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improvements after hemoragic stroke

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I am a 53 year old woman who suffered a hemoragic stroke last February. I was competely paralized on my right side and totally aphasic. After 2 months in hospital rehab and then 6 weeks in home rehab and another 3 months going to out patient rehab I have made tremendous progress. I ran out of pt and ot insurance benefits but I will be able to resume in January. I now have use of my right hand and arm with some weekness in my shoulder, but my leg is still not cooperating. I have no use of my ankle, and minimal use of my knee and hip. I can walk with a cane and an AFO (brace). Does anyone know of anyone who has regained use of a limb this far post stroke?
Carol
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replied March 5th, 2008
Experienced User
stroke recovery varies... depending on the site of injury and extent of injury.

but usually the last to recover are the distal parts of the body (or the part located fartest from the trunk) it can be the hands, but mostly the lower limbs, especially the ankle.

you should continue to do your exercises. many have had progress and recovery though it takes some time, but there are some that thier condition's plateau in which case, adaptation is the key to functional activities such as assistive devices.
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replied March 15th, 2008
Extremely eHealthy
PrettyPT is right. There are many excerises you can do at home. Abduction and extention of the parts of the body like you leg and ankle do well. Lay on your back and extend you leg out then back in again and do the same with you ankle. For you hands you can use a soft rubber ball and kneed it for a few minutes at a time. If you don't excercise these parts there is a chance of a longer recovery time. Keep them legs going!
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replied March 19th, 2008
Community Volunteer
Right On. I had a stroke myself when I was 42. You have to exercise those legs and arms and mind...its hard work and can make you cry but you gotta keep going and one day you will find that things have gotten better and it was all worth it. Good Luck to you.
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replied March 19th, 2008
Extremely eHealthy
I won't go into detail, but when I was on the ventaltor for 10 out of 16 days in CCU, they never gave me any ROM (range of motion) excercises. Till this day I suffer when I get down on my knees or even bend at the knees, I can't get up without holding on and straining to get back up my leg muscles have gotton so weak. I need to get on of those home bikes for streanghening.
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replied March 20th, 2008
Community Volunteer
Yeah, that would probably help. I use my treadmill almost every day for my leg muscles to stay strong.
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replied March 22nd, 2008
Extremely eHealthy
Use only your bad hand. Restrain your good hand and force yourself to use only the injured side. This forces the brain to create new neuro pathways. You will be slow at first and may not be able to achieve much but over time this will improve. When you are doing your exercises or walking do the activity to music. Move to the beat of the music. The type of music does not matter. Again, new neuro pathways are formed and people see wonderful results. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain so give it a try.
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replied April 13th, 2008
improvements after hemoragic stroke
Right on! The key is to re-train the brain, (it's not an injury to the body, it's an injury to the brain) and keep working the bad areas! Like antigone said, you may not achieve much at first, but it's really important to keep trying.
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replied April 29th, 2008
Nutrients?
I would also look into nutrients that can help regenerate nerve cells. After my stroke, my mom sent me to a chiropractor who does muscle testing. She gave me something that is supposed to help nerve function - my stroke was not very bad at all, but I felt better physically after taking the supplements she gave me.
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replied April 29th, 2008
Community Volunteer
DJ2...WHAT WERE THE SUPPLEMENTS? i HAD A STROKE AT AGE 42...(sorry about the caps... Embarassed ) How old were you if you don't mind me asking...
Peace and love and good health, Homer respect
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replied April 30th, 2008
Nerve Supplement
Nerve 1 cap
Calcium 90 mg
Riboflavin 60 mg
Niacin 90 mg
Selenium 210 mcg
Chromium 120 mcg

The bottle is at home, so not sure who the manufacturer is - The bottle is just called "NERVE". Most of my chiropractors supplements are Standard Process, but this was not... Looks like there is nothing special in it... I think I was taking two, maybe three a day for a while.

I was taking several other things as well, so it is hard to pinpoint if all of it, or just one or two things in particular were making me feel better.

I was 49 when I had the stroke.

Depending on what you are looking for, you might poke around the heartfixer.com website. Dr. Roberts is my cardiologist and he has several things going on. From what I can tell, stroke and heart attack are really the same things - one just impacts the brain while the other impacts the heart.

Right now I am dealing with my Nutrigenomic Testing - trying to find reasons for the stroke - and there is some information on nerve function in the information he gave me - most of it should be posted on the web site.
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replied April 30th, 2008
Community Volunteer
thanks for the info...I will check it out.
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