I am her primary caregiver so when she gets home I do wonder if she has declined even further, as the Internet info suggests.
A Cardiac Arrhythmia or irregularity is known to increase the risk of stroke, so the doctor is probably trying to get specific observational data to decide what type of cardiac medications would be worth the side effects. I think his explanation about the “heart briefly stopping” was probably a simplification describing the type of arrhythmia he suspects increased your mother's chance of having a stroke. I don't know if he can say with certainty what actually caused the stroke as many factors were likely to have played a roll.
I’m sorry hon....she must be pretty cool if she bore you cause you’re bonafide in my book
My mom had a stroke in 2006....she calle me on the phone 350 miles away from our home at grandfather mountain saying she couldn’t get up and was slurring a bit
I told her to sit there and I called front gate and they rushed up to the top of the mountain with gear and called ambulance
Then EMS gave her a heparin drip immediately
At Watauga they gave her a heavier dose via arteriogram and blasted the clot
In 48 hours she was great except a bit weak
They suspected cardiac issues and sure enough she had a non emergency multiple bypass a few months later at St Thomas here in music city
It’s about severity in determining your route
If she is debilitated she’ll need a neurologist too
Indeed atrial flutter can cause clots and hence strokes
She’ll likely need plavix or the like forever and maybe a beta blocker
A holter monitor is a great idea
Cherish your time and be there
And always say good bye when you leave
Prayer’s lifted. How is your Mom with the Lord?
Prayers for you and your family.
Lost one parent to stroke. Too far gone by the time I found them.
sigh
Most people recover from stroke. My husband had several small ones and recovered 80 percent. He even refused to go to the hospital, but like me he was a doc and stubborn, and we were living in the Philippines so we had help.
but it depends on where the stroke was. If it affected the speech area and one side, for example, these areas might have permanent damage.
with the elderly, especially if dementia is there, she might develop delirium, which is very upsetting for family, but most cases recover..
Thank God for the good outcome. God bless you and your mom.
In our experience, quick bounceback was good news.
I’m sorry to hear about your mom. I’ll pray for you and your mom.
Both my mom and mom-in-law passed in 2015.
For my mom, over her last couple of years, she had dementia plus she fell a lot. Each fall and injury left her weaker. Plus, I think the dementia zapped her will to continue. Then she just stopped eating, and it wasn’t long before she went. She did not have issues with stroke. Her biggest problem was her desire to stand up and walk. She didn’t have the strength or balance to do that, and she’d fall. The dementia robbed her of that knowledge. Like the doc said, “With the dementia, she doesn’t know any better. She’s gonna stand up, and she’s gonna fall.”.
Mu mother-in-law was sharp until she had a stroke followed by several seizures over the course of as many months. Weak and off balance while walking, she also fell twice...once while being escorted by a helper, and once when she snuck out of bed to go potty. The first fall led to a broken hip which, luckily, was easy to fix. The second fall, she hit her head on a steel wall heat register. She died two days later.
The one thing that was absolutely critical fort both mom’s was the use of chair and bed alarms. It’s against the law to use restraints to keep patients held firmly, and SAFELY, in place. So you rely on the CNAs or hired help to watch out for them. I pushed hard for bed and chair alarms in both of mom’s skilled nursing facilities. I was a real butt about it if the facility got slack. And they will get slack. Batteries die in the portable units; hard-wired units are left unplugged at the wall; another CNA “borrows” a unit; CNAs don’t respond quickly...the alarm just blasts away. You have to stay on top of it. The last facility mom was at was a great place...glad we found it. They were very good at keeping up with the “escapees”.
My wife and her family, on the other hand, just didn’t want to admit their mom was going downhill fast. I made suggestions, even pushed some, but I was told upfront that “they” would be handling it. They still saw their mom as a vibrant, fully recoverable person, and the “next” rehab would bring her back to normal. Unfortunately, mom-in-law also liked to get up when no one was looking. I brought the alarm system up a number of times, but I’d get shut down. They’d hired 3 sitters to provide 24 hour care, so they felt like they had every contingency licked. Well, at shift change one morning, both sitters were in the kitchen and unaware when gramma got up and fell. Cue the 911 call.
Sorry for the long-winded story. If your mom is at risk of standing and falling...BUY A COMBO BED & CHAIR ALARM.
Prayers up for you both friend. I wish I had some relevant advice. God bless!
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I’m so sorry. God bless you both. Prayers for you.
My grandfather had a small stroke (TIA) about a year ago.
He was just sitting watching TV when his right hand and arm went numb.
In the ER, he lost complete use of his right hand for about five minutes, but thank God regained it.
The only lasting effect is a slight difficulty in swallowing occasionally.
He is on Plavix, Zocar and a 2 mg aspirin once daily.
At least we had a warning.
Some just expire from a first stroke. (had a family friend who had a stroke, just collapsed and passed away on the spot)
Now he’s on medication that hopefully can prevent another, and we get to keep him a few years longer.
,
A refuah schleimah to your mom.
This is actually about when I suffered a hemorrhagic stroke 5 years ago, although a result of a condition known as an AVM.
I remember very little of it. The neurosurgeon described my condition during that period as "semi-comatose", whatever that means. I was out of it for about a week. Once I "woke up", I was up. I heard the unmistakable sound of a garbage truck in the area and I was up.
Physically, I recovered quite well, although I was coming up on 51st birthday in a few weeks, when it happened. Mentally, was a different story. Some things came back quickly, others in time, other things never recovered. I guess each case in different.
My apologies if I rambled or was unclear. My wife is a saint for putting up with the situation. There are a couple of things you have to remember about your new life as a caregiver:
1. Your mom will get frustrated and take it out on you. That's not her fault, it's a new situation for her.
2. You will get frustrated with her, keep taking it out on her to a minimum. It your patience are getting frayed, walk away for a couple of minutes.
3. Reread number 2.
my dad just had a stroke but not those symptoms but they now found cancer. He is 79,
There are mini-strokes I’ve read about where people bounce right back. Then there are traditional strokes​ like a friend of mine had who is 70 where one half of the body has problems and needs rehabilitation. He had to close his medical practice. He was both overweight and the day before his stroke he had the stress of learning his wife had both lung cancer and a brain tumor.
Sounds like your mom with Alzheimer’s had the blessing of maybe being void of the stresses that would have given her a big stroke.
We have family who are now 92 with us who 45 years ago were diagnosed with MS. MS no matter what brings dementia to people with MS as they get older. The MS stopped progressing, but our members dementia did not. Anytime you put someone with a slowing brain under lots of meds, there is the possibility they come back more dibilitated. I hope the falculties did not take a hit on the mini-stroke.
In our case the MS has our relative able to still stand and take steps, but in general she is not a threat to walk out on us unnoticed into the streets. Stroke patients can have their sleep effected as it did with my 70 year old friend. When my relative has episodes that wire her up like a stroke patients, she gets very animated and her brain goes back decades in time. She thinks she is in the 60’s, can still walk, drive, and wonders where her dead mother and sister are because they were supposed to come see her. I don’t mention they are dead because I don’t want her suffering their death and have grief again like it is the first time they died all over again. She sleeps, she’s better. So watch for the sleep. Make sure they are sleeping, eating and all that.
As an example of concerns you can have as a caretaker, during a lack of sleep, the relative sent herself today 18” down from the bed to the carpeted floor. We can’t have bed rails, she could choke herself or get a head stuck and snap the neck with bed rails. She helped us stand her up and into her transport chair. She was moving all of her limbs, but her back was sore. She got more sore, so we took her to the hospital to make sure there was no broken hip. This despite the fact she stood up herself two times with the hadicap bars in her bathroom. After her first getting up, she became 100% uncooperative with helping in her movement and I dead weight lifted her 6 times with some help from my wife to chairs and the hospital. 138lb. dead lifts are not easy.
Hospital confirmed tonight no broken hips or anything, but her slowing brain determined pain = you carry her dead weight all over the place.
Thank God there was nothing broken and she comes home with pain meds tomorrow, but next Friday I have some gruesome surgery according to my Orthopedic surgeon coming on the heel of a foot where I have giant bone spurs growing into my achellies tendon. So I have to have my achellies removed, a bone saw then used to cut off the excess growth of bone spurs, then reattachment with artificial anchor of achellies back to my heel.
I’ve needed this done for at least 5 years, but between our relative, my wife in college and our 8 year olds needs, there just hasn’t been time. Now this with our relative!!!!!
So care giving and doing life is hard to do. I also am a building manager and have the responsibilities of taking care of renting and a few building’s problems. Monthly I have at least 40 hours of overtime in that job. Did I mention I am also about 13 months from turning sixty? So like you I hope it all works out.
My concerns are that I can’t put my foot on the ground for a month after surgery and after that in a boot for two more months. For two months I can NOT even lift my eight year old, much less our 138 pound senior, so we want no more flying off the bed for no reason, just as you want to be avoiding all stress with your relative so they don’t get the BIG stroke. I wish you luck. Be patient, if you can get some friends or relatives help, do so. Keep the stress levels down everywhere so you have the best chance of your relative sleeping, but with a mini-stroke don’t be surprised if their sleeping habits changed.
Prayers for tyour mother.
Sounds like God wasn't ready to call your Mom yet. Prayers up for all of you.
So sorry to hear, Yaelle. Argh, these things are so hard.
I would suggest, if you are going to be her primary caregiver, and you are doing it at home, consider paying to have a professional caregiver come in and take a day once in a while just so you can take a break.
My dad had a severe, debilitating stroke, and my mother cared for him (with a lot of help from my brother and his wife who were in a in-law apartment) but my mother, being the tough and dedicated person she was, took care of him, feeding him, etc. and she was in her mid-seventies.
It took a toll on her though, and I think if she had taken a day off once in a while, it would have helped her.
I am so sorry, Yaelle.
Good health information on Dr. Axe’s webpage.