Accessibility Panel

A stroke can be life-changing. You feel as if it was your last hope but now your life has lost all its meaning. However, it’s far from that. Look at the brighter side! Recovery from a stroke is a real and all it requires is willpower and effort. That’s all. It’s okay to ask for help especially if it’s your family and let them guide towards a better life and eventually to live a normal life.

As for the caregiver, usually family, its important for you to understand and religiously follow the given tips that will not help you cope up with a beloved’s injury but also deal with the emotional and financial baggage that has fallen onto you.

Repetition should be normal in your household

A stroke is no less detrimental than a TBI and can make the victim vulnerable when they are unable to do everyday things on their own. They have impaired hearing, speech and vision, most even suffer with one or both side body paralysis which obviously make them bed ridden. Hence its essential to make sure everything you say, show, do and make them learn, it should be repeated over and over again every day. Our body is wired to learn faster with practice and get fully familiar about any experience.

Everyone has their own recovery journey

There is nothing wrong in reaching out to support groups or rehab centers and connect with other stroke survivors but never compare your loved one’s recovery journey to others there. Every stroke affects a different part of the brain hence having a different set of symptoms and requirements depending on the person’s body mechanism. Nonetheless, only focus on your loved one’s injury and find ways to improve their health.

Use it or lose it

 The most common symptom in stroke victims is body paralysis. If you stop using it, your brain will forget about it too. So every day make an effort to use that side of your body. If only one-half of their body is paralyzed then it’s easier to bring back sensation through occupational or physical therapy. However, there’s hope for full-body paralysis also. It’s obviously a gradual and slow process but improvement can be seen over the period of time. Medicines and rehabilitative exercises work best for such patients.

The inevitable ‘plateau’ stage

This stage usually starts to show after 3-4 months of perfectly progressive recovery. The term ‘plateau’ indicates a constant state wher there is neither progress nor decline in your health. It is an inevitable and unavoidable phase through which every stroke survivors goes through. However in such times it’s the caregiver’s duty to stay motivated and motivate the other person as well. There is no need to give u or stop doing all the activities you were previously involved. Instead you should strive harder to get past this as quickly as possible.

Do loads of research

Like mentioned above, all strokes are unique in their own way. So it’s extremely important for the caregiver to step forward and get as much information as he/she can from the doctor. For instance, the size of stroke, the location of stroke and what approaches you can take to effectively and efficiently facilitate the individual. 

Other than that, keeping track of all the medical records and getting tons of sleep are some bonus tips that you should also include in your routine. With that being said, anything that seems fishy or different than usual then be sure to consult your doctor immediately.