left thalamic stroke

Question

We are sick at heart. Active, intelligent, vibrant mother has been lying in the hospital 7 days with a left thalamic-midbrain stroke perhaps caused by excessive coumidin.  She cannot wake up. We wake her, she can talk, very little memory, then falls asleep again.  No paralysis, but double vision in the left eye.  Does anyone know of anyone waking up from these strokes?  No prognosis given to us by doctors.  Will she ever go home? How long will she live like this? She complained the month before of doing nothing but sleeping.  Was this the stroke? We are sad beyond description.

Kandiseet · Answer

Yes I woke up during a stroke
I had a stroke during my sleep free I had caterer surgery that morning so I know thT she will wake up
Only thing is my left side is not working properly since the stroke

sissieasleep · Answer

7 month is long enough, your father made you promise and you agreed as to his wishes. I would comply. May GOD be with you.

billylee68 · Answer

I am new .  I have read many post for only about  6 hrs.  my heart goes out to those who have suffered a stroke, and wow ! those who are so young.  I wish you all & your family members love, patience, confidence, ambition, faith and good heath.  we write here for advice and reassurance. I need advice or reassurance on the decision my family has come too.  half of me agrees, the other half doesn't.  I 1/2 agree because my father was a very proud man and a very hard worker.  he made us all(siblings) promise we'd never let him end up in a nursing home or on life support.  he never liked doctors or hospitals to begin with.  and we promised him cremation.   he is in a nursing home.  late Feb  my father was found on the floor in the bathroom by his grandson, my daughter called 911.  the doctors said  he suffered a  hemorrhagic stoke on his left side.  my knees went weak at the news but I  remember the words, " a 5 stage stoke" and i remember the cat scan of a very large bleed..  i was told from the get go the prognosis is very poor,not much hope. pneumonia, high blood pressure, dialysis,sepsis, and late stages of emphysema, and on a ventilator and feeding tube the rest of his life.  it has been since late feb. and he failed to be weaned off the vent.  he sleeps 97%  of th time i visit.  when he does wake he stares blankly around the room. 2 times he has stared at me and reached for me hugged me and kissed me. and patted my arm and face. then he'd point his finger at me try to form words with his mouth, make a serious frown and shake his head no. other than this he is non responsive.  most times for myself i feel so selfish that i am going against his wishes for my hope for him to get well.  deep in my heart i believe he is ready to go.  he has had a hard life, did drugs and drank and smoked since he was 13.  a part of me tells me he knows where he stands in life, "that he knows more well than I, and that i need to let go.  Am i ready? yet i don't want him to suffer.  The Lord Bless Us All

billylee68 · Answer

I am new .  I have read many post for only about  6 hrs.  my heart goes out to those who have suffered a stroke, and wow ! those who are so young.  I wish you all & your family members love, patience, confidence, ambition, faith and good heath.  we write here for advice and reassurance. I need advice or reassurance on the decision my family has come too.  half of me agrees, the other half doesn't.  I 1/2 agree because my father was a very proud man and a very hard worker.  he made us all(siblings) promise we'd never let him end up in a nursing home or on life support.  he never liked doctors or hospitals to begin with.  and we promised him cremation.   he is in a nursing home.  late Feb  my father was found on the floor in the bathroom by his grandson, my daughter called 911.  the doctors said  he suffered a  hemorrhagic stoke on his left side.  my knees went weak at the news but I  remember the words, " a 5 stage stoke" and i remember the cat scan of a very large bleed..  i was told from the get go the prognosis is very poor,not much hope. pneumonia, high blood pressure, dialysis,sepsis, and late stages of emphysema, and on a ventilator and feeding tube the rest of his life.  it has been since late feb. and he failed to be weaned off the vent.  he sleeps 97%  of th time i visit.  when he does wake he stares blankly around the room. 2 times he has stared at me and reached for me hugged me and kissed me. and patted my arm and face. then he'd point his finger at me try to form words with his mouth, make a serious frown and shake his head no. other than this he is non responsive.  most times for myself i feel so selfish that i am going against his wishes for my hope for him to get well.  deep in my heart i believe he is ready to go.  he has had a hard life, did drugs and drank and smoked since he was 13.  a part of me tells me he knows where he stands in life, "that he knows more well than I, and that i need to let go.  Am i ready? yet i don't want him to suffer.  The Lord Bless Us All

fisherman56 · Answer

I had a thalamic hemorrage on November 28, 2010 and have since recovered about 95%. My neurologist said on January 31, 2011 that I should consider retirement. I'm 55 and that was not an option. My community group from church prayed over me the next day and I continued therapy. I returned to work on March 1,2011 working 4 hrs a day. I'll be increasing my time at work and plan to begin fulltime work on May 11, 2011. Prayer works!

fergusonjp · Answer

hello, 
My mother had a stroke 4 wks ago today, 1-9-11 .. She was on full life support for a week and half, was taken off life support and put on bypap for a week during these 2 weeks she made little to no improvement and the doctors as well as everyone elses stories have told us nothing but that she could recovery. Her doctor told us that she probably would never recover and her neurologist said he had hope and and thought she could walk again but again it was up to her to do the recovery.. Nothing more than some wiggling toes and squeezing a had here and there until this Wednesday I was talking to her and asked her if she knew my name and she said my name three times after me asking her again and again from excitement.. she after that point started moving her arms really working them alot . From the point of her entering the hosptial she has never opened her eyes nuerologist said her eyelids were probably paralized and but she is now opening her eyes a little . she still sleeps a whole lot and times she will do more and others she lays sleeping.. prayers have  helped us so much during this process and I will not give up praying and requesting prayers from everyone I know.. Please don't give up there is hope, belileve me I've had nurses not even talk to me because they didnt want to give me false hope because she was not doing what they wanted when I was seeing other things..

cherub43 · Answer

Hi everyone, I’m new to this forum but I have been reading the posts and thought I would join.
I suffered a second stroke nearly 2 weeks ago [on Dec.13th] this year. Another shock as I have been on the anti-platelet med. Clopidogrel 75mg since the first stroke on Feb 1st this year! So thought I would be ok. Nothing’s a 100% though is it .Is anyone here on this drug and is anyone now on Statins as well? I refused to take the statins after my first stroke because of the many and varied side effects they can cause, but I have been worried enough this time to take them. I am taking 20mg which is  ½ of the normal starting dose of 40mg and I’m taking plant sterols as well in the form of spreads. Yogourts and yogourt drinks to help reduce my cholesterol levels. My overall cholesterol reading when I was in hospital was 5, which I thought was a fairly good reading, but not according to my consultants in the hospital. I still worry about taking ststins because I have researched them online and every site says that they deplete the  Coenzyme q10 in our bodies and this can lead to other problems as this enzyme is supposed to be very important to our body as well as being a very potent antioxidant. But when I tried to talk to my consultant about this he was impatient and said that ‘’All patients don’t get these side effects’’. That’s not very comforting for the ones that Do though is it? I would prefer to use natural means such as the plant sterols instead . but he dismissed natural methods as not being effective enough . S I felt I had to settle for the ½ dose of statins and use the plant sterols as well. Anyway I hope you are all making some progress with your recovery. I was until this recent setback! Need to go back to some therapy again now to get my strength and confidence back. I thought I would tell you all about a new book I have just purchased called’ the Brain That Changes Itself’ by Norman Doidge.It explains Neuroplasticity . [The brain being able to heal damage, grow new pathways and neurons and new connections etc. THERE are personal  stories that are really astonishing and trials and information that is very encouraging to people that have suffered any kind of brain injury/trauma  including strokes There is also a very good Brain training website I have found that helps with cognitive therapy. THE website is called Lumosity. The games have been devised by doctors and they are very good and interesting .You get your scores at the end of each game and daily session and you have to reach certain levels to graduate to a higher level. You can try this FREE for a few days and then subscribe if you want to. I have subscribed for 12 months but you can do it monthly yearly or for 2 yrs. I Hope this information is of some help to you. I also get very tired like some of you do, and have had  strange symptoms and sensations that have been put down to anxiety. But what do the doctors know anyway? Looks like we just have to shut up and put up! These Forums are good though aren’t they?
Love and best wishes for a ‘Happy New Year’ to you all

loveletter · Answer

nolegirl, My mom had a severer stroke ( bleeding in the stem of her brain) on August 3, 2009. We are lucky we still have her. She was in ICU for four weeks and CCU for a week. After the hospital she was transferred to another place for four more weeks to get her wigged off the trake (tracheotomy). She also has a tube feed. She does eat pureed food, though. My mother had to have a shunt inserted in her brain because she could not tolerate the fluids in her brain. We are now in a nursing home/ theropy place (be sure to keep your on her at these places). She has come a long way, but we are upset with the theropist. They told us that she has reached her plateau. We do not believe that, because everyone is different. Who are they to say how long it's going to take? So if they ever tell you that, DO NOT listen. They will recover in there own time (God's time). She talks alot better now, and her memmory has gotten alot better too. She didn't know who we were in the beginning. Don't give up! It might take a year or more. She will be coming home this tuesday, and we will continue with her theropy. She can not sit up to long by herself without falling over but she is starting to move her left leg, not alot but never the less, it's progress. It's going to be long road, and I don't know what's going to happen, but we have to keep the faith. Stay possitive and keep her laughing.

nolegirl03 · Answer

my mom had a thalamic stroke (hypertensive bleed) on the left side of her brain.  she is alert but unresponsive...she has been in the hospital snce sept 29th of 2009...she can follow me when i visit her and seems to hear those around her,..she had a tracheotomy and PEG (tube feed).  does anyone know what the recovery time is for this type of stroke and the prognosis?  we have done alot of praying and the doctors can't tell us anything.  they want us to give up on her and place her in long term care...but we plan to bring her home and give her the love and attention she needs along with therapy...if anyone can share their experience with this type of stroke we would appreciate it

BJ71 · Answer

Prayer. It works . My mother had a stroke left side brain stroke paralyzed her right side also affected her speech. The doctors we had did not give us hope they told us to put my mom in a nursing home that she probably would not recover. That was not an option for me my brother or my dad. Mom was in the hospital from Nov. 30th to Jan 14th. We went through physical therapy at the hopital with mom and we could see improvement in her even if a little bit daily. We stayed and prayed around the clock. When she came home we had been to her therapies with her and luckily I work through a hospital doing homecare and deal with therapists on a daily basis and they gave me lots of exercises and tips. Mom is now walking with a walker and one or two people beside her. She is getting better about transferring herself and her speech has improved tremendously. Never give up we are lucky we have the knowledge and time to work with her but God does perform miracles I have seen them work through her. Hang in there. Alwasys be encouraging and alwas include her in every way possible do not talk about her around her always talk to her. Best medicine is to always include them

sue_in_oz · Answer

Hi

Sorry to hear about your mum's stroke :(

I guess that she had a bleed since you think it was too much coumadin.

Sleep is how/when the brain heals.  She has had a massive injury to her brain, so give her the time to heal.The one thing that all us strokees seem to have in common is the fatigue, sometimes being awake is just too much stimulation.

I can't give you a timeline, neither can her doctors, no one really knows as each stroke is so different. I know survivors who were out for a few weeks that live relatively independent lives.  Please don't impose your timeline, let your mum dictate it.

There is a slow & long road ahead, so please continue to love & support your mum - she needs you.

HTH

Sue

Luckylinn · Answer

Pray, pray , pray. Sister was unresponsive, although not comatose, for 30 days after a hemorraghaic stroke. I believe prayer is what pulled her out. She awoke day after her surgery, said a few words, answered a few questions and then went back to her unresponsive state for what seemed an eternity. Don't loose faith!