fatique and restlessness following stroke

[Milana]

My mother is recovering from her left sided stroke.  She has a lot of fatigue and feels very restless.  Is fatigue a normal after effect of stroke?  I read that restlessness is associated with depression.  Can this also be a neurological effect of stroke?
Thank you.

[Rod Williams]

I can only speak for myself, I am 62, had a stroke last July, 04, when I woke up
7 weeks later in the hospital, my wife had orders to find a nursing home.

I was as weak as a kitten, prior to going in I was very strong but the stroke
and subsequent hospital stay took it away as well as much of my body
weight.

Today I am almost back to normal, still a bit weak but with a good exercise
program I am getting back to complete normal.  I was weak and jittery and
from the morning to night I saw no progress but from week to week I could
see progress being made.  Be patient.

Also since you have the internet, read some of the other questions and perhaps
they will help, check out the side effects of the medication and try to take as
little as possible or find a good alternative.  I was being given pills that had some
terrible side effects and once my doctor gave me the go ahead to stop taking them
I feel a great deal better, more natural and normal.

I never did go to a nursing home, I have almost recovered fully, in fact in many ways I am in better shape than before the stroke, mostly because I quit smoking. Both alcohol and nicotine are bad for our bodies.

Good luck, be as positive as possible, if you believe that you can make it, you can.

[Milana]

Thank you for your personal story.  It helped my mother realize she had "common" symptoms.

[Rod Williams]

I recently joined a Stroke Support Group, I haven't attended my first meeting
but I am looking forward to it.  When I woke up after 7 weeks and figured
out what had happened to me, I really wanted to talk with people who had like experiences.  When my physical therapist walked me down a flight of stairs,
that was fairly simple but getting back up was the hard part but it was worth
the struggle.

Our brains go through a period of 'rewiring themselves', for this I kept my
brain busy with puzzles and such on the internet, Yahoo card games come
to mind, they helped me loads.  Don't despair, if I am any indication of
recovery, we can actually become better than we were before, I not only
feel better, I am more calm and relaxed, I am completely medication free
and I want to keep it that way.  I was being given Dilantin which dilates the
vessels in order to help prevent another stroke.  The side effects include
constipation, loss of taste and smell and it messes with our sleep.  

There is something better than Dilantin but in the United States, although
I think that California is okay, Medical Marijuana will dilate the vessels, it will
not make the patient constipated, it will not interfere with sleep nor will it
take away the senses of taste and smell.  Maybe you'll have to move to a
country where the people have more freedoms than in the U.S.A. because here
it is more or less a felony yet it can help save lives.

[Rod Williams]

Here is a link for some information:

http://www.elon.edu/student/jguske/chemistry/anandamide/anandamide_1.html

[grandmother242]

My husband had a stroke two months ago.  He now needs to be catheized every few hours since his bladder is paralyzed.  Has this happened to anyone?  What did you do for it?  How long did it last?