At the end of October 2019, it was found that my mum, aged 80, had a clot in her right leg and was put on blood-thinning medication. A few days' later we found out that she also had clots on both her lungs. The blood-thinning medication continued during November but she wasn't monitored. Twelve days ago, mum suffered a haemorrhagic stroke and we have learned that people taking blood-thinning medication have a higher risk of bleeding in the brain.
Mum's bleed is intracerebral and within the cerebellum. Mum is still in hospital. Fortunately, her speech is okay and she is not suffering from any headaches now that her blood pressure has been reduced. But mum does have double-vision if she looks to her left side and if she sits up beyond 45 degrees she then suffers from extreme dizziness and vertigo, which has caused vomiting. This is preventing any rehablitation at the moment and I've read that improvements are fastest in the first few days and weeks. I appreciate that it is early days and have been told that everyone's experience is different. However, I have also read that you can be left with vertigo and that's quite scarry. I just wanted to gain some insight in to other people's experiences to gauge how long such symptoms might last and what helps with any recovery. For example, to find out if there are any exercises which have helped the recovery of other people who have had similar balance problems.
Blood thinners are generally very good at avoiding an ischaemic stroke, which is the more common type.
A lot of what is written by us amateurs, relates to clots not bleeds. But there is a large cross over so the info is useful but can not be conclusive.
Recovery of speech, mobility and cognitive issues is likely to be faster in the first three months, then pretty good in the next two years. Then there are lots of us who continue to improve for years.
I would have suggested that keeping everything moving is the best rehab that we can do for ourselves. Then I would recommend a lot of good rest and plenty of water. Sight issues are outside of my experiences. Its an issue that I have not suffered.
I have however had lots of hearing problems. And also got incredibly dizzy in the first six months. It was intermittent and sleep put things right. I did fall over whilst sitting, which I found bizarre and had to laugh about it. After six months this became a small manageable problem and is no worse four years on.
My best move was to get up every day. If I then sat in a chair then so be it. Being out of bed seemed to help me along. Then there was the effort to get a consistent nights sleep. I need 7.5hrs and so that was a major goal for me. It was hard to get the sleep right, but it always seemed to be a good and sensible goal.
At some time in the weeks after stroke I got acid reflux from a hiatus hernia. This seems to have been caused during some of the more scary aftermath events of the stroke. I was prescibed Ranitidine and it worked for me. No more currys and even worse no more whisky, but thats a small price to pay.
Please dont take this as flippant, but smiling is amazingly effective. Mum needs to smile at least four times a day. And be positive. Its the positive ones who sem to get better recoveries.