How To Cope With Stroke?

Being a risk factor for heart disease, stroke frequently occurs to older generation, but younger people getting stroke is not uncommon nowadays.

You may have heard a lot about people who have totally changed their behaviors after suffering stroke. They are easily agitated, hot temper, suspicious, etc. This is because they became totally or partially immobile as a result of stroke and they now require someone to take care of their daily needs. And they have to go through a long period of recovery process which requires patience not only from themselves but also from the people surrounding them, especially their immediate family members.

Let us take a look of the following true story of how a patient copes with his stroke.

One night after dinner, he could feel something was not right when his right arm suddenly went limb. He rested his arm against the back of a chair when it lost all the strength and slumped from the chair and he just could not raise it up again. This was the first stroke he got though he was not aware of.

The 59-year-old ex-martial arts instructor, Jimmy, checked in the hospital the next morning and he had suffered the second attack: his whole body was tilted to one side, the right side of his body had lost all strength and his right arm and leg were both numb.

Jimmy had exercised regularly but had unhealthy diet. He loves fatty foods even though he was aware of his high cholesterol. He admitted the stroke he suffered was a wake-up call for him. He has since learnt to be more disciplined about his diet: 3 meals a day and say no to oily, deep-fried and salty food.

He had to spend one month in hospital and another one for rehabilitation therapy before he recovered sufficiently to return home. He still needs to go for therapy regularly.

The purpose of physiotherapy is to strengthen stroke patients' muscles. Normally, it will take at least six months to see the progress. So the message from Jimmy to stroke patients is: "Don't give up!"

Every day, Jimmy makes it a point to exercise at home by practising the stretching exercises taught by his therapist. These exercises have also helped him strengthened his arm and shoulder muscles to enable him to eat with chopsticks and brush his teeth again.

Optimizing patient's abilities and independence is the main objective of rehabilitation program. There are a number of personnel involved in this multidisciplinary program, including physician, physiotherapist, occupational therapist, psychologist and other allied health members.
However, not all stroke patients require intensive rehabilitation. According to past data, about a third of patients recover well and are able to do things as before while the other third need some help with their daily activities. The remaining will require constant care.

It is not hard to imagine that patients will become frustrating when they lose the use of a limb. But they can always recover provided they have patience and determined practice. Maintaining an active lifestyle either with brisk walking, jogging or stationary activity is very important for stroke patients.

In addition, they should also keep to a low-sodium, low-fat and low-cholesterol diet to prevent the recurrence of a stroke.

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