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[cva66]

I had brain stem stroke on 2 days before thanksgiving.  I guess I am really lucky from all that I have been reading on the internet.

I have a hard time typing now since the stroke and my speech is slurred. I sound drunk but without drinking anything.

My speech therapist and neurologist are really hopeful that I will be 100% in a couple of weeks from the looks of things.  Are there any supplements that seem to help the stroke survivor?  I am taking a lot of CoQ10 since my stroke and have improved so much since being discharged from the hospital a week ago.

So my question is there any supplements that improves things?

ed

[sue_in_oz]

Sorry to hear about your stroke.  Congratulations on your recovery so far :), you sound like you are doing really well.

I don't know about supplements but keep working on you remain deficits, eg practice talking, trying to speak as clearly as you can, etc.  Also get plenty of rest, your barin needs time to heal. You may feel a little "foggy", that too should pass with time.

Every stroke is different & therefore so is the recovery.The one thing i have found that all my fellow strokees have in common with me is the fatigue - so don't fight it, listen to your body & brain.

All the best & keep at it,

Kind regards

sue_in_oz

[Luckylinn]

My 30 year old sister had a massive stroke on Feb 9, 2009. She had surgery on her cerebellum and was in ICU for 35 days. She developed an infection on her surgery (Mersa), and also got meningitis. She went to rehab for a week before she ended up back in the hospital having to have a shunt put in. She went back to rehab for a month, but we decided to take her home after seeing she was only getting 3 hours of therapy a day and nothing the rest of the time. We changed her to Outpatient and currently take her in 3 days a week. The list of things that she needs therapy with is long. She has lost her ability to walk, she has no balance. She lost her speech although it has come back slurred. She was on a feeding tube for 2 1/2 months and just recently started eating again, although very sloppy. She cannot fully swallow yet, still somewhat chokes on water. Her mind is sharp, her memory intact but her emotions are tricky. She has 3 kids who were her life before all this, but she now seems very unemotional towards them. There are many questions we have, will she ever walk again? will she ever regain her emotions? could we do something to help her that we are not currently doing? Hear stroke was determined to be caused by an abnormal vein formation which ruptured when she was lifting weights. Have any stroke survivors rehabilitated from such severe strokes, and if so how long can we expect it to take. We see some improvements in her rehabilitation although very slow which can be very frustrating. Any input would be greatly appreciated.  

[sue_in_oz]

Hi

Sorry to hear about your sister's stroke :(  Thank you for seeking information to help her.

Stroke is such a horrible thing & it can happen to anyone.

It's good to hear that she is improving her swallow.  Does she see a speech therapist for this?  Of the deficits you mentioned I think this has the priority, so that she can prevent choking & prevent aspirations into her lungs.

Recovery from severe strokes is possible.  It may not be complete (maybe it will) but life can still be happy & productive.  The strokee really has to be the driver in their recovery to get the most benefit - no amount of pushing by others will get them to do the work required if they don't really want to.

Having said that, it is still very early days for your sister.  Her brain has just had a massive injury and is still in the recovery phase.  Overwhelming fatigue will probably a huge issue (three hours therapy a day may have even been too much for her in hospital), also probably some sort of brain "fog" where you know you are not aware of things around you like before.  These get better with time.  

Along with the physical recovery, please consider psychological support.  It is a huge change in her life to deal with & most of us can't do it properly without some help.  Depression is all too common amongst strokees.

Please keep loving & supporting your sister - she really needs you.  There is a long, hard road ahead.

HTH

Sue

[BJ71]

Every stroke is different. I have dealt with alot of stroke patients but only recently at my own back door with my mother. She had right side paralysis and her speech like your sisters was very slurred. We too have been on an emotional roller coaster. We did get mom on a anti depressant and it has helped. My mom and dad moved in with me and my husband and my daughter and grandkids live next door and my brother close by and this has helped mom tremendously. We are all there for her to encourage her and help her through the bad days and there are many down days too. But they did not give us hope and my mom is truly a miracle. The therapies we went through were horrible she may have gotten an hour a day at the hospital rehab and then we had outpatient which wasn't much better. We would have 1 good therapist out of the three therapies that she had but what we we did was went to the therapies with her and luckily I have a job where I work with therapist and we have done it on our own. My dad works with her all day long stretching her legs working her arms doing speech exercises and my mom now walks with a walker and the help of 1 person holding a gait belt. Her speech has gotten much better although some days still not so good but we can understand most of what she says. It is a long long road and it is going to take exhausting time on a daily basis but you get results in the end I have seen them. My mom could not move at first and certainly could not walk or talk. It has been 6 months and we are halfway there . Our journey will not end until she is capable of doing for herself and they go back to their home however long that takes. You can't rush it. Just love, support, cry with her and be there for her good and bad and keep praying. Good luck. Never give up>

[heavenlyitems]

I just had a stroke last week.  I am pretty healthy.  It runs deep in my dad's side of the family at young ages.. I am 48.  The stroke was called a "minor" stroke in the cerebellum.  I do not have blockages in my arteries at all.  I am a bit confused as to how I can have a stroke with no blockages.. They mentioned something about small vessel but I do not understand... I just know that I had a stroke and I am overwhelmed.

[sue_in_oz]

Hi there

Sorry to hear about your stroke :(

Yes, that can be a bit confusing, having an ischemic stroke with no blocked blood vessels.  Most information provided for the general public leads you to believe that this is not possible.  But you & I know that it is indeed possible.

One possibilty is a small clot that came into your brain & then later broke up by itself.

Another one, is vessel spasm, causing the artery to "simply" squeeze shut & block the blood flow.  This is what happened to me due to my extremely high blood pressure (240/130 on admission).  I know other strokees whose blood pressure wasn'y as high as mine who had bleeds but my vessels just decided to clamp shut.

There are probably others but I just don't what they are.

HTH

Sue

[kmarieo]

Hello All.

My dad had a brain stem stroke on September 15th. He is still in intensive care. They keep him in intensive care because he is not responsive enough and they fear that he will not be able to keep his airways open (he has a tube kepping it open know. He can not open his eyes yet (although he did once while the nurses moved him). I don't know much about the recovery for this type of stroke. He has been responsive one day with following commands, but the last two days he has not been as responsive to the nurses. The nurses said the doctor will have to put in a trake if he does not become more concious within the next week...

How long before we should see more reactions from my dad?

Thank you for any information you can give. It is greatly appreciated!