American Stroke Association - informative articles


"The American Stroke Association is solely focused on 

reducing disability and death from stroke."

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About Rehab

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One of the first things we learned was that everyone is affected differently by stroke and that not everyone will recover completely. The purpose of Rehabilitation is to recover as much as possible AND to learn to manage (activities of daily living) with the level of recovery that is achieved. Ideally stroke rehabilitation will begin within days of the stroke event so long as the patient is stable; sometimes rehabilitation will begin in the hospital where the patient was first treated, other times the patient will be transferred to an acute or sub-acute facility where therapy will be offered to meet the patient's needs and abilities — the doctors at the hospital will best be able to make this determination.  " Acute rehabilitation is appropriate for patients who will benefit from an intensive, multidisciplinary rehabilitation program . " " Sub acute level care is less intensive than acute rehabilitation... a combination of physical, occupational and speec...
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The Emergency Room Visit & Money

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* this post may be specific to the U.S. and may not apply to countries where universal health care is in effect No matter what your financial situation is, when your loved one (or you) is critical and needs life-saving care, one of the last things you think about is money. After all, you have insurance (hopefully) so it should all be covered, right? Surprise, surprise! Shortly after the emergency room nightmare the bills start coming in and you call the hospital billing office, "Why didn't you bill the insurance company?" That's when it's explained to you that even though the hospital participates in your insurance network not all of the doctors (hospitalists and consultants) or services (like lab-work, etc.) do and your insurance company denied the claim. Yes it seems ridiculous to you, you probably never even requested your own specialists, you probably weren't even consulted as to which specialists where requested by the hospital — and, like me, you...
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About Post-Stroke Emotions

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Extreme mood swings, it is a thing... There is a lot going on in a stroke survivor's mind after a stroke and sometimes the emotional ups-and-downs winds up becoming frustrating and very difficult to cope with for the people around him/her. This is just a personal observation (my mom had a stroke in 1978 and my husband had a stroke in 2016) but from what I hear from other caregivers and my own experience I think women tend to have more emotions and men more anger. As I said I don't have proof of this... I am aware that most men, even in this era, are still raised to be the "strong provider" and suddenly they are dependent on someone else, they often can't go back to work, and they can't even play catch with the family dog. It's frustrating as hell for them and they express their frustration with attitude; so often the target of their angry words is the one person most responsible for them, the wife (or significant other). And no matter how much we un...
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