Any suggestions towards a quicker recovery

[i_jennings]

Hi there again,

I just wanted to say thanks so much for the invaluable information posted here. I know that it has helped myself as well as my family as we are dealing with my mother's recovery now in its 3rd month. She has now been transferred to long term health care faculty. In my own opinion, I find that the quality of care is less than when she was staying at an actual hospital. My family and I are taking turns at taking care of her.

It doesn't seem that physiotheraphy is doing much at all whenever we do see them. While, my mother is still paralyze on her left hand side of her body. Are there any exercises that we can help her with while she is still lying in bed? Sometimes, her attention span drifts in and out which I was wondering, if reading to her might help with her mental state.

I am willing to do anything to help her so, she just doesn't lie in bed all the time. While she stares at the tv or out the window. Some days are good. Whenever she has visitors. She seems to motivate herself to talk to people but she falls asleep quickly afterwards as it takes alot of effort for her to stay alert.

I would appreciate any suggestions or advice. I know that my family and I have a long road ahead of us in her recovery. I just wish I could do more in the meanwhile and possibly speed up the recovery process time.

Thanks in advance for any and all your assistance. It is greatly appreciated.

~Ian

[oc1dean]

There is passive movement, but this would probably be better if the patient did this to themselves.
http://recoverfromstroke.blogspot.com/ and looking at the relax and recover section it will lead you to here,
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15003755
thermal stimulation. [url]http://myweb.ncku.edu.tw/~fzshaw/ ASA.pdf[/url]
researchers found that cycles of heat and cold significantly enhanced the
sensory and motor function in the arms and hands of stroke survivors after a few weeks of
therapy.
music therapy
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35502970/ns/technology_and_science-science/
Mirror-box therapy
Rehabilitation of hemiparesis after stroke with a mirror
Altschuler EL, Wisdom SB, Stone L, Foster C, Galasko D, Llewellyn DME, Ramachandran V
The Lancet - Vol. 353, Issue 9169, 12 June 1999, Pages 2035-2036
You can register for this magazine and see the complete article.
Mental imagery for promoting relearning for people after stroke: A randomized controlled trial1 , *1 .
Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation , Volume 85 , Issue 9 , Pages 1403 - 1408
K . Liu , C . Chan , T . Lee , C . Hui-Ch
Mental practice and imagery: a potential role in stroke rehabilitation. Author's reply
R VAN LEEUWEN, JT INGLIS, J RAVEY - Physical therapy reviews, 1998 - cat.inist.fr
If your therapists and doctors haven't already told you about these, ask them point blank What therapies have been discovered in the last five years and what therapists are using them?
Dean

[i_jennings]

Hi there,

Thank you so much for your advice. I will try some of your suggestions. I can't even imagine what it must be like for the person (like my mother). Who can't control her own body responses. I know that she gets very frustrated as she tries so hard at times but her body won't react to what her brain is telling her.

Your "ramblings" are actually great suggestions that I haven't even thought of there, Justice9. I will let ya know, on how it goes with my mother's recovery. I wish all the best to you there.

Thank you so much,

[Justice9]

Hi, I just read ur post and wanted to share some of my experiences on what helped me through my stroke. Music was great, songs I knew by heart. Books were harder due to not being able to focus that long. My taste changed so little bites of things to "taste test" helped to learn more about the ME I am now. SUNSHINE! Def. Sunshine helped so much! Not SO many qustions EVERY single day! Its overwhelming and exhausting and can b SO frustrating bc then u point out what we HAVEN'T gained back or remembered etc.
Games, like matching or UNO, simple games that don't require much forethought.
I was in therapy for a year. I learned a lot but it was real life things that helped the most. Oh, one more thing that helped was aromatherapy. Basically, sensory enhancing thiings were all helpful to me. Except sense of touch. Hated that for some reason!
Hope some of my rambling helped!