Restoring the right side after a stroke at home

Author of the article: Marina Dmitrievna

2017.10.22

8 288

Vessels

More and more often we hear about the risk of stroke. This condition has become an all too common cause of death in older adults. A stroke is a disorder of blood circulation in the brain that leads to the death of nerve cells. The cause of this condition can be either a blood clot or a ruptured vessel. 80% of all cases that lead to stroke are due to the formation of a blood clot that prevents normal blood flow to the brain. The result of the disease can be paralysis.

Stroke

Recovery after a stroke is long, since a person may lose the ability to talk, move, eat independently, etc. The severity of such consequences depends on the speed of providing medical care immediately after the stroke. Paralysis can be avoided when the patient is taken to the hospital within an hour after the stroke and medical therapy is started.

Stroke: consequences, right side

A ruptured vessel or blockage of a vessel by a blood clot affects a specific hemisphere of the brain. Doctors note that it is much easier to diagnose a stroke if the left hemisphere is affected. It is in this part of the brain that the parts responsible for speech are located. And the spread and manifestation of a stroke in this case proceeds much brighter and faster.

Important! The earlier a stroke is diagnosed, the greater the chance of preventing the development of paralysis and later disability.

The consequences of a right-sided stroke are serious. In some cases it can lead to disability. Patients with hemorrhagic stroke may experience:

Hemiparesis of the left side.
Muscle dysfunction.
Impaired or lack of sensitivity.
Severe dizziness.
Partial loss of visual acuity (especially in the left eye).
Persistent sleep disturbances.
Problems with swallowing function.

All this leads to the development of severe urinary tract infections, bedsores, arthropathy, pneumonia, and spastic contractures.

Muscle spasticity

In combination, the diseases lead the sick person to chronic stress and depression. Nervous tension can lead to another stroke over time. As a result, right-sided stroke can only be treated with the help of rehabilitation doctors. A patient in this condition cannot cope without the help of other people.

What to do if a stroke causes loss of speech

How to regain speech after a stroke? Immediately after the first necessary assistance to the patient, it is important to contact a speech therapist.

Only this specialist will be able to correctly assess the degree of speech damage and draw up an effective set of measures for its restoration. The main task of such a complex is to restore speech breathing, voice, articulation, intonation, timbre.

How to restore speech after a stroke at home? You should not self-medicate in this case. Only after the exercises and massages shown by the speech therapist will it be possible to regularly perform them independently at home with the help of relatives.

What to expect if you have a stroke on the right side of the body?

Stroke on the right side, consequences and treatment, rehabilitation - all this is important to know, because the patient’s future life depends on the speed of providing first aid. Not only doctors should be aware of the symptoms of stroke. Significant symptoms of a stroke include:

Speech impairment is the first sign. The person speaks slurredly, cannot formulate phrases, does not understand the speech of other people, and cannot pronounce words clearly. In patients who experience paralysis, verbal memory fades. They find it difficult to formulate thoughts and cannot read or write.
When the right side is paralyzed, a person experiences muscle tension, which leads to a lack of activity in the upper and lower limbs, and it is difficult to smile. If you ask him to stick out his tongue, he either won’t be able to do it, or the tongue is bent.
Involuntary muscle movements. Often there is simultaneous flexion of the arm and extension of the leg. The hand can be pressed to the body and bent into a fist. Pay attention to the facial muscles. One of the corners of the lips is drooping, and the eyelid is drooping.
Loss of coordination. A person will not be able to raise two arms in front of him at the same time. One hand down.

These are the main signs of a stroke that everyone needs to know. For a quick diagnosis, just ask the person to do three things - speak, smile and raise their hands straight in front of them.

Types of disorders

No one knows exactly how the brain will be damaged when a stroke occurs. But these damages will affect the person’s future ability to speak clearly and understand the speech of others. What kind of speech disorders does a brain stroke lead to, and whether the ability to speak will be restored, we’ll figure it out further.

Dysarthria

If a stroke affects the subcortical structures of the brain, this type of disorder appears. With dysarthria, the patient's speech becomes unintelligible, pronunciation slows down, weakness of articulation and increased salivation appear. But the patient is able to understand the speech of others, as well as read and write. To restore speech, special exercises are prescribed to help strengthen the muscles of the speech apparatus.

Aphasia

With this disorder, the patient's brain loses the ability to create adequate nerve impulses in the area responsible for speech. Aphasia is divided into 6 types, which we will discuss further:

Motor aphasia. If the stroke affects the upper part of the main artery of the brain, this type of disorder appears. The patient pronounces individual words and entire sentences, but the order of words may be disrupted. Sometimes patients can repeat words syllable by syllable. It is advisable to begin treatment of motor aphasia 7 days after the stroke. To do this, doctors recommend singing songs and pronouncing simple words.
Sensory aphasia. The sensory type of aphasia appears when Wernicke's center is damaged.
The patient can hear, but ceases to understand speech. This type of pathology can manifest itself in a mild form, then the patient is able to recognize simple phrases and words. On a note. With regular sessions with a speech therapist, the disorder can be partially cured.
Dynamic aphasia. When the posterior frontal areas of the brain are damaged, this pathology occurs. It distorts the thought process, making it difficult for the patient to compose and pronounce coherent sentences. The disorder is treated in classes with a speech therapist.
Acoustic-mnesthetic aphasia. With acoustic-mnestic aphasia, the patient is unable to retain information in his head, and auditory-verbal memory decreases. The disorder appears when the posterior and middle parts of the temporal lobes of the brain are damaged.
Amnestic aphasia. If a stroke affects the lower temporal region of the brain, amnestic aphasia develops. This is the most minor speech disorder that can occur during a stroke. The main problem with this form of the disorder is that it can be difficult for the patient to select certain phrases and words because they are forgotten.
Total aphasia. If the brain suffers extensive damage as a result of a stroke, total aphasia develops. The patient completely loses the ability to speak and understand the speech of others, and there is passivity on his part. For this form of the disorder, treatment must begin as quickly as possible.

Dyspraxia

In this disorder, the nerve impulse from the brain enters the facial muscles incorrectly or with a delay, so it is difficult for the person to reproduce familiar sounds. The patient may experience the following problems:

Facial muscles cannot work correctly, making it difficult to speak clearly.
The patient has difficulty pronouncing some sounds.
It is difficult to pronounce words clearly, especially if someone asks for it.

Reference. On days 7-10 after the stroke, the patient can begin drug therapy and begin classes with a speech therapist. If you follow the advice of your doctor, you can get rid of dyspraxia almost completely.

What types of strokes are there?

What are the chances of recovery with a stroke on the right side? To answer this question, you need to know the type of stroke and how quickly help is provided. The prognosis for recovery depends on these things.

Types of strokes

There are two types: ischemic and hemorrhagic. Ischemic (lacunar) stroke is a blockage of a vessel by a blood clot, which is formed due to the accumulation of cholesterol plaques. The root cause of this condition is atherosclerosis. This is a disease of blood vessels that are susceptible to the negative effects of bad cholesterol. It is this substance that depletes the walls of blood vessels, making them brittle and fragile. The causes of this type of stroke are frequent arrhythmia, high blood clotting, and tachycardia. The condition can develop from 2 hours to a day.

Hemorrhagic stroke develops as a result of high blood pressure or due to congenital vascular pathology. Hypertension leads to increased blood flow, the main cause of vessel rupture.

Treatment of stroke at home: paralysis of the right side

The likelihood of returning to a full life for a person who has suffered a stroke is high only if he is given the necessary medications in the first hours after the incident.

Treatment with drugs

The complexity of the stroke should also be taken into account. Doctors calculated the approximate recovery time depending on the complexity of the disease:

An ischemic stroke with minimal neurological deficit will require 2-3 months for complete recovery.
Severe neurological deficit (severe limb paralysis). Full recovery is rare, but a partial recovery option with self-care options will require 6 months.
Extensive stroke and persistent neurological deficit lead to disability. It will take 1-2 years for a patient to be able to sit independently after such a stroke. Full recovery is impossible.

Neurological deficits indicate the extent to which neurons in the brain have died. It is not possible to restore the affected areas, but it is possible to develop the former functions due to the healthy cells that remain. We can talk about a favorable prognosis for recovery in any of the options, because no one knows the individual characteristics of a person.

Restoring speech after a stroke: what the patient’s relatives need to know

Restoring speech after a stroke: what the patient’s relatives need to know
After a stroke, the patient experiences a speech disorder or even complete loss of speech.

To return a person to a full life, it is necessary to carry out a set of rehabilitation measures, which should begin as soon as possible.

Restoring speech after a stroke is perhaps the most important thing in the complex of rehabilitation measures.

Why is speech impaired after a stroke?

The usual functions of the body after a stroke cease to be performed due to a lack of nutrition to the brain, caused by a violation of the blood supply.

If blood stops flowing to the areas that control speech function, then atrophy of brain cells occurs with disruption of this function. There are two such zones in the brain - motor and sensory.

The motor area is responsible for:

correct speech reproduction, regardless of whether oral or written;
control of muscles that create the conditions for the correct pronunciation of sounds.

The sensory area is associated with the functions of sound perception, memory and pattern recognition.

Responsibilities of this zone:

connection of individual words into meaningful sentences;
storing in memory information that makes what is spoken intelligible and understandable.

Speech dysfunction is affected by two more areas of the brain - the visual cortex, thanks to which a person can read, and the auditory cortex, thanks to which a person perceives sounds and can recognize them. With hemorrhages in the brain, several areas that control this function can be affected.

Types of cerebral stroke

the danger lies in cell atrophy, since this process is irreversible. Restoring speech and memory after a stroke is a long process and requires hard work not only from neurologists, speech therapists, relatives, but also from the patient himself.

Types of speech disorders

Disruption of normal blood circulation can have a negative impact on the speech centers of the cerebral cortex.

Then a person experiences communication problems of varying severity, depending on the size of the affected area.

Problems may arise with the pronunciation of not only sentences, but also individual words and sounds. Difficulties arise with the formation of words and thoughts.

There are the following types of speech disorders after a stroke:

dysarthria – the mobility of the facial muscles that control articulation is impaired, resulting in slurred speech;
aphasia – complete or partial loss of the ability to speak;
dyspraxia - the facial muscles retain the usual tone for the body, but the movement of these muscles and coordination are upset, the pronunciation is slurred.

Despite all the difficulties, speech restoration in patients after a stroke is possible, and modern techniques and treatment achieve good results.

Restoring speech and memory after a stroke is a long process that requires significant effort from both doctors, relatives and, most importantly, from the patient himself.

In order for speech functions to be restored, it is necessary to ensure that healthy areas of the brain are rebuilt and take over the functions of the affected areas.

Assessment of speech abilities after stroke

It is possible to restore speech after a stroke at home. The complex of rehabilitation measures includes:

classes with a speech therapist;
various physiological procedures;
medication treatment;
regular physical activity;
intense breathing exercises;
working with drawn letters, words, sentences.

In addition to the above, restoration of speech after a stroke is now quite successfully achieved by stem cell treatment.

Drugs for restoring speech after a stroke during drug treatment are prescribed by a neurologist and help normalize processes in the brain and maintain mental balance.

Drug restoration of speech after an ischemic stroke differs in drugs from treatment after a hemorrhagic stroke.

To prevent platelet aggregation, ticlid and aspirin are prescribed, to restore blood circulation - cerebrolysin, glycine, to restore metabolic functions - finilin, heparin.

To restore mental balance, antidepressants, sleeping pills, and sedatives are prescribed - adaptol, phenazepam, valerian, persen.

Classes with a speech therapist

The method of speech restoration after a stroke is selected jointly by a neurologist and speech therapist, depending on how great the degree of speech dysfunction is and on the general condition of the patient. Classes to restore speech after a stroke with a speech therapist begin in the hospital.

Classes with a speech therapist - to restore speech after a stroke

The following techniques are common to all methods:

singing to complete sentences;
for sensory disorders, use visual material for perception - drawings, gestures;
pronounce the endings of sentences together with the patient;
confirmation by the patient of the word corresponding to the picture;
repetition by the patient of the most common everyday phrases;
demonstration by the doctor of the correct movements of the lips and tongue;
the patient searches for rhyming words, comments on pictures;
reading tongue twisters;
memorizing passages of poems.

Home exercises during the rehabilitation period

After discharge from the hospital, speech restoration after a stroke at home is carried out by relatives and doctors visiting the patient.

Doctors, examining the patient, talking with him and relatives, give recommendations for further rehabilitation measures.

During this period, relatives are advised to:

talk to the patient slowly, without raising your voice;
if possible, someone should always be in the patient’s field of vision;
do not rush the patient to answer, so as not to cause a nervous breakdown;
do not correct what the patient said unless he himself asks for it.

Restoring speech after a stroke is a long process, extended over time.

Speech therapy massage to restore speech at home

All this time, relatives and friends must understand that only the patient’s speech function is impaired, but his intellect is not affected.

Therefore, when communicating with a patient you should:

talk to the patient in short sentences;
formulate questions so that you can answer “yes” or “no”;
do not jump from one topic to another;
if you do not understand what was said, it is better to ask again than to pretend that you understood;
to facilitate understanding, use auxiliary objects - pencil, notepad, computer, telephone;
remove distracting stimuli - bright lights, music, TV.

Physical therapy exercises, playing chess, singing, breathing exercises, etc. will help in restoring speech after a stroke.

Possible problems during rehabilitation

During the rehabilitation process, some problems may arise related to the patient’s habits before the stroke period.

This is especially true for smokers. Smoking is strictly prohibited both for the patient himself and for loved ones in his presence.

The same applies to alcoholic beverages, including beer. And try to protect the patient from negative information.

Conclusion

During the rehabilitation process, you need to show maximum understanding and be patient.

Don't point out mistakes, but encourage even the smallest successes. This is the only way to achieve the maximum possible rehabilitation of a person.

: Practical exercises for working on speech restoration in stroke patients

Source: https://noalone.ru/infocentr/zdorove/vosstanovlenie-rechi-posle-insulta/

Rehabilitation

What should recovery be like after a stroke? The right side, which is paralyzed, requires rehabilitation therapy. Doctors confirm that it is easier to restore former functions with right paralysis than with left paralysis. The whole secret is that neurons in the left hemisphere die more slowly. It is this feature that allows people to return to normal life faster.

Symptoms

Important! Right-sided paralysis often gives a favorable prognosis for recovery.

Therefore, rehabilitation measures depend on:

Location of the outbreak.
Stroke severity.
The severity of the defeat.
Development of complications.

Sometimes the prognosis of recovery is influenced by the patient’s age, since in a young body the recovery process is more active, but this nuance is individual. Often, after proper drug treatment and rehabilitation therapy, a patient with a mini-stroke can return to a full rhythm of life in a few months.

Forecast

In many ways, the prognosis for motor aphasia depends on the severity of brain damage and, accordingly, the clinical manifestations of the disease. The prognosis for the development of motor aphasia in a patient is conditionally favorable. Despite the fact that the disease is not completely cured, it is not life-threatening, and with timely therapeutic correction of metabolic disorders and full rehabilitation, the victim can easily adapt to the manifestations of the disease.

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What should be the drug treatment?

Let's look in more detail at how treatment occurs after a stroke at home. To have a favorable prognosis for recovery, you need to know how to properly treat a stroke on the right side already at the stage of resuscitation therapy. At the recovery stage of treatment, the main task is to restore previous brain activity.

Administration of drugs

This is done through a course of medication. At this stage, doctors prescribe the following drugs:

Improving blood supply to the brain (Cavinton, Cerebrolysin).
Nootropic drugs (Piracetam, Noofren).
Accelerating metabolism at the cellular level (Ginkgo-fort, Ceraxon, Cortexin, Actovegin).
Complex.
With a sedative effect (Glycine).
Antidepressants.

Doctors often suggest taking medications whose action is aimed at a sedative effect even after the end of the acute phase. It is important for both women and men to return to the normal rhythm of life after a stroke, but not everyone succeeds. In order to smooth out psychological stress as much as possible, appropriate medications are prescribed. In severe cases, patients take antidepressants.

Recovery after a stroke: right side at home

A person who continues to live after a stroke must first of all prepare for a long recovery period. Those around him who are helping him recover must be patient. The main thing is to follow all the instructions of rehabilitation doctors.

Physiotherapy

One of the important aspects of rehabilitation is the restoration of motor function of the limbs. If you approach this issue correctly, even patients with paraplegia (paralysis of both limbs) can recover over time. At this stage, it is better to contact a professional rehabilitation doctor who, using manual practices, restores muscle functions. Of course, calling a doctor to your home is not a cheap pleasure, so many people begin to study exercise and massage techniques on their own.

To do this, you need to remember a few simple rules:

Start any course of procedures with a light massage or stroking. It is easy enough to warm up the skin to increase blood flow. If there are no contraindications, then warm up the body with a warm bath. For the affected right side, it is appropriate to perform a light massage for 15 minutes or apply a warm heating pad to the limbs.
After exercise, the patient should not feel tired or pain. If he feels discomfort, then this means that the selected complex is being performed incorrectly.
It is better to perform exercise courses 3-4 times a day for 20-30 minutes so that the person does not become overloaded.
It is important to perform the exercises according to the doctor’s recommendations so as not to lead the patient into a state of overwork or severe fatigue.
If a person has suffered a severe stroke, then during the rehabilitation process he will not be able to independently comply with the doctor’s requirements. It is better for family, close people or a nurse to help. This is especially important if the person has suffered a coma.

Reducing muscle tone is the main task for a person who carries out restoration procedures. Due to paralysis, the patient is simply unable to bend his limbs independently.

How to restore the ability to speak in an adult after losing it?

How long it takes for speech function to recover depends on how severely the brain was damaged. Therefore, in some patients, the ability to speak is restored quite quickly (within a few weeks or months), while in others it takes years, and it is difficult to predict how long it will take.

To restore patients who have suffered a stroke, the following types of rehabilitation are used:

Drug therapy.
Classes with a speech therapist.
Physiotherapy.
Massage.
Surgical intervention.

Medicines

During rehabilitation after a stroke, the doctor prescribes several groups of drugs to the patient that help reduce side effects, improve the condition and help the patient quickly return to their normal lifestyle:

Muscle relaxants.
Antidepressants.
Anticonvulsants.
Antiplatelet agents.

Muscle relaxants

On a note. In the third month after a stroke, the patient may develop muscle hypertonicity, which greatly slows down the rehabilitation process.

Then muscle relaxants are prescribed that can reduce excessive muscle tone. The best muscle relaxants for stroke:

Sirdalud (cost in Moscow from 227, in St. Petersburg from 176).
Tizalud (cost in Moscow from 160, in St. Petersburg from 125 rubles).

Antidepressant series drugs

Almost 80% of patients suffer from depression after a stroke, which slows down the recovery process. In this case, antidepressants are prescribed. The best antidepressants for stroke:

Nortriptyline (cost in Moscow from 990, in St. Petersburg from 1,000 rubles).
Paxil (cost in Moscow from 650, in St. Petersburg from 660 rubles).

Anticonvulsants

When seizures occur, anticonvulsants are prescribed, but they should be taken with caution, as this group of drugs can cause side effects. The best anticonvulsants for stroke:

Finlepsin (cost in Moscow from 215, in St. Petersburg from 193 rubles).
Convulex (cost in Moscow from 116, in St. Petersburg from 135 rubles).

Antiplatelet agents

If after a stroke the patient’s blood becomes more viscous, this slows down the recovery of brain tissue. In this case, the help of antiplatelet agents is required to prevent the formation of blood clots. The best antiplatelet drugs for stroke:

Reopoliglyukin (cost in Moscow from 102, in St. Petersburg from 110 rubles).
Clopidogrel (cost in Moscow from 226, in St. Petersburg from 205 rubles).

Important! Any medications should be prescribed only by the attending physician. Do not self-prescribe medications, otherwise this can only worsen the patient’s condition.

Medication alone does not provide much benefit, but it does help progress recovery when used with other types of therapy, such as speech therapy and physical therapy.

Classes with a speech therapist

At the first lesson, the speech therapist draws up a plan for each patient individually. The following exercises are required:

Reading tongue twisters.
Drawing.
Mimic and speech therapy massage.

If all the specialist’s recommendations are carefully followed, about 20-30% of patients with moderate and severe speech disorders begin to speak normally by the time they are discharged from the hospital. Classes can also be held at home. The exercise program must be combined with medications, physical therapy and other types of rehabilitation.

Physiotherapy

This type of rehabilitation stimulates muscle recovery and helps to achieve better results from classes with a speech therapist and from taking medications.

Magnetotherapy. This procedure stimulates all processes in the brain, and also improves the functioning of the endocrine and nervous systems. A rather painful method, but it is considered one of the most effective. The patient's condition improves after 2-3 weeks.
Dorsanval. Prescribed for poor blood supply to the brain and limbs. After a whole course of procedures, which is at least 5-7 sessions that take place over 2-3 weeks, the patient’s condition improves significantly.

Massage

Therapeutic massage for stroke significantly improves blood supply to the affected tissues, which increases the flow of oxygen and other nutrients to them. In addition, massage helps relieve muscle and psychological tension. A therapeutic massage course usually consists of 10 sessions , but can be adjusted individually for each patient.

Note! A massage course can only be conducted by a qualified specialist with a medical education.

Surgery

A method such as surgery is resorted to in extreme cases, when other methods do not improve the patient’s condition and cannot restore lost speech. To restore speech, a neurosurgical operation is performed, which creates additional connections between healthy tissues and vessels in the speech area of the brain, without affecting the damaged areas.

An example of rehabilitation exercises for a bedridden patient

The set of exercises that is presented below is suitable for all people who are at the recovery stage after a stroke and who are experiencing severe spastic paralysis. List of exercises:

Flexion and extension of joints. Start with brushes. Continue movements towards the elbows, shoulders, knees, feet.
Rotation of limbs. Perform the exercise with the help of a nurse so that she monitors the range of motion.

Important! All exercises should resemble movements that a healthy person can perform.

Stretching the arms using splints. Effective for persistent paralysis. To do this, gradually extend the arm from the fingers to the shoulder or forearm. Bandage the limb in an extended form to a hard flat board. Stretching time is 30 minutes.
When restoring the functions of the hand, you can perform exercises using a towel. Grab both ends of the towel. Bring the ends together, separate them, lift them up, lower them, rotate them. Perform the exercise either in a sitting or lying position.
Stretching the popliteal area. To do this, a roller is placed under the knee, which gradually increases in diameter.
Grasp the shin with your hands. It is necessary to bend and straighten the legs at the knees and hold the bent joints with your hands. Align your legs smoothly, sliding your feet along the bed.
Exercises for the eyes. To do this, it is enough to fix your gaze on one point. Then carry out circular rotations with your head, but without taking your eyes off.
Rotate the eyes in different directions. You need to repeat the following shapes with your eyeballs: circle, square, triangle. You can repeat the outlines of numbers with your eyes. It is important not to strain your eyes too much. The exercise time is no more than 20 minutes.

When performing all these exercises, it is important to remember one condition - you cannot overload yourself. It is important to perform several approaches a day for 15-20 minutes.

Classification and symptoms of speech disorders

Speech problems that arise after a stroke can be of different types. Some people completely lose the ability to speak, but the thought process is not disrupted. In this case, non-verbal communication methods are used.

Many people who have suffered a stroke are simply embarrassed to talk and have difficulty communicating with others, including relatives. However, relatives should not give up, but should try in every possible way to return the victim to normal life.

Degrees of dysarthria

Speech impairment (dysarthria) can have varying degrees of severity, which speech therapists determine taking into account the severity of clinical manifestations and the level of intelligibility of the patient’s speech, understandable to others.

Based on this, dysarthria can be divided into the following degrees:

Initial degree - the first is called erased dysarthria. Clinical manifestations are mild. Only a speech therapist can identify them. Characteristic symptoms include rare swallowing of syllables and inexpressive speech.
The second degree is typical. In this case, changes in speech are more noticeable, but it is understandable to others. The changes inherent in grade 3 can be compared with the slurred speech of a drunk person.
The third degree is pronounced. There is a significant impairment of speech function. Only relatives can understand what the patient is talking about.
The fourth degree is complete distortion of speech or its absence.

It is completely possible to restore speech function in case of impairment of the 1st degree, while the 4th degree is practically impossible to correct.

Types of aphasia

Loss of speech after a stroke occurs as aphasia, a systemic disorder caused by local pathological changes in the cerebral cortex. Aphasia, in turn, is divided into several types:

Total. Occurs in the first days after an attack. The person does not speak at all and does not recognize spoken speech.
Motor. The next stage that follows after total aphasia is motor. Expressed in the absence of speech function. Despite the difficulties of communication, a person recognizes relatives and understands calls.
Sensory. A person does not understand spoken speech, which is caused by an organic lesion of the center responsible for sound analyzes of oral speech.
Semantic. The patient understands simple addresses and statements, but difficulties remain in understanding complex speeches.
Amnestic. It is difficult for a person to name objects, but repeated, dialogical, spontaneous speech functions are not impaired.

Such speech dysfunctions, which disappear after a stroke, can be corrected by special rehabilitation measures: pedagogical, psychological, social.

Restoration of the speech apparatus

Often, a right-sided stroke in men and women has negative consequences in terms of speech loss. Speech may be lost within the first hour after an attack. The function can be restored in a few weeks or in a few years.

Articulation exercises

It is important to conduct speech restoration classes from the first days after the stroke is stopped. Speech is difficult to recover. This may take more than one year, but don't panic. Even if a person does not produce the desired results, at some point he will still speak.

Main recommendations:

Constantly talk to the patient, even if he cannot produce sounds. While listening to sounds, he will try to repeat them.
Start by studying individual syllables or sounds. The patient must independently continue the word he started. It is important to separate words into syllables. For example: the word “mo-lo-ko”, “le-to”, etc.
To speed up speech ability, it is important for a person to turn on audio recordings to listen to other people singing. This method will begin to reproduce individual sounds faster.
It is important to do exercises to improve articulation. This could be: curling your lips into a tube, sticking out your tongue, hissing, licking your lips, baring your teeth, etc.

When speech is restored, begin to resume and strengthen memory. To do this, continue to learn tongue twisters and short poems with the patient. Board games that will distract a person have a beneficial effect.

It all depends on the severity of the stroke. Of course, the most dangerous option is a massive stroke, but even in such a situation you cannot give up.

Exercises to restore speech after a stroke are an important part of rehabilitation

Stroke is a very complex disease. Speech disorder is one of the most common disorders of mental processes that are observed during a stroke. The disease can occur at almost any age.

There are ischemic and hemorrhagic types of stroke. Both require long-term restoration of the physical and mental functions of the body.

Doctors have developed special exercises for restoring speech after a stroke, which you can do yourself at home.

Speech disorder

For normal perception of what is happening around, a person needs to understand speech and the ability to reproduce words himself and construct sentences from them. Correct pronunciation and understanding of what is said is vital for a full life.

How long the recovery process will take depends on many factors, including the persistence of doctors, relatives and the patient himself. For some it lasts from several weeks to a couple of months, for others it can last longer. Unfortunately, there are also those who never manage to speak.

Aphasia (impaired ability to speak) develops due to damage to the speech area of the brain.

In order to choose the right treatment method, you need to understand the type of disorder.

The following types of aphasia are distinguished:

Total - the patient is not able to say anything himself and understand what they are trying to tell him. He doesn't remember anything and doesn't recognize anyone.
Motor - often this type replaces total a few days after the stroke. The patient recognizes his family and friends, understands what they are saying to him, but cannot say anything himself. Over time, may try to reproduce sounds using intonation to better understand.

In this case, there are disturbances in Broca's center (speech motor), which is responsible for motor function. The patient understands everything, but cannot reproduce speech himself. A person often reproduces sounds, but cannot correctly combine them; he confuses sounds that are similar in articulation.

Wernicke's aphasia (sensory). With this type of disorder, the patient does not understand his native speech. He perceives it as a set of sounds and does not grasp the meaning of what was said. In this case, it is quite difficult to determine the extent of the violation.
Semantic. The patient understands only simple sentences. Complex speech patterns defy his understanding.
Amnestic. The patient can conduct a dialogue, but often forgets the names of objects.

Sensory aphasia is considered the most dangerous. Speech is very difficult to recover.

Treatment after a stroke

Treatment should be carried out in the first 6 months after a stroke, only then the results will be most effective. Classes can begin as soon as the patient’s condition stabilizes. No doctor can give a 100% guarantee that the patient will speak. But systematically performing various exercises will help improve speech function as much as possible.

At the first classes, it is advisable to have relatives present, then the patient will feel calmer, and the relatives will know how to conduct the training correctly. A whole range of measures has been developed for treatment:

Drug treatment.
Articulation gymnastics with a speech therapist.
Systematic implementation of exercises.
Comfortable atmosphere.

Only if a person has a desire to get well, he is surrounded with love and care, the result will be noticeable faster. Relatives should not avoid verbal contact with the patient, no matter how difficult this may be.

You need to speak calmly, not shout, and pronounce every sound clearly. You should constantly ask for the names of certain objects that a person uses: cup, spoon, towel, TV.

It’s good when people read to him often, and he retells the meaning of what he read.

Important! You should never discuss a patient’s problems associated with impaired speech functions in front of him.

You should always encourage and praise even the smallest victories. People after a stroke have difficulty distinguishing words that sound similar. Therefore, you can depict them in a picture and practice pronouncing them and distinguishing them by ear.

Patients cannot distinguish words when several people are talking at once, this should be taken into account. As soon as a person begins to pronounce words, he can be given additional independent tasks, for example, inserting the missing word into a sentence. It is better to limit TV viewing to 2 hours a day.

It is necessary to include positive programs based on interests that will encourage comments.

Loved ones need to stock up on incredible patience. Stroke is a very serious and complex disease, the consequences of which are not so easy to eliminate.

Tips for relatives

A person who feels like a burden very rarely achieves good results. The patient who understands everything but cannot say anything feels helpless.

Therefore, you should follow simple rules:

You should not talk to a person as if he is doomed. You need to have a calm conversation with him, carefully observe the reaction and all changes.
The patient should not communicate with aggressive or indifferent people. He should be surrounded by close and loving people.
It is recommended to turn on your favorite music, encouraging the patient to sing along.
Talk and listen. Only if a person feels the importance of what is said for others will he try to speak.
Don’t be too tiresome: “The slower you go, the further you will go.”

These recommendations will help you quickly overcome difficulties and return a person to normal life.

Working with a speech therapist

If there is a speech therapist in the hospital where the patient is located, he will begin working with the patient as soon as possible. There's no time to waste. Work can continue after discharge, and then independently at home.

Working with a specialist:

The speech therapist carefully probes the extent of the damage, he checks the patient's reaction to a quiet voice, then to a whisper.
Gradually makes tasks more difficult.
The specialist does not teach how to pronounce individual words and sounds; it is important for him to hear them in context; the patient must learn to use them in speech.
Exercises are selected individually, based on the type of aphasia.
The specialist begins the sentence, the patient finishes it.
If the patient has favorite songs, the specialist will definitely use them in his work.
If the patient’s condition has improved, the doctor may suggest drawing the proposed pictures.

At first, speech therapist lessons last no more than 15 minutes, gradually increasing the time.

Important! The disappointment of the relatives is visible on their faces, and this negatively affects the aspirations of the patient. You should pay closer attention to your facial expressions and rejoice at even the smallest progress.

Exercises to do on your own

Self-study plays a huge role in quickly improving speech function. After discharge, the patient periodically visits a speech therapist, who assesses for improvements and recommends what activities should be performed.

Each exercise should be repeated 10 times:

Pull your lips into a tube and fix them in this position for a few seconds.
Lightly bite your upper lip with your lower teeth.
Reach the upper jaw towards the chin.

Language tasks:

Pull out your tongue with a tube.
Stretch your neck forward as much as possible, while your mouth is open and your tongue sticks out as much as possible.
Perform the previous exercise, sounding it with hissing.
Stretch your neck forward and form your lips into a tube.
Lick your lips in a circle, first in one direction, then in the other.
Make “clicking” sounds.
Pull your tongue towards your nose, then your chin.

The lesson should end with positive exercises: blowing kisses, smiling with your teeth exposed, and then smiling with your lips covered. Excellent results are observed in patients in group classes, where they can support each other.

Important! A patient who has suffered a stroke should recite tongue twisters, read speech therapy texts aloud, hum songs and build logical chains.

For slurred speech and to improve your voice, it is recommended to massage your tongue with a regular toothbrush in the morning and evening. This exercise relaxes the organ and helps improve speech.

Treatment with drugs

Humanity has not yet invented a pill that would help restore speech. Medicines prescribed by a doctor are aimed at improving blood circulation in the brain and nourishing nerve cells. They improve mental activity and memory, increase attention, which together has a positive effect on the general condition of the body.

Surgical intervention

In cases of ischemic stroke, when all methods have been tried, one more option remains - the formation of an extra-intracranial microanastomosis. This is an operation during which neurosurgeons create an additional connection between parts of the brain: an intact vessel and the speech area. Blood circulation is resumed, and the patient's condition quickly improves.

Physiotherapy

Speech disorders are observed not only with disorders of the corresponding area of the brain, but also with paralysis of facial muscles. They cannot do their job, so the person loses speech function. Exercise therapy helps restore the ability to speak.