Some of the most common effects of stroke are physical. You may experience muscle weakness, paralysis, stiffness or changes in sensation, usually on one side of your body. These effects can make it harder to move some parts of your body, and you may struggle with everyday activities.
Depending on the parts of your brain affected by the stroke, rehabilitation can help with movement, speech, strength and daily living skills. Stroke rehabilitation can help you regain independence and improve your quality of life.
It can take many months before post-stroke fatigue starts to lift. The more you push yourself the worse you are likely to feel. Accepting that it takes time to improve can help you to cope better. Keep a written or visual diary of how much you are doing each day.
Recovery time after a stroke is different for everyone—it can take weeks, months, or even years. Some people recover fully, but others have long-term or lifelong disabilities.
How Does a Stroke Impact Life Expectancy? Despite the likelihood of making a full recovery, life expectancy after stroke incidents can decrease. Unfortunately, researchers have observed a wide range of life expectancy changes in stroke patients, but the average reduction in lifespan is nine and a half years.
Even after surviving a stroke, you're not out of the woods, since having one makes it a lot more likely that you'll have another. In fact, of the 795,000 Americans who will have a first stroke this year, 23 percent will suffer a second stroke.
For example, 79% of people survive 2 years, 61% survive 3 years, …, 5% survive 16 years, and only 1% survive 20 years.
Few patients recover fully and most are left with some disability, but the majority exhibit some degree of spontaneous recovery. Doctors and scientists don't fully understand how this happens, because the brain does not grow new cells to replace the ones damaged by the stroke.
A stroke is a debilitating and life-changing event. It often strikes without warning and can leave victims with permanent brain damage.
Regarding the duration of fatigue after stroke, acute fatigue can last up to 6 months, whereas the chronic type can persist in 40% of patients after 2 years. Another study reported fatigue to be still present in one-third of patients up to 6 years after stroke onset.
Some people regain full use of their arm in the weeks after a stroke. Many others still have some weakness, pain, or other problems with their arm. You may continue to benefit from arm therapy. Your medical team can tailor your treatment plan to your needs.
Activities like water aerobics, Zumba, spin, yoga and pilates all offer something different. You can choose something energetic that gets your heart working or you can focus on flexibility and strength. Some groups use music and some have a social side.
Driving after a stroke
Whether you can return to driving depends on what long-term disabilities you may have and the type of vehicle you drive. It's often not physical problems that can make driving dangerous, but problems with concentration, vision, reaction time and awareness that can develop after a stroke.
After a stroke, it is important to start making aerobic exercise part of your routine. Physical inactivity is a risk factor for stroke, so exercising can help prevent a recurrent stroke. In addition to physical benefits, aerobic exercise has been found to promote cognitive recovery in stroke survivors.
Aside from the increased risk of contracting COVID-19, the main risk of flying after a stroke is developing blood clots. Particularly Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT). This can cause a Pulmonary Embolism (PE), which is when a clot breaks free and travels to the lungs.
Changes in your emotions and to your personality are common after stroke. It's very normal to experience strong emotions after stroke, however these emotional reactions usually get better with time. Longer-term emotional and personality changes can be very challenging.
It can be caused by a narrowed blood vessel, bleeding, or a clot that blocks blood flow.
For this reason, the 60 minutes after the onset of stroke symptoms are known as “the golden hour.” If treatment can be initiated within this brief window, the patient's outcome is likely to be better.
After six months, improvements are possible but will be much slower. Most stroke patients reach a relatively steady state at this point. For some, this means a full recovery. Others will have ongoing impairments, also called chronic stroke disease.
The first hour is considered to be the most crucial or in other terms “golden” because stroke patients have a high chance of survival and prevention of long-term brain damage if they receive medical treatment and drug therapy within the first 60 minutes of the onset of symptoms.
Although just 10% of people fully recover from a stroke, 25% have only minor impairments and 40% have moderate impairments that are manageable with some special care.
Stress can cause the heart to work harder, increase blood pressure, and increase sugar and fat levels in the blood. These things, in turn, can increase the risk of clots forming and travelling to the heart or brain, causing a heart attack or stroke.
There is no safe number of strokes a person can have, and no set limit on how many someone can have before a stroke is fatal. The more strokes an individual has, the higher the likelihood of lasting damage or death. One in four people who have had a stroke will have another.