Aphasia doesn't affect intelligence. Stroke survivors remain mentally alert, even though their speech may be jumbled, fragmented or hard to understand.
Communication problems are very common after a stroke. Around one-third of stroke survivors have problems with speaking, reading, writing and understanding what other people say to them.
About 1 in 3 people who've had a stroke have some trouble with language -- like talking, understanding speech, reading, or writing. The specific effects depend on where the stroke happened in the brain.
Stroke can affect how you think, remember and perceive things. Your treating team will work with you to develop a rehabilitation program. Difficulties with your thinking, memory or perception can put you in danger. Thinking, memory and perception can improve with practice.
Symptoms of Prosopagnosia After Stroke
In severe cases, a survivor with prosopagnosia can't recognize familiar faces after stroke – even the faces of close friends and family. Other individuals may have trouble distinguishing between two unknown faces, or even between a face and an object.
Therapies or medicines almost never fully restore memory after stroke. However, many people do recover at least some memory spontaneously after stroke. Others improve through rehabilitation.
After a stroke, survivors often experience emotional and behavioral changes. The reason is simple. Stroke impacts the brain, and the brain controls our behavior and emotions. You or your loved one may experience feelings of irritability, forgetfulness, carelessness or confusion.
Depending on the location and extent of brain tissue affected due to your stroke, you may have different vision issues, such as reading problems, poor visual memory and decreased depth perception and balance. Vision is more than just sight. It's the process of your brain that derives meaning from what you see.
Most stroke patients are unaware of the warning signs of stroke and present late because they misjudge the seriousness of their symptoms. Even when patients know that they are having a stroke, most do not seek immediate medical attention.
No two strokes are the same. Some people may feel more like themselves within just a few days, without any lasting physical or cognitive issues. But for others, it may take several months to heal or adjust to any long-term effects.
The most rapid recovery usually occurs during the first three to four months after a stroke, but some survivors continue to recover well into the first and second year after their stroke. Some signs point to physical therapy.
A 2021 study found that about 66% of stroke victims survived past the three-year mark. 7 Survival factors included: The person's age.
Their own speech may also become incoherent. If there is damage to the Broca's area, expressive aphasia can result. A pesron with this condition can understand others but is unable to express themselves verbally. They can think the words but cannot speak them or put them together to make coherent sentences.
You may get angry more often after you've had a stroke. It can be linked to many things, including your feelings of grief, loss and frustration about your stroke. It can also be linked with changes in the brain making it hard to control your emotions.
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.
Weakness, paralysis, and problems with balance or coordination. Pain, numbness, or burning and tingling sensations. Fatigue, which may continue after you return home. Inattention to one side of the body, also known as neglect; in extreme cases, you may not be aware of your arm or leg. Urinary or bowel incontinence.
Strokes can cause weakness or paralysis on one side of the body, and can result in problems with co-ordination and balance. Many people also experience extreme tiredness (fatigue) in the first few weeks after a stroke, and may also have difficulty sleeping, making them even more tired.
Cognitive symptoms like memory problems and trouble speaking. Physical symptoms such as weakness, paralysis and difficulty swallowing. Emotional symptoms like depression and impulsivity. Heavy fatigue and trouble sleeping.
“We found that a stroke reduced a patient's life expectancy by five and a half years on average, compared with the general population,” Dr Peng said.
Overall, it's important to understand that stroke recovery naturally has an ebb and flow. If you experience rapid, sudden worsening of stroke secondary effects, then it's time to seek medical attention immediately. But if changes are smaller, it could just be the natural process of recovery.
Some people will experience symptoms such as headache, numbness or tingling several days before they have a serious stroke. One study found that 43% of stroke patients experienced mini-stroke symptoms up to a week before they had a major stroke.
Do not let that person go to sleep or talk you out of calling 911. Stroke survivors often complain of suddenly feeling very sleepy when a stroke first happens. “A lot of patients come in and say they went to sleep for a few hours before they came to the hospital because they were tired,” Dr. Humbert notes.
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. What can stroke patients do to avoid a recurrence?