Restoring the mind after hemorrhagic stroke

[deelady328]

My husband is 44 years old. He suffered from a hemorrhagic stroke on 7/3. He has movement on the left side but it is weak. He can speak, eat, talk. He has one more week of acute rehab left as an inpatient then he will follow-up with out-patient thearpy.  The biggest problem I have been having is his mind is not the same. He remembers everyone and everything in the past. However, he adds new experiences that never took place today or in the past. He has hallucinations and paranoia. I have been told it is a delirum that will pass with time. I was told it could be days, weeks, months- no one knows.  Is there anyone that has experienced delirum associated with a stroke? How long did it last? How did you cope with it?  I really miss talking to my husband the way we did before.

[Mrs_gold]

Thank you for your comments, this is very interesting to me.  My mother suffered a massive hemorrhagic stroke on 7/28 and again had a smaller bleed on 8/8/14.   She had surgery on 8/9 to drain the blood and relieve the pressure.  The second Neurologist (different hospital) says they should have done this initially.   She is in a transitional care facility now.   I think the surgery was the right choice in less than a week she was showing sings of major improvement since the initial stroke.    She is speaking, moving, responsive, and making request for things like her ipad and glasses.   However, she is also now displaying signs of paranoia and vivid hallucinations, which I assumed were dreams.   Some of the things she has said have been very upsetting to me.   Her memory seems better for current events and people than past events.   She keeps asking me for her father who passed away several years ago, yet remembers people she has meet within the last few months.    I have been tracking and journaling her progress along with photos, including logging her meds adding anything new I see daily.    She is also on Keppra (switched from Dilantin).   How long was it necessary for your husband to be on Keppra?   Did he have any issued with Long Term Memory?   Thank you.

[Mrs_gold]

Thank you for your comments, this is very interesting to me.  My mother suffered a massive hemorrhagic stroke on 7/28 and again had a smaller bleed on 8/8/14.   She had surgery on 8/9 to drain the blood and relieve the pressure.  The second Neurologist (different hospital) says they should have done this initially.   She is in a transitional care facility now.   I think the surgery was the right choice in less than a week she was showing sings of major improvement since the initial stroke.    She is speaking, moving, responsive, and making request for things like her ipad and glasses.   However, she is also now displaying signs of paranoia and vivid hallucinations, which I assumed were dreams.   Some of the things she has said have been very upsetting to me.   Her memory seems better for current events and people than past events.   She keeps asking me for her father who passed away several years ago, yet remembers people she has meet within the last few months.    I have been tracking and journaling her progress along with photos, including logging her meds adding anything new I see daily.    She is also on Keppra (switched from Dilantin).   How long was it necessary for your husband to be on Keppra?   Did he have any issued with Long Term Memory?   Thank you.

[strokewife]

I know you are likely well past this acute stage and hopefully your husbands memory and delerium have improved by now, but I am commenting in case someone else reads this post looking for answers. In my experience, in the early days in the hospital after my husbands stroke on the right temporal lobe, he had very vivid hallucinations which we thought were normal part of recovery. Some doctors told us yes, others told us it was common with urinary tract infections (catheters can cause this) and finally, correctly, the culprit was Keppra, the anti seizure medication they had him on. Once that was out of his system the hallucinations and false memories stopped.
As for short term memory, that has drastically improved over time, even though we still have some problems 9 months later. Everything just takes time. I am not sure to what degree it will ever improve completely but it's at a tolerable functional level now.
I hope this helps. If not you, then someone, someday.

[flexfire10]

I Have some slight numbness in the lower part of my left leg and a minimal amount in my thigh, how long will it take for neurogenesis to completely restore complete feeling , it's mostly annoying. Thanks to all in advance that respond.
Dorothy

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,
I can understand your concern for your husband but Delirium occurs in almost 1 out of every 8 patients with stroke. Unfortunately To date, there have been no studies that have evaluated either the prevention or the management of delirium post-stroke. I agree with the doctors as the time taken for recovery may be in months or even years. But preventing malnutrition and removal of the cause of stroke helps in quick recovery.
It is very difficult to precisely confirm a diagnosis without examination and investigations and the answer is based on the medical information provided. For exact diagnosis, you are requested to consult your doctor. I sincerely hope that helps. Take care and please do keep me posted on how you are doing.