This web site is devoted to the many stroke survivors, care givers and families who know the suffering they endure every day of their lives. It is also a tool to provide inspiration, hope and structure for achieving progress in the recovery process.

It is common knowledge that all strokes are different. Strokes range from temporary loss of ones faculties to death - and everything in between. But, assuming you survive a stroke, there are many similarities for the deficits you might be left with. One such deficit (which can have an extremely broad range of limitations) is hemiplegia - (one-sided paralysis). Recovering from hemiplegia deficits is what this web site is all about.

Rowland Gale

The creator of this site, who is also a stroke survivor, realized through his experience the vital need to record condition changes on a very frequent basis. Assessing the change and immediately recording the condition is essential in judging the recovery progress. It is too easy to forget events if delays are allowed.

Not to be overlooked by this frequent progress recording is the very positive effect on the survivor's overall ATTITUDE and his/her DESIRE to heal.

IF YOU FOUND THESE PAGES USEFUL, I WOULD APPRECIATE YOUR SUPPORT BY BUYING ANY VITAMINS OR ANY OTHER PRODUCTS YOU MAY NEED THRU THESE LINKS BELOW.

 

HEMIPLEGIA - ADAPT, COMPENSATE - NEVER ACCEPT

Many will argue that learning to accept your stroke is a wise and necessary thing to do. Accepting to me implies permanancy. Webster says, "to endure without protest or reaction <accept poor living conditions> b : to regard as proper, normal, or inevitable <the idea is widely accepted> c : to recognize as true : BELIEVE" . From my experience, acceptance is the wrong way to look at hemiplegia. Yes, you will need to make changes in the way you do things. Yes, you will have to find ways to compensate for things you need to do, but physically can't. This recognition of reality is significantly different than accepting your changed life for all time. You can and will get better. This condition is merely temporary and you should treat it as such.. As Albert Schweitzer said, "All healing is self healing" and to that phrase I've added, "and is quicker with skilled therapists, exercise and an enlightened diet." Perhaps you will not get back all you have lost, but you will get significantly better if you try. The key is working at getting better - constantly, but not obsessively.

 

All the advice to "keep the sunny side up" if you want to be healthy, sounds all warm and fuzzy, but almost too good to be true. Actually though, a load of evidence shows that your attitude about life can improve your health and even speed your recovery from a serious ailment or surgery. The attitudes that seem to help most are optimism, hope and, above all a feeling that you have some impact on the quality of your own life.

No one really understands how or why a positive attitude helps people recover faster from surgery or cope better with serious diseases -- diseases as serious as cancer, heart disease and AIDS. But mounting evidence suggest that these effects may have something to do with the mind's power over the immune system.

One recent study, for example, polled healthy first-year law students at the beginning of the school year to find out how optimistic they felt about the upcoming year. By the middle of the first semester the students who had been confident that they would do well had more and better functioning immune cells than the worried students. (See Suzanne C. Segerstrom, Ph.D., et al, "Optimism is Associated With Mood, Coping, and Immune Change in Response to Stress," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,Volume 74, Number 6, June 1998)

Some researchers think that pessimism may stress you out, too, boosting levels of destructive stress hormones in your bloodstream. Of course, it's also possible that having a positive attitude toward life makes you more likely to take better care of yourself. And you're more likely to attract people into your life (and keep them there) -- which in and of itself may boost your health.

We're not saying that you should deny life's darker side or interpret every calamity as a blessing, but when calamity does strike, try not to give in to despair or fatalism. Concluding that you personally have been singled out for suffering, refusing to see any silver lining and abandoning all hope may not only be a recipe for illness: Such attitudes are also not such great ways to go through life. Try to recognize that your grief and pain, however real and deep, are only part of a larger picture -- and that this picture includes many elements of pleasure, success and meaning.

Another approach is to try to "use your pain" for good. Many people who have suffered from life-threatening and incapacitating illnesses--including cancer, heart attack and the like-- say that they consider their illness to be "a gift." The illness taught them to value each day, appreciate the moment and get their priorities straight. Sometimes they discover that they have the power to do things they never knew that they could.

Losing a breast to cancer, for example, has led some women to stop pouring all their energies into cultivating perfect bodies. As a result, they discover other interests and talents such as French Literature, tutoring or race walking. Being forced to give up a high-powered job because of a disabling illness has given other people the time they always wished they had to pursue sculpting, chamber music, gardening or other passions. We're not saying that you should wish cancer, heart disease or AIDS upon yourself, of course, but if you keep an upbeat perspective, even life's blows can bring rewards beyond your wildest imaginings.

Remember that even if you can't change the circumstances of your life, you can change your attitude! If you need help, talk to a health professional about whether psychotherapy, support groups or other structured approaches might help you.

Attitude definitely seems to influence the course of illness. But some people take this link too far and make you feel that your bad attitude caused your disease or is keeping you from healing. Walk the other way if anyone makes you feel guilty for being sick or treats your physical ailments as if they were emotional or mental problems (included are physicians who banish you to a psychiatrist when you have no obvious signs of physical illness).

ATTITUDE

RULE #1.

Recovery from hemiplegia can only be accomplished by YOUR efforts. Doctors and therapists can provide much needed help, direction and encouragement, but only YOU can control the self-initiated exercises that are vital to recovery.

RULE #2.

Recovery will only occur by maintaining positive thought processes and a forward looking attitude. It helps to surround yourself with positive and caring people and dispel negative thoughts.