signs of a stroke Archives - Amazing Health Advances

When Your Loved One has Aphasia

The AHA! Team — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 05:28:22 +0000

Meredith Nye, CCC-SLP, MS, via Duke Health – Speech pathologists can help relatives and friends work with a loved one who has aphasia and find ways to communicate effectively. Aphasia is a language disorder that can affect comprehension and communication. Although it is most often caused by a stroke, aphasia can also result from traumatic brain injury, brain tumors, or progressive neurological disorders such as primary progressive aphasia (PPA). These conditions damage the language centers of the brain, leading to difficulties with speaking, understanding, reading, and/or writing. Learning to communicate with someone who has aphasia can positively impact that person’s social interactions, relationships, medical decision-making, and overall wellbeing. “We work with patients and their care partners to provide customized treatment plans focusing on life participation and maximizing communication success,” says Meredith Nye, CCC-SLP, MS, a Duke speech-language pathologist. “Aphasia doesn’t impact a person’s hearing or thinking skills like memory. Rather,” she says, “people with aphasia may use the wrong word, like ‘mother’ instead of ‘daughter’ or ‘yes’ instead of ‘no.’ Or they may make up words, unintentionally repeat themselves, or only be able to say a few words or sounds when they are trying to communicate. Or they may have a hard time understanding what you’re saying.” How to Communicate with Someone with Aphasia Speech pathologists can help relatives and friends work with a loved one who has aphasia and find ways to communicate effectively. Nye recommends keeping these tips in mind: Focus Their Attention If possible, move your conversation to a quiet, well-lit room where there are no distractions. Turn off background disturbances like the radio or television. It’s best to limit conversation to one or two people at the most. Use All Forms of Nonverbal Communication Rather than rely on words, use a wave to say “goodbye” or “hello.” Thumbs up can be used to say “good job” or “yes.” Your facial expressions can show anger, sadness, or elation. Exchange written or drawn messages. Have Patience Sometimes it takes longer for a person with aphasia to communicate. Count to 10 slowly before providing help or choices. Many times it takes that much time or longer for them to get their message out. Confirm Your Understanding After an exchange with your loved one, make sure you understand by verbally repeating or by writing a synopsis of the message’s key points. If they wanted coffee, write “coffee” and draw a picture. Use intonation in your voice when you ask, “You want coffee?” and point to the picture. Have them answer yes or no. Use Technology Computers, smart devices, and other forms of technology can help people with aphasia return to hobbies, read, and converse with others. Icons and emojis can enhance email and social media conversations. Encourage your loved one to listen to audiobooks in addition to reading the print versions. Speech pathologists can also recommend programs that enable your loved one to use word-prediction or speech-to-text capabilities. Get Help Speech pathologists can help people make progress even years after they are originally diagnosed with aphasia, says Nye. “We can help them focus on their strengths and find ways to better engage with family and their community. We can offer tools to help them socialize and have a better quality of life through communication.” Find Aphasia Support Groups There are many groups and resources in the community to support people with aphasia and their families. Nye says a speech-language pathologist is your best resource for identifying groups in your area. To read the original article click here.

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Know the Signs of Stroke – BE FAST

The AHA! Team — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 06:42:32 +0000

Debbe Geiger via Duke Health – Know the Signs of Stroke – BE FAST While stroke is the fifth leading cause of death, few people know the signs. Use the acronym BE FAST to remember the signs of stroke, and what to do if someone near you is experiencing them. BE FAST Reminder of Stroke Signs B – Balance Is the person suddenly having trouble with balance or coordination? E – Eyes Is the person experiencing suddenly blurred or double vision or a sudden loss of vision in one or both eyes without pain? F – Face Drooping Does one side of the face droop or is it numb? Ask the person to smile. A- Arm Weakness Is one arm weak or numb? Ask the person to raise both arms. Does one arm drift downward? S – Speech Difficulty Is speech slurred, are they unable to speak, or are they hard to understand? Ask the person to repeat a simple sentence like, “The sky is blue.” Is the sentence repeated correctly? T – Time to call 911 If the person shows any of these symptoms, even if the symptoms go away, call 911 and get them to the hospital immediately Source: American Stroke Association To read the original article click here.

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Is Stroke Linked to Depression Before it Occurs?

AHA Publisher — Wed, 20 Jul 2022 07:00:44 +0000

American Academy of Neurology (AAN) via Newswise – MINNEAPOLIS – While depression is a common problem for people who have had a stroke, some people may have symptoms of depression years before their stroke, according to a study published in the July 13, 2022, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Researchers found that, in people who developed a stroke, symptoms of depression preceded the onset of stroke and further worsened after the stroke. “Depression is among the most pressing problems in people who have had a stroke and it is so common it is referred to as post-stroke depression,” said study author Maria Blöchl, PhD, of the University of Münster in Germany. “But our study found depressive symptoms not only markedly increase after stroke, it found people already had developed some depressive symptoms before the stroke even occurred.” For the study, researchers looked at 10,797 adults with an average age of 65 and without a history of stroke at the start of the study. Participants were followed for up to 12 years. During that time, 425 people had a stroke. They were matched with 4,249 people who did not have a stroke but were similar in their age, gender, racial or ethnic identity, and other health conditions. Participants took a survey every two years asking whether they experienced symptoms of depression in the past week, including: feeling depressed; feeling lonely; feeling sad; everything was an effort; and restless sleep. The more symptoms participants had, the higher their score. Researchers found that six years before the time of the stroke, people who later had a stroke and those who did not had scores roughly the same, about 1.6 points. But at about two years before the stroke, scores of people who had a stroke started increasing, on average by 0.33 points. Following stroke, depressive symptoms increased an additional 0.23 points for this group, reaching a total of about 2.1 points and they stayed that high for 10 years after the stroke. In contrast, the scores of people who did not have a stroke remained roughly the same throughout the study. When evaluating whether people could be considered clinically depressed, scoring three points or higher on the scale, researchers found a slightly different pattern of results emerged. At the assessment before the stroke, 29% of people who were about to have a stroke met the criteria for having probable depression, compared to 24% of those who did not have a stroke. But at the time of the stroke, 34% of the people who had a stroke met the criteria for having probable depression, compared to 24% of those who did not have a stroke. Those numbers were about the same six years after the stroke. “This suggests that increasing symptoms of depression before stroke are mostly subtle changes and may not always be clinically detectable. But even slight increases in depressive symptoms, especially mood and fatigue-related symptoms, may be a signal a stroke that is about to occur,” noted Blöchl. “Depression is not only a post-stroke issue, but also a pre-stroke phenomenon,” said Blöchl. “Whether these pre-stroke changes can be used to predict who will have a stroke is unclear. Exactly why depressive symptoms occur pre-stroke needs to be investigated in future research. Also, the study underscores why doctors need to monitor for symptoms of depression long term in people who have had strokes.” A limitation of the study was that researchers did not have enough data on treatments for depression. So, it is possible that some people received antidepressants that could have improved their symptoms of depression following stroke. To read the original article click here.

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