My sister just turned 50 and had a brain stroke. How long do stroke symptoms last usually?
Expert Answer by James Castle, M.D.
Unfortunately, this is a very difficult question to answer. The general rule I use is that if people survive the initial days of the stroke, and the complications during that early phase, they almost always have some improvement. However, the amount of improvement is extremely variable. Some patients return to normal, some only have very mild improvement. Typically, most of the improvement happens within the first 6 months after the stroke, but, on occasion, improvement can be seen out to 2 years after the stroke.
I often tell my patients and their families that predicting recovery from a stroke is a very imperfect science. In some areas of medicine, prediction is easier. For example, if you break your arm, a cast is place, and a farely accurate prediction can be given as to how long it will take to heal. In stroke, we are not nearly so accurate. I often compare our ability to forecast to that of a weatherman. We are frequently incorrect, typically use rough percentages, and the farther down the road we are predicting, the less accurate.
Therefore, unfortunately, I cannot give you a great answer. One easy way to get a better sense is to track her recovery over the first few days and weeks from the stroke. If she is recovering well, you can usually expect continued improvement. If she is not recovering well, this often portends a poor overall recovery down the road.
Answer
I'm not an expert, but I am the spousal caregiver of a wife who had a minor stroke 2 years ago. Even though she has regained 100% use of her left arm and hand, they still feel "different" than the other parts of her body. And there are lingering cognitive effects: can only attend to one thing at a time; more easily emotionally upset; more fatigue (sometimes a state of brain freeze takes over); difficulty making decisions about simple everyday tasks; and much greater disorder in the house -- things being scattered around, piled up and regularly lost.
Answer
I am not a doctor or someone who knows anything about how to answer your question medically; but I am a care giver and a daughter, who is trying to understand how to deal with life after stroke. My mother had several minor and couple major strokes within two years span. Though, the strokes had left her with left side difficulties the one part that was difficult to witness was her inability to remember anything in the now. Meaning what she just ate, or what she just watched on TV or as simple as what we just talked about. Furthermore she suffered from sever left neglect, which affected her ability to read and more. The good news is today she reads and even writes much better than two years ago. But this accomplishment did not come easily. It required the effort of everyone professional and non-professional such as my family to help her with her new life.
We found that cognitive exercise such as reading, writing, solving simple math problems or memory teaser (something we created at home) seems to help her with her remembering stuff and multi tasking. She still has some bad days but thank God she is getting much better in her respond time. The most important lesson I learned from this journey is that through diligent exercise and emotional care the recovery time is everyday. Progress should be measured one day at a time!
Was this useful? Spread the word and help others like you!