HOW TO CARE FOR STROKE PATIENTS
You may have many concerns regarding your loved one’s recovery and their requirements in the days and years to come when caring for stroke victims at home. In addition, you could be concerned about how you’ll handle your new position as a caretaker.
It takes much work to provide care. It might be stressful for many to take on the caretaker position while still completing their other responsibilities. It’s crucial to understand that you don’t have to do this alone as a family caregiver. Remember that you can better care for your loved one when you take care of yourself.
This advice will assist you in taking care of your loved one, including juggling your well-being and happiness with the stroke survivor’s requirements.
Focus on Positive Memories
Stroke victims frequently experience depression, which can impede their ability to recover—focusing on happy experiences with them, getting them outside as often as possible, and working with a healthcare professional to create a plan of action, if necessary, are some ways to stop this.
Encourage Daily Rehabilitation Exercise
After a stroke, many patients struggle with motor limitations, which require attention when the patient returns home. Encourage daily brain-rewiring exercises to support your loved one’s recovery. The greatest treatment for stroke is regular movement.
Educate Yourself
Utilize every chance to find out about the health and outlook of your loved one. Participate in programs or support groups. Learn about stroke healing and the rehabilitation process from their recovery staff. Your ability to care for your loved one will improve as you gain more knowledge.
Make Sure They Eat a Healthy and Wholesome Diet
A stroke victim’s chance of getting another one is frequently very high. Ensure your loved one consumes a balanced diet rich in vitamins and nutrients to maintain their health at its best to reduce this danger.
Talk with Social Workers or Case Managers for Tips
Social workers and case managers are crucial components of the stroke recovery team. If there is anything about home care that you don’t understand, don’t be afraid to ask them. For example, they can provide you with important details on after-discharge insurance and house adjustments.
Provide Emotional Support
After a stroke, your loved one will experience various emotional changes. For example, pseudobulbar affect, which can be treated with medicine or go away on its own, might be indicated by sudden bursts of sobbing or laughing.
Patients with a stroke may also experience sadness, despair, or anxiety. Be careful to show your loved ones that you realize how difficult these times are for them by lending an ear to listen to or a shoulder to cry on. Make sure your loved one seeks out their therapist or counselor as well.
Medications and Supplements
Many drugs, including blood thinners and cholesterol medications, may be prescribed to your loved one. Unfortunately, every drug has side effects that need to be carefully watched. Keep a diary or record of any changes or symptoms, and immediately notify the medical staff of your loved ones if anything seems off.
Make sure your loved one only takes vitamins that their doctor has authorized. Some supplements, including ginkgo Biloba, might make you more likely to have another stroke.
Be on the Lookout for New Stroke Side Effects
After leaving the hospital or clinic, it should be possible that stroke-related side effects will become better. However, months after being discharged, further stroke side symptoms might appear. Immediately get medical or neurological advice if you detect anything strange in your loved one.
Keep Pushing Past the Plateau
After the initial three months of recovery, most stroke victims reach a “plateau.” However, this slowing does not mean that the recovery is coming to an end. Although functional gains are conceivable for the rest of one’s life, neurological alterations settle after a few months. Even decades after a stroke, the brain may adapt and mend.
So, don’t let a stall in outcomes demotivate you or a loved one. Instead, use it as a cue to revise your recovery strategy.
Take Falls Very Seriously
Falls should be taken extremely seriously since it might be challenging for stroke victims to get up off the floor. If a fall happens, get medical help and reconsider your house improvements—non-slip mats are crucial. Before leaving your loved one alone, always check that your house has been adequately modified and that they have enough mobility to stand back up.
Measuring Progress Matters
The acute rehabilitation treatment your loved one receives is partially based on how quickly they improve. Based on the Functional Independence Measure Score, survivors undergoing acute rehabilitation are anticipated to see measurable functional improvements per week (FIMS).
Improvements in everyday functioning also affect mobility and communication abilities. The average rehabilitation expectation is a daily improvement of 1-2 FIMS points.
Stop Depression Before It Hinders Recovery
Up to 30 to 50 percent of stroke patients have post-stroke depression in either the early or late stages of their recovery. The healing and rehabilitation of your loved one may be greatly hampered by post-stroke depression. Develop a strategy by speaking with a healthcare professional.
Extra Supplements Could Cause Another Stroke
Despite the allure of additional supplements for stroke recovery, always double-check with the patient’s doctor. Some dietary supplements, such as Ginko Biloba, may raise the chance of a second stroke. On the bottle, this isn’t expressly mentioned, however! So do your research before adding additional medications to your loved one’s regimen.
Be on the Lookout for New Stroke Side Effects
After leaving the hospital or clinic, it should be possible that stroke-related side effects will become better. However, months after being discharged, further stroke side symptoms might appear. Immediately get medical or neurological advice if you detect anything strange in your loved one.
Talk with an OT for House Modification Recommendations
Patients with strokes are at a considerable risk of falling because they frequently experience balance issues or one-sided visual neglect following a stroke. Your loved one’s safety can be increased by making house adjustments such as adding grab bars and non-slip matting and by clearing the clutter.
Be Helpful
Only assist your loved one if they ask for it or if it is essential if you notice them suffering. Stroke victims must act on their own to continue healing. Don’t interfere with their rehabilitation by being intrusive.
Join Support Groups
Both offline and online support groups are available to stroke survivors and the family members caring for them. Join these groups to benefit from them. You’ll find sympathy, sympathy, and encouragement here.
Make Home Modifications
Patients with stroke are more likely to fall due to frequent balance issues or one-sided visual neglect. This indicates that improving your loved one’s residence is crucial. Learn what has to be done by consulting with their occupational therapist. Installing grab bars, clearing out clutter, and tacking or removing carpets are a few changes that could be suggested.
Take Care of Yourself
If you don’t take the time to look after yourself, how can you expect to look after a loved one? It’s essential to take pauses, schedule downtime for relaxation, eat healthily, exercise, and ask for assistance when required.
Caregiving for a loved one after a stroke may be very difficult, as Safe Hands Health Systems is aware. Get in contact with our compassionate and amiable group of medical specialists whenever you need assistance. We can provide your family with the same inexpensive and dependable home care services we have provided to the GTA for years.
For Assistance and Services Visit: www.SafeHandsHHC.com
