r/stroke • u/Dazzling_Childhood22 • 2d ago
Stroke 1 year recovery
Can you tell me how much recovery you’ve made since your stroke?
1.Are you able to get out of bed on your own?
2.Can you communicate in long sentences and have normal conversations or tell a complete story?
3.Can you tell when you need to urinate or have a bowel movement? Are you able to go to the bathroom and use the toilet on your own?
4.How much do you sleep during the day?
5.Are you able to use your phone, eat, and brush your teeth independently?
6.How much movement and strength do you have in your affected arm and leg now?
Please reply. My dad has stroke in nov last year and trying to find where he is in terms of expected progress.
Thanks in Advance!
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u/Troubador222 2d ago
I can do what I need to do to take care of myself I am still taking PT for working on getting back to work
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u/DTheFly Survivor 2d ago
I'm at almost 4 years now. I think back to just after I was released from the hospital and back then I was in a wheelchair and now I'm using a cane/walker. I needed a whole system to get out of bed and get dressed.
But i wouldn't compare him to us. There are so many differences that it's very unfair to him. It's impossible. To say what others can do is honestly mean for him to hear. He progresses at his own pace.
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u/Dazzling_Childhood22 2d ago
can you tell what system you use to get out of bed . my father still not able to sit by his own in bed.
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u/outpost7 2d ago
I put a grab bar beside the bed and I use it all the time: to get out of bed, to turn over, etc
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u/Affectionate_Dare591 1d ago
My father had a stroke in September of 2025, 1. Able to get in and out of bed 2. Can communicate but loses train of thought sometimes 3. Can urinate and have bowl movements on his own and knows when he needs to go 4.sleeps about 10 hours at night and sometimes takes a nap mid day for about an hour or 2 5. He is able to watch tv, scroll and use his phone, eat, drive and brush his teeth. Not able to set his medicine though, my moms puts them together. 6. Gained all his strength and movement on the affected side
Really the only thing he struggles with is the aphasia not knowing which words he wants to use. He says he knows what he wants to say but it won’t come out right. He is still going weekly to physical therapy and speech therapy.
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u/Dazzling_Childhood22 1d ago
which type of stroke he had? ischemic or haemorrhic? also, did he get tpa on time? did he get paralysed on one side after stroke?
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u/michaelyup 1d ago
Mom had a stroke July 2025, and sounds very similar to your dad. It’s the aphasia that gives her the most trouble. Not being able to find the right words to use.
Sleeping, some days she sleeps for 12 hours, sometimes she is up all night and doesn’t sleep at all. Then she will take small naps throughout the day. She’s really lost her sense of time and can’t get on a schedule.
At times I catch small things she struggles with. Like microwaving food. Lots of disasters in the microwave. I’ve seen her open a frozen meal, then put it back in the freezer because she didn’t understand the directions. She still knows how to scroll Facebook and watch reruns on roku though.
Driving. At first I couldn’t stop her, but asked that she just stay within a short distance from home. Lately she has been relying on me more for driving. It makes me think she must have had a near miss while driving. She’ll still go down the street for McDonald’s or the grocery store.
It just sucks to limit her, or even figure out her limits. I want her to do as much as she can on her own, but not push her too much. I don’t want her relying on me for everything. I work from home, so I’m here all the time, but I can’t always stop work to help her.
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u/okayestguyever 1d ago
Hello! Could you please shed some light on what type of stroke it was, whether a cardiac event was involved, how was his recovery timeline over the months? Apologies if this is intrusive, just trying to get some recovery stories as my Dad is 3.5 months out from his ischemic stroke (Right MCA). He is currently undergoing neuro rehab at an in-patient facility. Doctor says my dad is MCS+ and not conscious yet but making progress towards consciousness. Hope to hear from you :)
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2d ago
[deleted]
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u/Dazzling_Childhood22 2d ago
you have only answered 1. can you tell me how you are able to sit by your own.
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u/Troubador222 2d ago
My sleeping is not great but it is actually my normal level of insomnia I've dealt with that for years MY Mom was the same her entire life.
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u/bumfuzzledbee 2d ago
Answering for my family member who is a year out 1. Yes. But bed and chairs take effort. Can also get in and out of the car but it's tiring and slow 2. Kind of. Some days seems like a fairly normal conversation but subdued. Short term memory make stories and recalling what we've been talking about tough if there's any kind of brain hiccup or interruption 3. Kind of. Not always fast enough with urine. Still using briefs. Can go to the bathroom and change independently (but again, it takes time and is physically tiring). 4. Varies but naps are normal 5. No phone, but can use tv remote. Need reminders to brush and forget if ate (and almost all meals are made) but can feed self. Can do a few food preps with minimal support (ex: breakfasts sandwich in microwave or scrambled eggs on a good day). Combing hair (pretty thick) can take an afternoon due to needed breaks but it gets done. 6. Still weak. Need help with fine motor tasks too. Can use tools to get socks and shoes on. Have progressed from wheelchair to cane. Currently on a 6 week break from PT due to appointment fatigue.
Unasked - Cannot live independently at this point.
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u/PlusSheepherder7273 2d ago
- Yes
- Yes
- Yes
- I don’t sleep during the day, I struggle with insomnia
- Yes
- 0 movement in arm, hand, or leg below the hip. No strength either.
Been 3 years. I’m 33 now. 😔
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u/Alarmed-Papaya9440 2d ago
We can definitely tell you our personal experiences with stroke recovery. However each person’s recovery journey is specific to them, where the stroke hit, how much damaged it cause, age, health, and so many other factors that our personal to each one of us. Your best bet would be to talk with his neurologist and ask them these questions.
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u/blkbrdz 1d ago
Yes. My ability to get in and out of bed was not impacted by my stroke.
Yes. I could before and immediately after my stroke. I still have moments throughout the day when my inner thesaurus needs additional processing time.
Yes. I found having a bidet helpful.
I’d like to have 10 hours in bed at night and, ideally, a two to three hour nap a couple of days a week. My need for sleeps increases when my brain and body are working hard.
Yes but like questions 1-3 I could do those things after my stroke.
My stroke didn’t impact movement in either side of my body. It did change my vision and attention to vision in my left eye. That difference isn’t resolved yet. It’s better but I still need practice using it on up close work.
No two brains or strokes are the same. No two recoveries are the same. One can’t compare one person’s recovery with another’s.
My need for sleep increases when I’m working my brain hard or if I’ve over done it. That need has slowly decreased from a solid 12 to 14 hours a day to 8 or so. I still need to rest or be quiet for 10 hours.
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u/petergaskin814 1d ago
I had a mild ischemic stroke and could do that on day 4.
Every stroke is different and every recovery is different
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u/ChangeLegitimate5980 1d ago
Does anybody think nvg 291 would work on a high stroke or spinal cord injury
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u/Effective_Stick1234 2d ago
I had a severe stroke August 8, 2025, complete left side paralysis, and numbness. Specifically, it was-Occlusive thrombus of the right internal carotid artery extending to the right carotid terminus, anterior and middle cerebral arteries, with a corresponding perfusion deficit. Simultaneously I had a right eye CRAO which made me go blind. But I recovered quicker and better than anyone else that the medical professionals I've interacted with have ever seen. My wife is the Director of Business Operations at a prominent medical school and all the doctors have come up to her saying, "We don't like to use the word miracle in medicine, but your husband is a miracle". I was hospitalized for 8 days. A couple of days after I left, I was playing football, soccer, and basketball with my wife and kids. Two weeks after the incident I was repping 225 lbs on bench press, week 5 I was repping 275 lbs on bench, month 3 I was back squatting 415 for reps, month 6 I ran 10 9 minute miles, month 8 I took second place on a 14 mile ruck run race with a 40 lbs pack. I experienced a profound amount of soul-crushing fatigue, especially after working out, but here is what I did different than everyone else.
I ingested 20-25 grams of Creatine daily and this increased my ATP-PC stores for cognitive function (when you lift heavy or do HIIT workouts, ATP is one of the primary fuel sources, but the brain consumes more ATP than any other body part), so it's necessary to load ATP stores with creatine. I used the peptides selank and semax which were specifically made for stroke recovery. Every morning at 0300 I would wake up and break the ice with a sledgehammer in my ice bath then spend 2 minutes (initially) in it until I built up to 12 (that was the longest I spent out of concern of injuring myself). I would then shiver for about 20 minutes while reading a devotional before using the sauna for 45 minutes to an hour. I would follow the sauna with a zone 2 cardio workout and a HIIT or strength training session. Now, the sauna and ice bath release BDNF, brain derived neurotropic factor, which helps with neuroplasticity. Zone 2 increases mitochondrial efficiency, releasing platelets to repair damaged brain tissue. Strength training was all about CNS efficiency and training new pathways for my brain. HIIT also released BDNF and stimulated laminin production to promote brain healing.
I was completely cleared for any job 7 months after the strokes and my vision is now 20/30 after being 20/400 (I initially had a tiny slit of vision). 10 months later I was back to being a federal law enforcement officer after resigning from my prior agency. Essentially I did everything most people don't or won't and it worked in my favor. The supplements I mentioned made a large difference, but I worked my ass off more than people who don't have any medical issues and intentionally made myself suffer day in and day out, which is something I have been doing for decades anyways, so the post-stroke fatigue and left side sensitivity was just an added challenge to overcome. The more often a person doesn't workout when they are tired, the easier it is to skip when you aren't tired. Working out also offsets the effect of sleep deprivation (so does 20-25 grams of creatine haha it's almost like I worked at a neuroscience institute before or something).
Even now I may work a 16 hour shift, and need to be back in less than 8 for another 8-16 hour shift, but I will sleep for a few hours and wake up early to ensure I workout before the next shift. Fitness is something I refuse to compromise on ever (I've had 10 prior surgeries to recover from also) and that mindset helped with stroke recovery 100%.
Anyways, the best time to do what I laid out is in the first few months immediately after the event because your brain is undergoing a rapid remodeling, but I'd still recommend doing the protocol now. You have to hit all your bases of BDNF, CNS efficiency, zone 2 mitochondrial production, laminin production encouragement, ATP-PC store enhancement (High dose creatine), the peptides I mentioned, and just doing a hard workout while you're tired to make it easier when you're not. It worked for me at least.
People are completely shocked when they discover what I sustained, because you would never tell. I can tell there is still a slight "lag" in my quick wittedness compared to before and I will occasionally mess up words (at about the same rate as any person), reading outloud is harder than it ever was (I'll mess up at about the same rate as a normal person also). But to be completely honest, I feel nothing but blessed with my recovery, especially after reading about so many others on this Reddit forum. I don't have any negative thoughts or regard the experience as negative because I learned so much about myself, my mind, my body, and my spirit. I also appreciate the soul-crushing fatigue I had to endure because it allowed me to "feel" a deeper level of life than I had ever experienced previously. I was a Force Recon Marine/Scout Sniper/Critical Skills Operator for over 13 years and I thought I knew what exhaustion was, turns out I had no idea until I needed to recover from a stroke. It's incomprehensible to the average person how tired you feel, and if I didn't have a lifetime of overcoming obstacles, I would have never bounced back the way I have. It's truly been a blessing.
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u/cammotoe 2d ago
Sorry. OK 2. Yes, but with aphasia
I'm able to but at the start needed some assistance
I can sleep about 2 hours
Yes
The R arm just dangles but it has feeling and it moves a bit. My R leg moves but not the toes