Skip to main content

A recent article I received about stroke awareness

I had received this article some time ago and wanted to post it on my blog.

Maximizing Recovery Following a Stroke

--Philip J Reed, on behalf of Valley Hospital Medical Center

When it comes to having a stroke it’s a pretty well known fact that prevention is the absolute best medicine. However, if you have already suffered one, there are many options available to you to help regain function and vastly improve your quality of life.

Because of the many different types of stroke rehabilitation being offered, your chances of finding something that works for you are excellent.

Proper rehabilitation immediately after suffering a stroke is the key to getting the best benefits from your efforts.

Practitioners at your primary stroke center will function as a group to create an effective plan of action to radically increase your chances of a return to your life inasmuch as is possible.

Physical therapy- This is a very important part of recovery after a stroke as victims often lose limb function or body awareness. Physical therapy and repeated exercise can often re-train the brain to access those commands and abilities which can greatly help stroke victims regain lost independence.

Speech therapy- It’s very easy to take the ability to communicate for granted, particularly if you’ve never had it taken from you or had it impaired in any way. Stroke victims very often lose the ability to communicate, whether it’s the inability to formulate words or to connect the proper word with whichever ones were intended to be spoken. This can be an unbelievably frustrating issue which can lead to other problems, including depression, frustration and anger. Intensive speech therapy can help patients to partially or even fully regain the ability to communicate which can help facilitate further progress.

Occupational Therapy- This therapy is multi faceted and helps in regaining the details of daily life including decision making, practical life skills and an understanding of your physical world.

The family factor- With all attention on the mental, physical, and medical health and well being of the stroke victim, it’s very easy to forget about the patient’s support system- the family and loved ones. The more knowledge that they have about what a stroke victim is dealing with and going through, the better they can support them. Being actively involved in rehabilitation with professionals at the patient’s primary stroke center and educating themselves can only serve to increase the manner in which they can actively participate and help their loved one.

Anyone who says that the road back from a stroke is easy is lying. However, with a lot of hard work and a great rehabilitation team, there is light at the end of the tunnel. There is an improved quality of life that is waiting.

Comments

  1. LindaOctober 5, 2011 at 8:53 PM

    Good article and so true.

    My health care team has made all the difference in how well I am recovering.

    ReplyDelete
  2. ray ban wayfarerApril 7, 2013 at 11:41 PM

    Kyrie Irving Jersey
    chris paul jersey
    harden jersey
    http://www.nbaleagueshop.us/
    Unless they [i.e. South African problems] are treated with more honest intelligence, and on a more settled plan than it has hitherto been thought necessary to apply to them, the British taxpayer will find that he has by no means heard the last of that country and its wars.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Harold McCorkleMay 19, 2013 at 3:59 PM

    Looking for part-time bloggers,
    NO Experience Needed has Full Training Provided.
    http://socialmediabar.com/be-empowered-get-all-in

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Does it get any worse than a stroke? Yes

On December 8, 2008, my life changed forever. I had a double sided cerebellar stroke with 2 brain stem compressions. It was not until December 10, 40 hours after my stroke, that surgery was finally done to relieve the pressure. Dr. Piper, the neuro-surgeon from Iowa Methodist hospital in Des Moines, told my wife that surgery was nothing more than an attempt to save my life, but that it would not erase the deficiencies as a result of the stroke. Although she admits that she did not really understand what Dr. Piper had just said, my wife, Laura, agreed to the surgery and the care team performed a decrompessive craniotomy, to hopefully relieve the pressure and allow my brain to function somewhat normally. For those who have followed my blog for the last 14+ years, the surgery was successful, I returned to the church and I now live a relatively normal life, although I do have some pretty severe, though not always visible, defieciencies. I really thought that life could not get any worse th
Post a Comment
Read more

Sometimes my new life stinks...

For the last few weeks I have been experiencing some pretty terrible headaches; not the kind that you can relieve by rubbing your temples or taking Tylenol, but headaches that radiate from the back of my head. It seems as though I have tried several things to relieve them: taking naps, lying down on heating pads, taking Tylenol, turning the lights of, etc. but nothing seems to help. Now, I don't have them all the time, only a few days a week and I can tell that they are more from muscle tightness than anything else. I have been instructed to go the ER if they flare up again, because of my past history of headaches before my stroke, but most likely it is due to the muscles that were cut in the back of my head for the Craniotomy. I would say that most days I do not struggle with headaches at all; but, the days I do have headaches they are a doozy. I don't have blurred vision with them or sensitivity to light or sound; it just hurts. As I look back over the past 3+ years I realize
8 comments
Read more

Sometimes I forget...and sometimes I just have a problem putting words together

It has been almost 15 years since my stroke, so you would think that, by now, I would be readily prepared for everything that life can throw my way; but, I often forget what it's like to have a simple head cold after my stroke. Now, understand, I am not suggesting that other people don't feel bad when they have a cold; it is just that it is different for a stroke survivor. Maybe some of the other stroke survivors feel the same way: many times when I get a head cold with the congestion, suffy nose, fever, etc., it begins to feel like I'm having a stroke again. For those who don't know what this is like, let me try to explain. I get up at night, whether to go to the bathroom or some other reason, and I feel completely disoriented for a few seconds. Not like I'm groggy, but that I feel the room is spinning, I can't tell which direction I am going, I forget where the bathroom is for an instant, things like that. On the first day of this last cold, I was going down
Post a Comment
Read more