Stroke and Sleep

[nikkiboy]

My boyfriend had a major stroke which left him paralyzed on the right side which he says causes him pain when he moves. His right eye is unusable and hurts all the time but worse when he is watching TV too much, he has dizziness which also gets worse when he moves around too much. He is wheelchair bound. He sleeps or has his eyes closed about 18 hours a day. He says it helps with his dizziness and eye strain. Is this normal for some stroke patients?

[caregiver222]

Sorry about my spelling, but I am temporarily without the sight of one eye and if affects my ability to see the keyboard..

[caregiver222]

Sounds good to me Buckeye. Neurontin is also marketed as gabapentin. You realize,of course, that what you need is a consult with an opthamalogilal neurologist. Your syndrome is pretty common, though. Ther is almost always significant improvement.

[OneScaredBuckeye]

If your boyfriend is taking aspirin to help prevent another attack, he should never take ibuprofen as it cancels out the anti-clotting effect on the platelets and he should never stop aspirin suddenly, either, except on the advice of a physician.  Neurontin would seem safer to me.  It also doesn't cause the stomach problems ibuprofen can.

[caregiver222]

Let me go out on a long limb. The right eye pain is suggestive of inflamation that can be relieved by ibuprufin. I suspect he has had nerve damage to the 3rd and 4th cranial nerves, which often regenerate within six months. Usually the prescription is to wear a patch over one eye during that period, but nowadays some  prescribe a simple circle of white paper or a tanslucent material from 3/8 to a half inch in diameter in the middle of the affected eye (on glasses, of course). The dizziness is probably because both eyes do not focus together because of the cranial nerve involvement. Often there is nausea and you "can't sense being level", similar to a disorder of the vestribular organs. The pain if sometimes treated with neurontin, a presscription medication. He doesn't need to have both eyes closed. Onloy one. This will prevent the strain. In most cases there is signifcant improvement over time.