Complications After Stroke: How To Keep It Under Control?

Complications after stroke can still occur. Medical professionals make sure to prevent these situations from occurring. Otherwise, the patient can suffer another stroke afterward. Furthermore, a patient’s oral condition may also suffer. If you contact Boutique Dental Care today, their dental professionals can also give you a little help to reduce the risk of complications from a stroke. Oral health has to be in excellent condition for stroke patients.

In this case, what could these complications be after experiencing a stroke? Is there a way to keep them under control? We will find out the answers as we go along with this article. We can assure you that you will gain sufficient information that will benefit you and your loved ones. Let’s go!

What is Stroke?

Stroke is a medical condition involving a brain’s part losing blood supply that causes it to stop working. As a result, the body part it controls will also stop functioning. The other term for stroke is a cerebrovascular accident (CVA) or brain attack.

Furthermore, stroke is a medical emergency, which means it requires immediate attention from medical professionals. Relative to stroke, the family members or anyone near the patient can use FAST if they suspect the situation involves a stroke.

FAST stands for F-face drooping, A-arm weakness, S-speech difficulty, and T-time to call 911 or help. The American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association recommend everyone be aware of FAST to recognize stroke immediately.

In cases of stroke, quickly acting is necessary to prevent more complications from happening. It is not easy to determine the severity of the stroke. So, the help of health care professionals is essential to take place immediately.

Acute Stroke

An acute stroke occurs unexpectedly and can worsen in a rapid amount of time. In some cases, TIA precedes a stroke, which can cause long-lasting effects. Later on, you will find more details about TIA in this article.

Symptoms

It would be best to be familiar with the following symptoms. This way, you can immediately react and do what is necessary to prevent worse-case scenarios.

• One side of the body becomes numb or weak.
• Patients will also experience speaking difficulties or trouble understanding what others are saying.
• Additionally, they will encounter trouble seeing or potentially lose their vision.
• Eventually, patients may also lose their balance or coordination.
• Furthermore, they may also find it difficult to walk or may experience falling.
• The condition may also involve a sudden, severe headache. It may include a stiff neck, facial pain, pain between the eyes, and vomiting.
• Lastly, the patient may experience confusion as well.

If these symptoms are visible to a person, it would be best to take them to the nearest health care facility. They will need immediate attention from a med professional. Otherwise, the patient’s overall health condition can be at risk in the long run.

Generally speaking, chest infection is a typical complication of acute stroke. Stroke patients stay longer in the hospital due to this condition. Unfortunately, it even carries a 3-fold increase in the risk of death.

Types of Stroke

Generally speaking, we have three types of strokes. For this reason, the treatment option and recovery of patients will vary. The three primary strokes that patients may encounter include the following.

1 Ischemic Stroke

It is the type of stroke that most patients often encounter. About 87% of the occurrences are ischemic strokes. An ischemic stroke occurs when there is a blockage in the artery, preventing the supply of oxygen-rich blood to the brain.

The obstruction can be out of several ways. A thrombotic stroke involves narrowing of the artery due to cholesterol buildup, referred to as plaque. Its rupture can lead to clot formation, preventing the blood from passing through. In effect, there will be oxygen deprivation.

Meanwhile, the other cause is embolic. It involves a blockage that can travel from the heart or another blood vessel. Blood clots often cause an ischemic stroke. The complications of ischemic stroke may affect medical and neurological aspects.

2 Hemorrhagic Stroke

This stroke involves a blood vessel leaking and spilling blood into the brain tissue. In effect, the brain cells will also stop working. The typical cause of bleeding or hemorrhage is poorly controlled high blood pressure or aneurysm.

3 Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA)

They also refer to TIA as a mini-stroke. The difference of TIA among the other types of stroke is that the blockage only takes place in no more than 5 minutes. However, TIA is not something to disregard. Below are the reason why.

• It serves as the warning of a future stroke.
• Furthermore, it is also a kind of medical emergency, just like the other types.
• Both stroke and TIA require immediate medical care.
• Moreover, no one can identify right away what kind of stroke happened to the patients.
• Blood clotting is the typical cause of TIAs, similar to ischemic stroke.
• Lastly, untreated TIAs can lead patients to experience a major stroke.

Given these points, we can say that TIA is not a condition anyone can neglect just because they happened to be minor at the moment. Patients still need to see their doctor. This way, they can prevent a major stroke from occurring.

What are the Medical Complications after Stroke?

Generally speaking, if patients do not receive any treatment or went out of the hospital still unstable, complications can occur. Several complications after stroke can bring the patients into more trouble. That includes the following.

• Brain edema: It involves the swelling of the brain.
• Pneumonia: This complication can lead to breathing problems. Pneumonia can occur because of the inability to move and swallowing difficulties. 
• Urinary Tract Infection (UTI): This infection often occurs due to using a foley catheter.
• Seizures: These are common complications among larger strokes, wherein abnormal electrical activity in the brain happens.
• Clinical depression: These are relative to unwanted emotional and physical reactions to changes and losses.

Other Stroke Complications

• Bedsores or Pressure sores: This complication is the outcome of immobility. It often occurs in body parts experiencing pressure.
• Limb Contractures: Immobility or lack of exercise can lead to muscle shortening in the arms or legs.
• Shoulder Pain: Patients can encounter shoulder pain due to a lack of support in an arm. In effect, the shoulder will experience pulling from the arm.
• Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT): This complication involves blood clot formation in the legs’ veins due to the inability to move.

Overall, common complications are prone to occur if the patient’s treatment will not properly take place. Several factors can hinder the patient’s stroke recovery. For this reason, med representatives should be cautious enough to prevent any risk.

Inpatient Stroke Rehabilitation

Rehabilitation is an essential aspect of stroke recovery. It helps individuals who experienced a stroke return to the life and level of function they had before. This rehabilitation may take weeks or months. The length will depend on the patient’s underlying health conditions and the severity of stroke. A patient’s rehabilitation may take place inside the hospital or a nursing facility before coming home.

What To Do To Prevent Complications?

The risk of developing complications is highly potential. Your doctor knows what prevention method is necessary to avoid any complications from arising. A patient’s treatment may involve the following.

• The treatment includes supervision, monitoring, and drug therapy.
• Your doctor may also require physical treatment that includes various activities. Patients can do these activities by themselves, with a healthcare provider, or both of them.

Treatments included

Below are the specific treatment methods that can lead to a faster recovery.

• Range-of-motion exercises and physical therapy
• Increased frequency of turning while in bed
• Good nutrition
• Bladder training program for incontinence
• Swallowing and respiratory therapy
• Deep breathing exercises
• Psychological treatment for depression

Note: Addressing depression may also include taking medicine like an antidepressant. The doctor may also refer the patients to a local stroke support group.

Overall, prevention will always be the best treatment. We have to eliminate the factors that can put our lives at risk. Factors like blood pressure, cholesterol level, and sugar level have to be in control. This way, we can reduce the severity of any health illnesses.

References:

Stroke, Medical Author: Benjamin Wedro, MD, FACEP, FAAEM, Medical Editor: Charles Patrick Davis, MD, Ph.D., Accessed August 31, 2021, https://www.medicinenet.com/stroke_symptoms_and_treatment/article.htm#what_is_stroke_rehabilitation

Complications After Stroke, Stroke.org, Accessed August 31, 2021, https://www.stroke.org/-/media/stroke-files/lets-talk-about-stroke/life-after-stroke/ltas_complications-after-stroke.pdf?la=en