Life After a Stroke
By Kayli Nichols PSY 391
What is a Stroke?
Symptoms include:
- Difficulty with speaking
- Difficulty understanding or even confusion with simple tasks
- A Severe headache
- Vision changes (in one or even both eyes)
- Difficulty swallowing
- Facial droop that occurs on one side
What Occurs Within the Brain?
Therefore, those that have suffered from a stroke, may have complications with speech, understanding, and memory.
Life After a Stroke
Treatment Options
In addition to these various therapies, often surgery can be helpful in reducing the risk of another occurrence. There are also various medications that will inhibit the clot formation of blood.
One of the most important factors to research is lifestyle changes. Changes done nutritionally and to the diet can help to reduce the risk of future occurrence as well.
Three Questions You Would Like To Have Answered?
Life after a stroke can be a very confusing time and there are many questions to be answered. Be sure to ask as many questions as you can when meeting with your healthcare professional.
Here are some sample questions to ask:
- What is the latest treatment that is available?
- What treatment would be appropriate for my loved one at this time?
- Are there any side-effects of the treatment that we should watch out for?
- What else can I do for my loved one?
Be sure to write down any questions you would like to have answered below:
- ____________________________________________________________________________________
- ____________________________________________________________________________________
- ____________________________________________________________________________________
Resources
Breedlove, S., & Watson, N. (2013) Biological psychology: An introduction to behavioral, cognitive, and clinical neuroscience (Seventh ed.). Sinauer.
https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/stroke.html
http://www.strokeassociation.org/STROKEORG/AboutStroke/About-Stroke_UCM_308529_SubHomePage.jsp