Emerald,
Good and what an inspiration to hear how much progress you made.
I can relate to your experiences very well… surprisingly closely
though I’ve not been at it as long as you - it’s good to hear from somebody further down the line
appreciate your reply, thx so much, Roland
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I think a lot of us have had / still have this. I think @EmeraldEyes has covered it well so wont repeat it all but it’s all about exercising & building back up again & having patience. You will get there i’m sure.
Best of luck.
Ann
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Thanks, Ann
Yes, I’ll keep at it, of course
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Thanks Ronald, your condition does resonate with mine which is why I gave you the really long answer 
And I’m more than happy to answer all your questions I didn’t have the physical/metal ability to ask for myself back then 
And believe me, to lose the ability to communicate is truly the most frustrating of all the frustration we go through 
One more thing 
If you’re not already doing this, it might help to start taking a daily multivitamin/well man supplement to boost your body’s nutrients. Recovery takes a lot out of your system, regardless of how healthy you may eat, it needs more than than the usual.
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Pando - Don’t want to bore you by saying what you’ve probably heard a hundred times. It takes a l- o - n - g time to recover from stroke. The weekly improvements, usually 2 steps forward and 1 step back, go on so slowly you only see improvement months later when you look back on where you were. You don’t see it day to day. You’re only 6 months out. I am 4 1/2 years out and still improving. I was totally paralyzed on the left side. Now I can do most of the things I did before. You just have to keep on trying . It’s hard work, and the only way. You have more inner strength than you realise. 
Jeanne
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Jeanne,
I very much love your reply,
thx for encouragement
Roland
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yes, thx Emerald
I take liposomal vitamin C
lipo vit B
lipo magnesium
liquid zinc
Glutathione
lutein for my eye
any others you would recommend looking into?
thx Roland
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Yes thx Emerald,
I gave it a few tries and gave up when I heard the rubbish that was coming out of my mouth… a few words came out okay … one was Equinox…it took a few days to clear
What did you do to stimulate the return of sensation / touch ? anything at all ?
ciao, Roland
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I never really did anything specific for sensation and touch. To me it was all about the muscle memory so to speak. Getting the mind to recall the feelings and actions which is why I kept on going through the the actions to touch and using my left hand as the reminder of it to trigger the right side. I kept on with going through the natural motions for use of my right arm/hand as best as it would allow me to.
The best way I can explain it is I always treated my arm as though nothing was wrong with it. I’m naturally right handed so I’d reach for a cup of tea with it, fail, used my left arm and hand to remind me how to reach and grab hold and how it felt, the weight of it, the texture, the heat. Then try again to reach and grab on. Use the left hand as the reminder, the left leg is the reminder for action and placement of the right leg.
But in all actions try to lead with your right side first, consistently do that throughout the day, day in day out, don’t let up! I think my sense of touch came back onboard before anything else, in a matter of weeks I think. But we are all different. And like babies, we all experience the firsts at different rates and order.
I read elsewhere on here last night that you are a violinist. Now that is one priority you should be going through the motions of performing every single day if you want it back badly enough! Your brain is never going to remember it if you don’t keep on physically reminding it. Remember how you learnt to play it, the constant practice, practice, practice. You need to be picking up that violin and bow and trying to hold like you were about to perform to your audience. Your mind needless the memory of how it feels again, only you can give it that
The same goes with speech, doesn’t matter how crap it sounds, you make those babbles speak! Your loved ones won’t care and to anyone else it doesn’t matter.
There’s one guy in my aphasia group who can only say baa baa baa but even he can make his point. Another who speaks now speaks with a foreign accent, and another who with a very bad stammer.
Those who truly care about really don’t care how you sound so why should you. You’ll never speak if don’t babble . . . just like the babies 
I had to do it, what makes you so specially that you can’t bear being heard to babble 
You should learn to laugh at yourself some more
@pando to get my touch sensation back i used to spend time touching lots of different textured items. For example, a hairbrush, toothbrush, sofa material, wood, paper, etc. I had alrered sensation rather than loss of sensation but it may help you.
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I still sit and stroke the arm of my sofa 
I has a love velvet texture to it.
@pando Also whilst I was sitting I would work on tying and untying knots in things, bits of string, ribbon, fabric belts and so on. That’s also working on sense of touch as well as finger dexterity. Needles to say it was virtually impossible to beginning with and knots were very loose…when I’d eventually manage to tie them
My loss of sensation was and is severe / it’s only just started to come back very feintly after 6 months… lifting things is so hard because I cannot feel their weight. If it had been a few weeks I’d be on a totally different level by now. I wonder if it’s an emotional block? I accept different points of view and I have an open mind. When I left rehab 5 months ago I could only feel an ice cube… now a feather, a comb, my torso, my head (which came back in a month), and very little else though I can feel a little bit more on my hand each day, this last week.
Thanks for sharing your experiences, Roland
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Shwmae @pando, I had a stroke September 2020, thought I’d be fixed by Summer 2021 and “recovered”. It’s now approaching the Summer of 2023, and I am still rebuilding. It may be difficult to see the improvements or near improvements as they tend to be hidden until new pathways finally lock together. Muscle response has several processes, I think. So, there’s a lot going on. It’s useful to spend time watching as well as practicing. After stroke, I spent many hours watching walking programmes, I practiced walking and watched other people do it, and I also spent time imagining myself walking. I am to believe this all helps fire up the neurones.
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What you just said proves it is coming back online. Just not in the order you would like and not within the time line you would like but it is coming back.
Maybe try looking at is as amnesia and try touching, feeling the people and things that you care about most, to jog the brains memory. Hold your wife’s face in both hands for instance, the left hand being the memory jogger to the right hand. Hold objects with sentimental meaning behind them, and your violin of course. The things meaning behind can give a stronger impulse to the brain. And keep doing these, every day.
Another tip I remembered earlier for speech, is reading out loud to yourself. Go somewhere quiet, where you can relax and just read quietly out loud for a while…even if it’s just a few of these posts. We were lockdown when I did all this, spent a lot of time in our bedroom either reading or phoning my sisters and babbling on to them 'til I’d get tired. They understood what I was doing, it was all arranged through whatsapp at the time My sisters were very concerned I’d never regain my speech because I’m a quiet person by nature, not much of a conversationalist. I make up that in writing
It is just your right side affected, how’s your walking coming on?
Thx Rups,
that must take a lot of stamina
I don’t know how to survive my stroke
It’s the most awful curse I could imagine
I like the idea of visualizing, cheers for that, Roland
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Emerald,
I start to understand and agree with you more and more
Things that have meaning… that speaks to me & make sense
That alters my way of thinking for the better
I walk like a stick figure because of numbness and tingling
Yesterday I ate Salmon for supper and was troubled all night
tummy problems… fish didn’t go down…I have countless problems
In January I had mamy sleepless nights…
my tummy is so flacid that even the weight of my arm is crushing…
nothing of the sort happens on my non-affected side
Anyway, was my first awful night in 2 months
let’s hope it’s a one off
thx emerald for sharing your thoughts…
so inspiring to read your messages
ciao, Roland
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Ronald, thank you, I’m very happy to help
Ah, but what did you have with the Salmon, that could just as easily be what’s giving your tummy trouble. Starchy foods such as potatoes or rice could just as easily do this.
Try having mint (in any form from my experience) after your meal. This will relieve bloating and that painful over full feeling you can sometimes get. That’s what “after dinner mints” are all about, and not to freshen your breath
A mint sweet…Polo, mint tea…Pukka do a delicious three mint organic tea, chew on a few mint leaves, whatever’s your taste.
Senokot tablets, to be taken at night, are also good to help get the bowels moving naturally again. I think they are a natural herbal remedy too; works for me And eat more vegetables, bananas are also good for getting you moving naturally too. Also a hot water bottle on your tummy and both relieve pain and get things moving
If this second bout of tummy issues persist, maybe you should consider seeing your doctor as you may have some digestive issue which needs to be addressed or better managed through particular dietary requirements.
You take care now
Thanks Emerald,
…though mint relaxes the sphincter to the stomach so for the acidity not a good one for me. What has been helping is some ginger tea at night, and my healy programs (healy is a device which emits small pulsed EMFs) and generally carbs are working better for me since break down faster than meat.
bananas & hot water bottle agreed
take care, Roland
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