National Stroke Week is from 31 August – 6 September 2020 and so we’re helping people understand more about this specific kind of acquired brain injury. Here at Headstart 1 in 5 people we support have had a stroke.
What is a stroke?
Stroke attacks the brain - the human control centre - changing lives in an instant. Injury to an area of your brain can impact how you think, behave, use words, swallow, see, feel, touch, and move your body. Stroke affects everyone differently, and can happen to anyone of any age.
Your brain is fed by blood carrying oxygen and nutrients through blood vessels called arteries. A stroke happens when blood cannot get to your brain, because of a blocked or burst artery. As a result, brain cells die due to a lack of oxygen and nutrients.
As published by the Stroke Foundation:
• One in four people globally will have a stroke in their lifetime.
• When a stroke strikes, it attacks up to 1.9 million brain cells per minute.
• More than 56,000 strokes will be experienced by Australians this year – that is one stroke every ten minutes (new and recurrent strokes).
• But encouragingly more than 80 percent of strokes can be prevented.
More information can be found on the Stroke Foundation website, including the above facts and figures (with sources).
How Headstart help people with stroke
At Headstart we support many people who have had a stroke, in fact 19% of our consumers are recovering from stroke and it’s true that every person is different although there are some common things. After a stroke people will often experience some of these changes:
• Physical changes, incl. difficulty gripping things, fatigue or tiredness, incontinence, weakness or paralysis of limbs in one side of the body, vision problems, swallowing problems, and sometimes pain associated with tissue or nerve damage.
• Emotional changes, incl. depression (especially the first year after a stroke and common in people who have aphasia), anxiety and personality or behavioural changes (such as irritability, aggressiveness, impulsiveness, disinhibition or repetitive behaviour).
• Changes to thinking (ability to learn new skills, plan, problem solve), memory and perception (judging distance, vision and recognising shapes) can also occur.
The extent of these kinds of changes after a stroke will depend on which part of your brain was damaged and by how much. If you have any questions on dealing with stroke please contact our office.
Aphasia and Dysophasia
Aphasia is a communication disorder that results from damage or injury to the language parts of the brain. Aphasia can impact the way a person uses or understands words. But aphasia does not impair a person’s intelligence. People who have aphasia may have difficulty speaking and finding the “right” words to complete their thoughts. They may also have problems understanding conversation, reading and comprehending written words, writing words and using numbers. Wikipedia reports that 25% - 40% of people who survive a stroke develop aphasia as a result of damage to the language-processing regions of the brain.
Some people may refer to aphasia as dysphasia. Aphasia is the medical term for full loss of language, while dysphasia stands for partial loss of language. The word aphasia is now commonly used to describe both conditions.
Dysphasia is impaired ability to understand or use the spoken word. It is caused by a lesion of the dominant hemisphere and may include impaired ability to read, write and use gestures. The most common cause is cerebrovascular disease, but it can arise from a space-occupying lesion, head injury or dementia.
Need more information on aphasia?
Our friends at Synapse have further information on the complexities relating to language, speech and acquired brain injury, which includes aphasia.
Synapse fact sheet pdf: Speech deficits and speech pathologists
This information is also available on details how speech language pathology encompasses the diagnosis, assessment and treatment of communication and swallowing disorders. The fact sheet explains that a breakdown in these areas can occur at any one or more of these stages, depending on the location and severity of the acquired brain injury:
Stage 1: Aphasia - characterised by an impaired understanding and production of language and is usually the result of damage to the left or ‘language competent’ half of the brain.
Stage 2: Apraxia - apraxia of speech (AOS) reflects an impaired capacity to plan the movements necessary to direct speech.
Stage 3: Dysarthria - the term given to a group of disorders that reflect impairment in the actual speech muscles.
Apasia is not to be confused with dysphagia, a medical term for difficulty in swallowing. Read more about dysphagia here on Health Direct’s website.
Conditions that damage the brain and nerves can cause dysphagia, including stroke (almost half of all people who have stroke will have difficulty in swallowing.
Surviving stroke: living with aphasia - Cathy’s story
Cathy suffers from Aphasia. This is evident in her lack of ability to process the words in the brain to be converted to speech. Aphasia causes a lot of frustration for people like Cathy, as they know what they want to say, yet struggle to articulate in words.
Surviving stroke: a time for new things - Tony’s Story
Not all stroke survivors suffer from aphasia, like Tony, whose struggles were just as much mentally as physically. Tony’s rehabilitation through physio has helped greatly - and the process of reinventing himself through a hobby that has become a business - has given him a new lease on life.
There is hope after a stroke - Lyn’s mosaics
We know that a stroke can be devastating but with determination and desire so much is still possible. We’ve supported Lyn for 16 years now and as this video shows: with some determination, a positive attitude and a sense of humour, life still has a lot to offer!
What can you do if someone is having a stroke?
The Stroke Foundation have produced a really short and simple video: Think FAST. Act F.A.S.T. Check it out:
Time saved is brain saved. The faster you get to hospital for treatment for stroke, the better your chance of survival and of making a good recovery. Know the signs of stroke and call triple zero (000) immediately if you a suspect stroke. Stroke Foundation is proud to partner with NSW Health to deliver F.A.S.T. signs of stroke Community Education.
