover enough to get out of the wheelchair? It's breaking his heart. First grandchild just arrived etc.
Any ideas if he will recover enough to get out of the wheelchair? It's breaking his heart. First grandchild just arrived etc.
Tunku said:
A dear neighbour of mine had a stroke a couple of months ago. He was a fit hale and hearty man of 54 fond of long walks with his dog. He is still recovering and seems to have been badly hit. He still can't walk, has no balance due to eye problems according to his wife who is bearing up remarkably well considering.
Any ideas if he will recover enough to get out of the wheelchair? It's breaking his heart. First grandchild just arrived etc.
Not impossible, is he now back at home or still in rehab in hospital?Any ideas if he will recover enough to get out of the wheelchair? It's breaking his heart. First grandchild just arrived etc.
If he's going to keep being a wheelchair user then (encourage them to) get him a powerchair or possibly a stroke-friendly self propel chair ASAP - it'll get him back into being active/in control, not passive sitting in a chair someone else is pushing/steering.
In fact the above may help even if he IS working back towards walking as his primary means of getting about.
I'm no expert, more and armchair neuro-interested, but I'd try to invoke the plasticity of the brain as much as possible. Plasticity is ultimately the thing that's going to determine his recovery, as old areas of the brain have to learn functions that the damaged areas used to do. The brain can do it, but it's a slow process involving a lot of hard work and patience.
Mental and physical exercises along with diet are the key.
Brain food is Omega-3, magnesium, choline and carbs... Omega-3 particularly is linked to memory function, concentration levels, growth and general brain health.
Mental and physical exercises along with diet are the key.
Brain food is Omega-3, magnesium, choline and carbs... Omega-3 particularly is linked to memory function, concentration levels, growth and general brain health.
I have an uncle who had a stroke 13 years ago at the age of 63.
It took him 3 months in the stroke recovery unit to get back to walking.
After he was discharged, there was a further slow improvement for about a year which left him able to walk about 100 metres on a good day. He was able to return home - he lived alone.
Since then, he has has a slow decline and he went into residential care last year.
I guess everyone is different, but from what I have read, most recovery is in the first few months.
HTH
It took him 3 months in the stroke recovery unit to get back to walking.
After he was discharged, there was a further slow improvement for about a year which left him able to walk about 100 metres on a good day. He was able to return home - he lived alone.
Since then, he has has a slow decline and he went into residential care last year.
I guess everyone is different, but from what I have read, most recovery is in the first few months.
HTH
majordad said:
A friend has lost his voice almost after a stroke, will it come back, that was 3 mths ago now ?
Lost ability to make noises, or lost his speech altogether?It's a little bit harder with speech is my understanding (I'm not someone that knows about stroke medicine, I'm someone that knows about speech problems...) because all the mechanisms are so incredibly complex.
Does your friend have a communication aid, specifically, does s/he have one that talks?
It's hard to start using something like that - the voices have really come along but they do still have a touch of the dalek about them - but with a bit of confidence someone who can still spell will have a way to say absolutely anything and everything, and be understood by anybody.
My best friends daughter had a stroke aged 15, she lost use of left side of body.
She spent 72 days in hospital sppech and face recovered in a couple of weeks and was discharged 2 weeks ago, now able to walk not graceful, and can move her left shoulder a little.
She was left handed as well so proving hard for her, she is going back to school for a couple of hours a week, but gets tired easy going to a long time hopefully to recover.
She spent 72 days in hospital sppech and face recovered in a couple of weeks and was discharged 2 weeks ago, now able to walk not graceful, and can move her left shoulder a little.
She was left handed as well so proving hard for her, she is going back to school for a couple of hours a week, but gets tired easy going to a long time hopefully to recover.
My mother had a bad stroke at 78 years old. On the day of the incident the consultant advised me that she had a 10% chance of survival through that night and then 10% chance recovery if she made it. She made as full a recovery as possible and lived until 90. Luckily we have medics in the family and over the recovery period we coached her back to normal life. This means quite tough love; not spoon feeding or compensating but teaching them to re-learn everything, including walking and reading. It can all come back quite fast. My mother drove again for a while, started painting again and reading French novels. The only downside was that she lost her energy and would tire quickly. Our experience is that if the expectations are set of an impaired life that's what will result.
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