There will be times when it feels you are gaining function quickly and progressing each day. Then there may be periods where you feel your progress has reached a plateau or stalled. This is common for survivors of stroke, however, and is not cause to give up on your rehabilitation goals.
Stroke can lead to serious health complications, which can also cause someone to become very unwell. These can happen soon after a stroke or many months or years later. The medical team in the hospital carries out checks to identify and treat problems as they happen.
The signs and symptoms of a stroke often develop quickly. However, they can develop over hours or even days, such as when a transient ischemic attack (TIA) turns into a stroke. The type of symptoms depends on the type of stroke and the area of the brain that is affected.
Most ischemic strokes occur rapidly, over minutes to hours, and immediate medical care is vital. If you notice one or more of these signs in another person or in yourself, do not wait to seek help.
During the first few days after your stroke, you might be very tired and need to recover from the initial event. Meanwhile, your team will identify the type of stroke, where it occurred, the type and amount of damage, and the effects. They may perform more tests and blood work.
“The first three months after a stroke are the most important for recovery and when patients will see the most improvement,” says Raghavan. During this time, most patients will enter and complete an inpatient rehabilitation program, or make progress in their outpatient therapy sessions.
Mortality within 72 hours after stroke onset was 5.0% (32 patients) and a further 4.2% (27 patients) died within ten days. At discharge from the stroke unit, 63.9% of the 571 patients who survived went directly to their home with or without homecare and the other patients required further hospital based rehabilitation.
This can include drooping of the face, weakness of one arm or side of the body, slurred speech, and sometimes headache or vision changes. If you notice any new or worsening stroke symptoms, call 911 immediately.
Common post-stroke physical problems include: Weakness, paralysis, and trouble with balance or coordination. Pain, numbness, or burning and tingling feelings. Fatigue, which may continue after you return home.
Some people will experience symptoms such as headache, numbness or tingling several days before they have a serious stroke. One study found that 43% of stroke patients experienced mini-stroke symptoms up to a week before they had a major stroke.
Strokes can cause weakness or paralysis on one side of the body, and can result in problems with co-ordination and balance. Many people also experience extreme tiredness (fatigue) in the first few weeks after a stroke, and may also have difficulty sleeping, making them even more tired.
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.
Problems tend to be worse in the first few weeks and will improve quite quickly within the first three to six months. However, people continue to recover for months and even years after this. For most people, getting better is about returning to the way they were before their stroke.
Call 9-1-1 immediately if any of these signs of stroke appear: Numbness or weakness in the face, arm, or leg; Confusion or trouble speaking or understanding speech; Trouble seeing in one or both eyes; Trouble walking, dizziness, or problems with balance; severe headache with no known cause.
Medical experts often use the NIH Stroke Scale to determine the severity of a stroke. Patients that score between 21 and 42 (the highest possible score) are considered to have suffered a massive stroke.
If you have had a stroke, you can make great progress in regaining your independence. However, some problems may continue: Paralysis (inability to move some parts of the body), weakness, or both on one side of the body. Trouble with thinking, awareness, attention, learning, judgment, and memory.
Hemorrhagic strokes are less common, making up about 15 percent of stroke cases, but they are often deadlier, Sozener says. Patients may experience one of the following types: Intracerebral hemorrhage, a weak blood vessel breaking inside the brain.
Early neurological deterioration (END) after stroke is described as worsening of symptoms after acute ischemic stroke (AIS), which occurs in 5–40% of patients. The time interval in which END occurs is not standardized but is commonly described as neurological deterioration within 24–72 hours following AIS.
For this reason, the 60 minutes after the onset of stroke symptoms are known as “the golden hour.” If treatment can be initiated within this brief window, the patient's outcome is likely to be better.
The reason the first hour is golden is because stroke patients have a much greater chance of surviving and avoiding long-term brain damage if they arrive at the hospital and receive treatment with a clot-busting drug called TPA within that first hour.
The first hour is considered to be the most crucial or in other terms “golden” because stroke patients have a high chance of survival and prevention of long-term brain damage if they receive medical treatment and drug therapy within the first 60 minutes of the onset of symptoms.