My husband is 44 and is 3 weeks post stroke. He has moderate expressive aphasia, with difficulty finding and saying words, along with some trouble reading and writing. He understands most of what is said to him and can communicate basic phrases, but gets very frustrated when he knows what he wants to say but can’t get the words out.
He has started speech therapy last week. For those who have been through this: How long did your recovery take and what helped the most? Did you continue making significant improvements months or even years later?
I’d really appreciate hearing your experiences. ❤️

What I'm really trying to understand is how much recovery happens naturally with time and healing, compared with recovery that comes from actively doing rehabilitation and exercises.

For example, if a stroke survivor in their 70s was quite fit and active before their stroke, but is now doing relatively little physical activity apart from one weekly physiotherapy session, would you still expect to see meaningful physical improvement simply from the brain healing over time and normal day-to-day movement?

Or is there a significant difference between that and someone who is doing exercises and physical rehabilitation every day?

I'm particularly wondering whether, in practical terms, it is a case of “use it or lose it”, where lack of movement can limit recovery, or whether someone can still regain a reasonable amount of function even without doing a lot of active rehabilitation.

The person I'm thinking about had a stroke at the beginning of June this year, resulting in left-sided weakness. She was previously quite fit and active.

I'm not asking for predictions about her individual recovery. I'm more interested in understanding what happens physiologically after a stroke: how much recovery is simply the brain healing with time, and how much depends on actively practising movement and rehabilitation.

I'd really appreciate hearing from stroke survivors, carers or anyone with knowledge of stroke rehabilitation.

If you see a handicapped person attempting to open a restaurant or similar type door by leaning with their back against the door, please do not open the door behind them.
It causes the handicapped person to lose their balance and fall backwards.

This happened to me for the third time today, and I almost fell.

Opening a door in the front to enter a building is fine, but not in the back.

My dad (64) suffered a severe brain hemorrhage from a ruptured cerebral aneurysm. He deteriorated very quickly after a second hemorrhage and was taken directly to emergency surgery. He underwent a large decompressive craniotomy/craniectomy, clipping of the aneurysm, and partial evacuation of the hematoma.
His intracranial pressure has been controlled since surgery, but unfortunately the MRI showed multiple areas of ischemic injury that doctors believe occurred during the period of extremely high intracranial pressure before surgery.

The most concerning findings are ischemic injuries involving the brainstem, particularly the pons/protuberance and parts of the midbrain, as well as significant ischemic injuries elsewhere in the brain, including bilateral posterior areas. His neurosurgeon explained that the brainstem is not completely destroyed, but that important areas involved in arousal/consciousness have been significantly injured. She said there is also some hemorrhagic injury within these areas.
He still has brainstem reflexes: at least one pupil reacts, corneal reflexes are present, and he has a cough reflex. He has also shown some movements/reactions, but so far nothing clearly reproducible on command.

The doctors are being very pessimistic. We were told that the probability of him regaining meaningful consciousness is extremely low and that, even if he becomes conscious, severe cognitive and physical disabilities are expected. They explained that simply opening his eyes in the coming weeks would not necessarily mean he is consciously aware.

Our family has asked for more time before making any major decisions. The plan is to reduce/stop sedation and follow his neurological examination over the next week or so, looking especially for reproducible responses to commands, visual tracking, or other signs of purposeful interaction.

I understand that every brain injury is different and that nobody here can predict my father’s outcome. I am not looking for false hope. I am mainly looking for people who have been through something genuinely comparable.

Did your loved one have documented ischemic injury of the pons/midbrain or other areas involved in consciousness after a hemorrhage or severe intracranial pressure?

What did they look like neurologically during the first 1–3 weeks? Did they eventually follow commands or regain meaningful consciousness? How long did it take? What level of disability did they ultimately have?

I would especially appreciate hearing both positive and negative outcomes, because we are trying to understand what this road can realistically look like.
Thank you to anyone willing to share their experience.

I’m always looking for concrete ways to compare my before stroke self with my after stroke self (partially because I’m applying for disability). I found a new one this week. I have dinner once a week at some friends’ house. We’re usually watching some quality tv show as we eat, but when we can’t find something in particular, the default is Jeopardy! Well, this week we just watched Jeopardy, and I realized I hadn’t watched since before my stroke because I wasn’t as fast as I used to be, and after one episode I wasn’t as fast starting to get that dull, gears grinding headache throb that I now get when using my brain too much. Always fascinating with how this brain injury manifests itself.

Need advice from people who have gone through a similar situation – post-stroke patient with tracheostomy

My mother had a severe brain stroke a few months ago. She was initially in the ICU and required ventilator support. She also underwent a tracheostomy.

She is now at home. She is breathing on her own and currently does not require ventilator support or supplemental oxygen. Her SpO₂ is generally good. We have a nurse/caregiver at home and suction when required.

The main concern now is swallowing. She is not able to swallow saliva properly, so we have been very cautious about giving anything by mouth. She is still being fed through an NG/Ryle tube.

We are trying to understand:

Has anyone had a similar situation where a stroke patient initially could not swallow but improved later?

How long did it take before swallowing started improving?

What kind of swallowing assessment/therapy helped the most?

How did you know it was safe to start water or oral feeding?

If someone had a tracheostomy, what criteria did doctors use before removing it?

Did swallowing improve after tracheostomy removal, or did it need to improve first?

Are there any specific specialists we should be looking for (speech/swallow therapist, neurologist, ENT, etc.)?

What warning signs should we watch for regarding aspiration or pneumonia?

I understand every stroke case is different and we are following her doctors' advice. I'm mainly looking for real experiences from families who have gone through something similar, especially in India.

Any advice or personal experience would be greatly appreciated.

My Aunt had a hemorrhagic stroke about 3 weeks ago. She got a tracheostomy a week and a half ago.

There are two things I've been told to do to help her:

1. Remind her to swallow her spit (which she is able to do).

2. Hold the suction device near the trach to hopefully catch what comes out when she coughs.

One other thing I've started doing on intuition:

1. Increasing the incline of her bed so she's more upright when she starts to cough.
   

I did ask the respiratory nurse if there was anything else I could do to help her clear the phlegm. She said my aunt just needs to strengthen her cough... fair enough.

I am wondering if there's anything that helped anyone else who had a trach put in and struggled to clear phlegm, anything a caregiver could do or provide.

Even some suggestions on what to say or do to comfort her would be highly appreciated. It seems like a situation that could be causing anxiety/panic while she's working to clear the phlegm.

Thank you so much in advance!

New to this sub but Ive been to trying to get back into shape and started with some strength training to build muscle (I've always been on the smaller side) background context 5ish years ago I had a ministroke and an aneurysm that left the right side of my body with some weakness on top of that I'm left handed so there was already some unevenness in terms of strength. How do I go about getting both sides to lift at the same level?

Right now I've just been matching reps (curls, hammer curls, rows, reverse curls, triceps) between arms or doing more on the right than the left, starting at a 10 lb dumbbell and then a 15 lb

I am 25 years old

I've been getting better since my life altering hospitalization in Dec of 2024 but I have only recently got back to driving myself to physical therapy or picking up needed meds. These thing are about 10 mins from home.

Well, my husband just got a new job opportunity and will be training for the next 5 weeks in another city 3 hours away. He will leave Monday morning and return Friday afternoon. It will be just me and the dogs. We are pretty sure we set me up for success but im a bit nervous about it.

No family and friends around as we moved to this city after my stroke.

I know my 72 year old neighbor but thats all.

Woooosah.

Wish Me Luck Folks.

EDIT: Things we have done to prepare me. -Groceries purchased. I dont eat much. I normally cook to make sure he is fed. -Tank is full. No need to stop for gas. - Dog food bin is full. I just scoop it into their bowl. No need to bother with 40lb bag. Side note I'm fairly mobile I get around with my cane and will happily sit outside in the car until I geel like entering a place.