Few patients recover fully and most are left with some disability, but the majority exhibit some degree of spontaneous recovery. Doctors and scientists don't fully understand how this happens, because the brain does not grow new cells to replace the ones damaged by the stroke.
Gains can happen quickly or over time.
The most rapid recovery usually occurs during the first three to four months after a stroke, but some survivors continue to recover well into the first and second year after their stroke.
Some brain cells die quickly but many linger in a compromised or weakened state for several hours. Stroke causes permanent brain damage over minutes to hours. With stroke, “time is brain,” meaning that the sooner treatment begins, the better.
Cognitive impairment and memory loss are common after a stroke. Approximately 30% of stroke patients develop dementia within 1 year of stroke onset. Stroke affects the cognitive domain, which includes attention, memory, language, and orientation.
Although just 10% of people fully recover from a stroke, 25% have only minor impairments and 40% have moderate impairments that are manageable with some special care.
How Does a Stroke Impact Life Expectancy? Despite the likelihood of making a full recovery, life expectancy after stroke incidents can decrease. Unfortunately, researchers have observed a wide range of life expectancy changes in stroke patients, but the average reduction in lifespan is nine and a half years.
Recovery time after a stroke is different for everyone—it can take weeks, months, or even years. Some people recover fully, but others have long-term or lifelong disabilities.
Few patients recover fully and most are left with some disability, but the majority exhibit some degree of spontaneous recovery. Doctors and scientists don't fully understand how this happens, because the brain does not grow new cells to replace the ones damaged by the stroke.
Even after surviving a stroke, you're not out of the woods, since having one makes it a lot more likely that you'll have another. In fact, of the 795,000 Americans who will have a first stroke this year, 23 percent will suffer a second stroke.
Massive stroke survivors often must work longer. By the 5 year mark, gross motor skills may have returned, meaning that arm and leg function may improve. However, they may still have a long way to go for fine motor skills, which includes hand and foot function.
2 Years: Recovery Looks Increasingly Different for Everyone
Some might have fully recovered function while others are still pursuing rehabilitation. One comforting statistic is that, of the stroke survivors that could not walk without assistance at the 6 month mark, 74% should be able to walk by the 2 year mark.
After six months, improvements are possible but will be much slower. Most stroke patients reach a relatively steady state at this point. For some, this means a full recovery. Others will have ongoing impairments, also called chronic stroke disease.
Fatigue may improve with time but it can also be persistent and some patients may never be completely free of it. Tasks that may have come easily before the stroke may be harder and therefore require more energy then they previously would. Management of fatigue is best done with lifestyle changes.
The first question a stroke survivor should ask:
Did I have a white stroke or a red stroke? Of people who survive a first white stroke, within 1 year 8% will have another one (1), and within 2 years 11% will have a second one (2). In one study, 39% of second strokes were fatal (2).
Stress can cause the heart to work harder, increase blood pressure, and increase sugar and fat levels in the blood. These things, in turn, can increase the risk of clots forming and travelling to the heart or brain, causing a heart attack or stroke.
Family members share genes, behaviors, lifestyles, and environments that can influence their health and their risk for disease. Stroke risk can be higher in some families than in others, and your chances of having a stroke can go up or down depending on your age, sex, and race or ethnicity.
You'll see the fastest improvement in the weeks and months right after the stroke. Progress slows between six months and a year, but if you continue to work at it, you may continue to see slower improvement over years. Movement challenges.
There is no safe number of strokes a person can have, and no set limit on how many someone can have before a stroke is fatal. The more strokes an individual has, the higher the likelihood of lasting damage or death. One in four people who have had a stroke will have another.
For example, 79% of people survive 2 years, 61% survive 3 years, …, 5% survive 16 years, and only 1% survive 20 years.
You or your loved one may experience feelings of irritability, forgetfulness, carelessness or confusion. Feelings of anger, anxiety or depression are also common. The good news is many disabilities resulting from stroke tend to improve over time. Likewise, behavioral and emotional changes also tend to improve.
Another personality change that occurs after stroke is impulsiveness. This is characterized as the inability to think ahead or understand consequences. Impulsiveness is more commonly seen in people with right-side or a frontal lobe stroke.