Recovery

[Sharon2009]

How Soon Will I Recover?

[txpool]

I stroked in late oct07 and walked slowly within 4 months with use of quad cane.  Layed in bed in the hospital given morphine for pain hallucinated daily because of it.  To this day I still have no voluntary movement in my affected arm. I take non- narcotic pain meds around the clock for arm and leg pain. I live alone and find using a power chair helps me get through my daily ADL'S a friend lent me his it's wonderful he got it from the Scooter Store, I am trying now to get my own as he wants his returned.  I have spoken to no Dr's that can give hope about when recovery will if any take place.both private hospitals and the VA Hospitals.  

[oc1dean]

My PT fitted me with a brace that ran from my thigh to my foot on the third day and set me to trying to walk,  He actually had to kick the leg to get it moving, It weighed too much I couldn't move it. I think I was actually walking at the end of the first week with lots of verbal cues from my PT and a AFO and cane.
I never had any pain in any of my extremities. I don't think pain, or lack of it, says much about recovery.
(This brings up my pet peeve about stroke rehab doctors, they don't seem to know anything and leave their patients in the dark asking questions on these forums.)
Dean

[mehraban]

To sharon:
My mom(61years old) had stoke 10 days ago. I am seeking information about how fast the recovery would be also. I found out more physiotherapy (in tolerated limit)can bring you more progress. Also I found something called NeuroAiD to help for speedy recovy, but I have no idea if it works or not.http://www.neuroaid.com/composition.php
you may need to ask your Dr, and please let me know also.

Also I have a question for oc1dean, How soon did you start to walk with help? did you have pain both leg and arm? My mom has pain in her leg but not in her mom. I am wondering if there is any hope for part of body that dosent have any pain at all.
Hope for speedy recovery for all.

[oc1dean]

No one will be able to give an answer to that question since the damage to the brain is different for each person. The standard response is that the brain cells that were just knocked unconscious  usually come back in six months. The recovery of functions that were controlled by the now dead brain cells will require your brain to work on neuroplasticity, basically moving control to another part of your brain. That change can take a long time, I have heard of cases 15-20 years after a stroke and recovery can still take place. It will take lots of hard work and lots of brain power to recover the functions that were lost. I am currently 27 months out and while my leg is working fairly well my arm and hand need to use neuroplasticity to recover.  There is no magical jump in function returning. So the best thing to do is keep a journal of your accomplishments so you can look back and see what progress you have made. The best comment came from my OT who looks at me from the day she first saw me lying half paralyzed in the hospital and says I have come a long way. She told me I need to look at my recovery from how much I have recovered rather than comparing myself to the day before the stroke. I haven't quite succeeded yet at that viewpoint.
Dean