Stroke Happens

A stroke is a devastating event for anyone and their family. A perfectly healthy person can become quite literally "paralyzed" and/or have difficulty speaking within a matter of minutes. Immediate intervention medically can often times save the lives of those that in previous years may have passed away.

I hate to tell you this but a person is usually most often at risk due to their genetic propensity to have one. That is correct!! If a close relative of yours has had one, you are at a very great risk to have one yourself. Believe me, this is not something I like to hear either because both of my grandmothers had them. Numerous ones. Little ones and big ones. And like most people who suffer strokes or "cerebralvascular accidents (CVA)", they both had heart disease as well.

A stroke is caused by a blood vessel breaking and bleeding inside the brain and the rest of the brain cells down the vessel do not receive blood flow or a blockage occurs so the blood the brain needs can not get through. Either way a specific portion or portions of the brain go without oxygen and quite literally die. This is why people have physical or mental symptoms when they have a CVA or stroke. Certain parts of the brain usually control different bodily functions such as speech, arm movements, thinking skills, memory, etc. If that part of the brain dies, these actions are affected and we see the physical or mental effects. These symptoms can range from sudden onset of slurred speech, to inability to answer questions or think suddenly to numbness or sudden "paralysis" of arms and other body parts, etc. A major stroke can cause extreme headaches as well.

Well, enough of that...... The good news is that someone who has had a stroke often times shows improvement in skills after the initial symptoms start and medical treatment is sought. There is a period of "spontaneous recovery" that occurs up to six months during which time the most rapid improvements will be seem. In severe strokes, it may seem like little change has occurred bin more mild stroke cases this recovery is huge. Some patients regain use of most of their limbs or speech in these milder cases. This makes the first six months after having a stroke the most critical. I always recommend giving intensive speech therapy to patients during this time (as much therapy as their body can handle!). After six months time, some small improvements will be seen but usually by the time one year has rolled around you have seen about as much improvement in a persons skills as you are going to see.

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