Living with Stroke
After a Stroke
Once you are released from the hospital after having a stoke, and your doctor provides clearance for you to begin exercising, you will begin a rehabilitation program. Most stroke rehabilitation programs last several weeks to several months after you leave the hospital.
Successful rehabilitation is a team effort, and depends on the following:
- Extent of the brain injury
- Patient's attitude
- Rehabilitation team's skill
- Taking the correct medicines
- Cooperation and support of family and friends
The goal of rehab is to help you take care of yourself as much as possible to prevent having to depend on others. Sometimes you have to re-learn things that you once knew or learn new ways to do things. It's also important to maintain and improve your physical condition when possible, to give you strength and keep you from getting tired. About one in twenty stroke patients will need ongoing assistance for everyday activities such as eating, dressing, using the bathroom and bathing.
The rehab program consists of specially trained therapists who help you in different ways.
- Physical therapy helps you regain muscle strength and teaches you ways to move safely with weak or paralyzed muscles.
- Occupational therapy helps you relearn ways of eating, dressing, grooming, and performing other daily activities.
- Speech therapy may help you if you have difficulties with swallowing, speaking, understanding words, or remembering and/or understanding things.
Recovery depends on the extent of the brain injury. You may improve a great deal within the first few days and weeks after a stroke. Other improvement may happen more gradually. If recovery does not begin within 1 to 2 weeks of a stroke, some muscle movement and speech may not return. However, it's not uncommon to regain speech and muscle strength over the next year.
Your Emotions and Intellect
It may be hard to plan and carry out even simple tasks. Stroke patients may not know how to begin or complete something. They may put on a shoe and then try to put on the sock, or they may forget how to do things they were accustomed to doing before their stroke. More than half of the people who have a stroke, suffer from a treatable depression. If untreated, depression may delay recovery. Talk with your doctor if you feel especially sad or irritable.
After a stroke, patients may cry easily or have sudden mood swings, often for no apparent reason. Although it is rare, a few patients laugh for no reason.
A stroke can also affect seeing, touching, moving and thinking. For example, a person might see everyday objects that are not there, or see them in strange ways.