Stroke Information

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Your Stroke Journey

Your stroke journey begins the minute you have a stroke and covers all of your recovery. It can be divided into the following 4 sections:

• Acute phase
• Rehabilitation
• Coming to terms
• Moving on

The aim of recovery is to become as independent as possible within the limitations of your stroke.

It is probably unrealistic to expect that everything will go back to exactly the way it was before your stroke. Strokes affect everyone differently – no two strokes are the same. So everybody's recovery will be different.

The level of recovery depends on many different things and it is impossible to know how long or how well your recovery is going to be:

• Some people make a complete or near recovery within weeks or months
• About half will take months to years to gradually achieve or near complete recovery
• Less than a third will not make a full recovery

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Acute phase

Your stroke journey begins the minute you have a stroke. Care during your acute phase / early recovery is crucial and diagnosis and tests and medical treatment all begin here. Once you are stabilised, assessed and investigated a decision will be made as to how you progress along the stroke journey.

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Rehabilitation

As with recovery, the aim of rehabilitation is to become as independent as possible within the limitations of your stroke. Though recovery from a stroke goes on indefinately a programme of rehabilitation may be time limited and can be provided in a hospital or community setting. It requires you and the health professionals (in the stroke team) to work together.

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Coming to terms

After the initial shock of your stroke and a period of recovery life will start to settle down. This is when coming to terms with what has happened is important. This part of your journey involves the emotional recovery from your stroke.

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Moving on

The next stage of your journey involves trying to find ways around any restrictions imposed by your stroke. This enables you to move on and enjoy life as much as possible.

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