Effects of Stroke

Diane--

Remember how much work little children put into laying down neural patterns and connections? Once the pathways are established, they have to be maintained.

I don't remember what I got for Christmas when I was three years old (war years). I do remember glimpses of some elaborate, sculptured snowmen made by German POW's because that memory was reinforced by my mother's memories of the war years.

There aren't any miraculous mousetraps to re-establish the beaten tracks to every single bit of Dys's vast store of General Information. The network can be rebuilt, but this process will be slow. He's not cutting new paths--he's just pruning some very intrusive high weeds and brush.

I wouldn't be a bit surprised if some of his mental melancholy isn't related to the phantom pain amputees feel in their missing limb. He might not be able to access the nitty-gritty footwork of the Greeks outside the Wall of Troy, but every detour into angst and melancholy reinforces the road to angst and melancholy. Meanwhile the Greek....

In the Silver Lining Department: Memory impairment is often accompanied by paranoia. Dys seems to have eschewed that ego-boosting short cut.

Hold your dominion.

have you heard of the "brain gym" ?
these are physical exercises that are supposed to help ypur brain to operate better .
our local seniors' centre has set up a "brain gym group" - unfortunately not many participants showed up after the initial meeting .
they are asking old and new members to join the "brain gym" or the program will be cancelled .
i should be joining , but ... i don't seem to have much spare time left and i'm also not much of a "joiner" .
so there is my excuse .
hbg

...THE BRAIN GYM...

<trying to find a way to post this without sounding too detached/third-party>

My experience with people who've had strokes and other brain injuries is that the higher functioning they are after the brain insult, the more difficult things will be afterward. They have a better memory of what level of function they had and lost - and that can be horribly distressing. Grief and loss counselling/support can be enormously helpful - but the resources for this are few and far between <one of my regular rants about poor levels of services available to veteans>.

On the flip side, the more interests people had before the brain insult, the more likely they are (very generally speaking) to make as full a recovery as possible. They are used to exercising their brain.

hamburger and I have talked about his friend who he visits weekly. W wasn't interested in too much outside of his fairly immediate sphere beforehand. I think it's unfair to expect him to develop those interests now. Finding 'brain gym' tools that will work for him will be more difficult than they would be for someone who had a wider range of interests and experiences prior to the brian insult.

Exercising the brain/developing new routes for information to travel along, as well as focussing on maintaining optimal health, is really essential.

You got it, BBB. If Fred loves you, you have passed Fred's test of coolness. Nobody knows just what is needed, all that information is in Fred's little bird brain, but to pass is to be rewarded by little bird love.

Noddy--you are one of those rare individuals who can express understanding without ever getting all sloppy and squooshy. Your comparison of phantom pain to the loss of memory and other symptoms is one of the best I've ever read.

Dominion holding is something we both do every day.

Hamburger, the Brain Gym sounds just up our alley. I will look into ordering one of the books.

Bethie wrote:



I think you meant the more high functioning they were before the injury, the more difficult it will be after the injury. If this is what you meant, it is perfectly logical. There was more to lose in the first place. And as I said earlier, his knowledge and quickness have always been important parts of his identity. In fact, it helps me to be more patient. There have been times when I have gotten impatient when he expresses irritation at not being able to instantly bring up an author's name or an historical fact, seeing that the knowledge is still there and that the basic foundation has not been lost. He doesn't do this very often, he really isn't a complainer, but now I can understand that the few times he does complain are based on factors that were directly tied to his identity. The loss is personal and emotional as well as physical.

Do you remember the story he sent you (I think he PMed it) about an old Albuquerque cowboy? You PMed him back, saying that you were at work and now had coffee spills to clean up. He was going through some of his stories today and had me laughing at the one he sent to you.

Thanks to all for the posts. They help both of us.

I amn't sure Bethie meant what you changed it to.


I THINK she meant that the better we still function after a stroke, the more self-awareness we have about what isn't quite the same.

I amn't sure Bethie meant what you changed it to.


I THINK she meant that the better we still function after a stroke, the more self-awareness we have about what isn't quite the same.

Ah, Bunny, thank you for clearing that up. It makes even more sense now. Duh. Someitmes I wonder who really had the stroke!

August 12, 2004.

Saved it.

Bunnykins was right. Higher function AFTER the stroke can be rough. Knowledge and understanding of what's been lost. Painful.

I had an aunto who suffered a stroke years ago and she lost the ability to pronounce peoples names. She KNEW the names she just couldn't say them. I told her to think of names as verbs and she was suddenly able to say certain names again! When she looked at Bob she thought of "bob in the water" and she said "Bob". She couldn't do it with every name but she could do it with some.

That's interesting, Nick..

Nick ,as awful as strokes are, the way the brain compensates is sometimes astounding.

Was it Oliver Sacks who wrote, The Man Who Thought His Wife Was a Hat? The complexity is wondrous and the redundancies make recovery possible with some alterations in speaking and thinking.

You were very clever to think of changing nouns to verbs. In a way, it is the same method used by many people who are trying to remember names. I think I'll give it a try.

I do really want to respond to this topic, I may do so tomorrow; I am tired.

Nick's technique is a great example of training alternate pathways to knowledge.

The brain is really quite a fantastic, fascinating tool.

<why didn't I go back to school yet?>

I must agree with Deb and Beth - about realising what you are missing if you have some higher function after a stroke. And I had nothing like Dys's capacity to start with.

After an illness and some medication some years back, I lost a lot of my short term memory - and now find it quite difficult to remember recent things.

Those who work with me / know me, don't see it as a problem, because I am functioning, but I'm very aware of just how much less reliable my memory is, and I can't go back to my old job - I just can't function well enough to manage a high stress position these days.

I performed quite well in a trivia quiz at the work Christmas function the other day, and now my boss wants to know how come I can't remember what I did this morning, or yesterday afternoon!

Perhaps because things you did this morning or yesterday afternoon don't interest you!

There is always that!

Oh, Margo....I knew you had been ill, but I didn't know about your memory.


I am sorry to hear it.

Exactly what I was intending when posting about my dad's calendar and then suggesting rereading history books to to help find a quicker path to what is already there in memory.

Years ago, I underwent a very rigorous form of chemotherapy. Afterwards, for awhile, my short term memory was GONE, and I used to cry that I had suffered brain damage.

Over time, the memory slowly improved, only to have time and Mother Nature take over. I know that my memory is not as quite as good as other people my age, but then again, it ain't half bad. I no longer worry about it.

I think that the mind and the body takes time to react to and accustom itself to changes, especially changes that are a part of the core of a person. To the person who has prided himself on his store of knowledge, and his ability to extract and relate that knowledge easily, and at will, any perceived deficiency in that area will be very noticible...........................to that person.

I think that a person needs to be gentle with himself, and realize that it takes a lot of work to "reinvent" himself. It is understanding that we are mortal, and our bodies fade, but we are still the same human being that we were before.

We are not the sum of our illnesses. Yes, infirmity HAS made an impact on our lives, but it is not our life. It is simply a glitch, a speed bump on the highway of our lives, to face, and overcome.

Diane
We all know Dys is not a silly, moody teenager, but the following is interesting information about new discoveries in brain function:

http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=2441279#2441279

BBB