Effects of a stroke

Physical (visible) effects of a stroke

A stroke can have serious and less serious consequences. The limitations depend on the part and amount of the brain that is damaged. This may cause a person to experience physical (visible) problems with:

• Changes in consciousness

  A very severe stroke can cause a person to lose consciousness and go into a coma. Just after the stroke has occurred, there may also be fluctuations in consciousness. This depends, for example, on the time of day, the fatigue, the activities that took place just beforehand, and the pressure in the brain.

• Exercise (motor skills)

  Many patients suffer from a hemiplegia as a result of a stroke. In addition to the inability or difficulty in moving an arm and/or leg, the torso muscles are also affected. This can make it difficult for a person to sit or stand without falling over. The paralysis also makes walking and moving more difficult. Shortly after a stroke the paralysis is loose, a few weeks after the stroke a high muscle tension (spasm) occurs.

• Language

  Difficulties in understanding and expression may arise from the fact that the area of the brain that handles language is affected. Communication can therefore be very difficult or impossible. This is also referred to as aphasia. The seriousness and extent of the language problem depends, among other things, on the location and severity of the brain injury, the prior language ability, and your personality.
  Some people with aphasia can still understand language well, but they have trouble finding the right words or constructing the sentences. Others talk a lot, but what they say is difficult or impossible for the other person to understand.

• Speech

  Due to problems with the strength and coordination of the muscles that control the voice, breathing, and speech, people can sometimes have difficulty speaking. This is called dysarthria. There are various forms of dysarthria: 

  • Speech problems, where the speech speed is too high, too low, or variable.
  • Sounds are omitted or replaced and speech may sound nasal or monotonous. It seems like somebody is speaking inarticulately.
  • Problems with the voice, causing someone to sound hoarse or harsh, speaking too high, too low, too loud, or too soft. The voice can even be lost for a while.
  • Respiratory problems: A person can only speak few words in one breath, breathe superficially or quickly, breathe audibly, or strain to breathe.

• Swallow

  Swallowing is a complex interplay of different muscles in the mouth and throat. When swallowing, timing, coordination, feeling in the mouth/throat, and muscle strength play an important role. All these aspects can cause problems that make it impossible to chew or swallow, more difficult to swallow, or make it easy to choke. Choking means that liquid or food enters the trachea instead of the esophagus. This could cause pneumonia. Normally this is prevented by coughing, but due to a cerebral infarction it can happen that you do not cough or cannot do so properly.

• Reduction visual field

  This means that you lose part of the field of vision on one side of your eyes. Often both eyes are affected. It is also possible that a quarter of the field of vision is lost, in which case it is called quadrantanopia.
  This disorder is caused by brain injury, not by an injury of the eyes.

• Coordination

  This can lead to slower and uncoordinated movements, causing walking problems. These movements look like those of a drunk person. Problems with the coordination of the arm or hand can also arise.

• Change in sensation

  If there are problems with sensation, you will experience it as a "numb" feeling or tingling in a body part. Touching body parts may feel different than usual. It is also possible that the temperature of, for example, water or pain on the skin is no longer (clearly) felt. It may also happen that a person no longer feels clearly whether their leg is bent or straight or does not feel where their arm or leg is when they are not looking at it.

• Bladder control

  Urinary incontinence may occur as a result of a stroke. This means you have no control over your bladder. Problems with the retention of urine for longer periods and the occurrence of unwanted urinary leakage are the result.
  It may also be possible that you cannot urinate anymore or that you do not urinate properly. In order to empty the bladder, you should be catheterized regularly. This is the insertion of a tube into the bladder so that the bladder can be emptied artificially. The tube is removed when the bladder is empty.

Changes in emotion and behavior

Some patients who had a stroke react differently to events just after the stroke compared to before. They react more violently because they have less control over their feelings and can sometimes tolerate fewer stimuli around them, which makes them more susceptible to irritation.
 
Some people react more impulsively, more aggressively or swear, even though they would never have done so before. Others, on the other hand, are more passive, take less initiative, and are more negative than before. There are others, who are more emotional and cry or laugh much more quickly than usual. Also, after a stroke, some people are felt to be as more selfish and self-absorbed by those around them. They pay less attention to their environment or partner. But also the loss of independence, self-reliance, and not being taken seriously, can cause frustration, outbursts of anger, and feelings of powerlessness and depression. You might also feel like: “It seems as if my partner’s/my father’s character has changed compared to before”.
 
All these reactions are effects of the brain injury and/or because life can suddenly be turned upside down.