Immediately post stroke any sort of interaction, reading, watching television, conversation was only possible in tiny bites. Everything was a strain and took a great deal of effort.
Over time this has improved. For me any healing process has been slow with almost impercptible changes.
Having said that, what I have achieved over three years has been up above and over my original expectations. I also believe that the healing process does not just stop.
I am certain that there are still gains to be made. My efforts will be rewarded.
Immediately post stroke, I couldn’t read at all. Indeed, the vey thought of reading was upsetting in a strange way.
However, I was able to devour sudoku puzzles galore, which kept me going. After some time, a friend gave me a very short, funny book, and I picked it up, with some trepidation. It really was funny, although probably not as funny as my emotional brain made it. I had spent much time at the other end of the emotional scale, so thoroughly enjoyed the chance to laugh again.
That was a start. Within a few weeks I was reading Dickens - and some of it I even enjoyed!
Without trying to be disparaging, there is a great difference between a professional view and a lived experience view of stroke. If you feel it is helping your recovery, then keep at it. Sure, listen to your brain, and build in the all-important rest periods during the day. Like all aspects of recovery, we need to keep at it, even if we become tired. The folks who do least well are those who have little or no determination or who give up.
Best wishes with your reading, and other aspects of your recovery journey! Kindest regards and richest blessings.
That’s so so helpful. My daughter mentioned that the professional who advised against reading might not be a reader for pleasure themselves and hence might not grasp how I could find it relaxing. I was lucky to be able to read as normal from a week after the stroke and was so happy. Having my reading restricted is stressful so I’m thinking that carrying on and feeling relaxed, and making sure I relax/nap when tired , is the best way for me. Thanks so much
Staying relaxed is they key. You do what fits you. You cannot have a one size fits all regime in stroke rehabilitation, you have to tailor it to fit your specific needs as no two strokes are ever alike. We all differ and vary, what’s right for you may be wrong for someone else.
I do know, when my brain has had enough it repels it. Certainly in early post stroke. Sometimes it was just a matter of switching activity. But if it shrank away from the thought of any actvity I came up with as an alternative, then that was my que to sit down and nothing.
My brain needed complete rest.
Listen to your brain first, it knows what it needs, doesn’t need and when, you only have to listen and do what it’s telling you
Hi, I struggled to read more than a few sentences after my stroke, I too was/am a massive book worm. My first book I completed after my stroke was aimed at teenagers, I think it was the Twilight series so it wasn’t too taxing, I was used to reading Psychological thrillers before. I really struggled to focus on the words for more than a few minutes but gradually built up by leaving it and coming back after walking around the physio ward and watching the birds etc. Iv recently got into audio books; it takes a little while to focus and I find it best to get me off to sleep and I can rewind if my brain misses some of it. It’s also not too taxing on the brain-eye relationship.
I hope you get back to it, the body is great at adapting, it just takes time. Good luck
Yes, you’ll get all the rest your brain needs because it tell you, and just take it anyway.
It’s when you try to push yourself beyond your brain’s current abilities, that it becomes a risk.
So if your brain is comfortable with your reading i.e no head pain, pressure, visual issue as a result, then you should be fine.
But I am only an expert in my own stroke recovery. The OT and Physio I had during lockdown were more of a hindrance than a help so I ditched them. Lovely people, can’t really fault them other than they were too overly cautious for me, they made me nervous🤣
This is very true. Your brain definitely tells you when it’s had enough. I slept so much in the early days and reading was nigh on impossible but I did have vision issues with my stroke. It has taken me 3 years to get back to any sort of proper reading but i was determined to get there.
It’s really a different yet similar journey for all of us isn’t it. I’m reading now like I did before. So happy about that . Even better because I’m off sick so more time to read in between naps
I remember post stroke being very unsure of myself. I felt that I needed to seek permission for any action that I intended to take. This after a lifetime of charting my own course, making my own decisions.
Over the last three years post hospital, it has slowly dawned on me that I must again start steering my own course.
I will listen to advice, obviously, but my judgements will be my own. The responsibiilty for consequences will be mine of course.
At seventy seven years of age and approaching a second childhood I realise the contradictions and foolishness of all this, but hasn’t it always been so?
Rest when you need to rest, drive on when you must, but to read and write is always right.
Communication is valuable and we are all made richer by what we share.
Hi Seddso
Like you I love reading, but I’ve also found walking a great help. I’ve been walking for almost 12 months now and at first I couldn’t walk very far. Im fortunate to have an old railway line near me which has a bench about every 500 yards. I started off sitting on every bench and just resting and watching the world go by. Over time I missed a bench out and I gradually walked a bit further. Im now up to about 2 miles and am really pleased with myself although I have to have a good rest when I get home. I found that the fresh air and exercise is really helping my recovery plus I get the additional benefit of chatting to dog walkers so its a win win solution. I hope this helps with your recovery its certainly helping mine. ATB Hobbes
@Seddso I love reading and I’ve never stopped doing it, I was reading in hospital the day after my stroke in August. I find it relaxing and not tiring at all and I think the stress of not being able to do what you enjoy would be stressful and stress is something you definitely don’t need. I’d carry on reading but if you feel tired have a rest, get plenty of rest but do the things you enjoy as well. Exercise will come when you feel up to it, you’ll know when the time is right. Good luck for a complete recovery xx
Yes I’m the same. Was reading in the hospital. Having to restrict it was so stressful. Thanks to everyone here I have resumed normal pattern and feel much better
I find reading books difficult as I cannot seem to concentrate for long enough. I was told to read out loud too improve my speech and volume but then the words don’t seem to register in my brain. My problem not yours.
One pass time I’ve rediscovered is Jigsaw puzzles. It works wonders for my concentration. Bob3
I found initially my concentration was awful. I have always loved jigsaw puzzles and used these as therapy for many issues after my stroke. I was only able to manage a couple of minutes initially but this has improved a lot over time. Hopefully completing the puzzles will also help improve the reading too.
Hi, I’m also an avid reader and found I couldn’t read for more than 10 minutes before my eyes became dry and gritty and brain was too tired to go on. So… I learned to like listening to audio books. Not all the narrators suited me, but if the story was good, I could get past the narrator. I found a few podcasts on Spotify which I enjoyed as well. The key for me was just to be able to listen without using my eyes or brain to I hope this helps or that you have found something that helps especially since this weather continues to keep us a bit housebound, at least I am finding the cold and damp harder since my stroke.
I’ve just been catching up on some of the posts on this forum and have just gone through this one you posted back in December.
My initial thought was to question the professional who gave you the advice, but having gone through all the back and forth in this posting, it seems we are way beyond that as you are pretty much doing what any sensible person would do which is to listen to your body. Perhaps it was your healthcare professional background that helped you with that
Anyway I just wanted to say I enjoyed reading this and am impressed with the response you had - so many avid readers here
I wasn’t going to respond with a note of my own, but with so many good replies, I felt that I also needed to complement all the contributors who made this such an enjoyable and dare I say it, information read for me.
It might not be fair to single out any one reply, but why not?
I absolutely love the response from @Stewart1 and if I may say so, if Stewart had not said it, I’d like to think this is exactly what I would have said - thank you Stewart
[quote=“ManjiB, post:39, topic:41371”]
I’d like to think this is exactly what I would have said - thank you Stewart
I whole heartedly agree with you, Stewart hit the nail on the head when he said that. Just speaking from my own experience, there is still a lot that the medical world don’t know about strokes as we know. From all that I’ve read over the past 4yrs, it has only addressed the half of what I experienced. I’ve since come to the conclusion there are no words, terminologies, labels or descriptions for my actual experience of stroke. Just from all that I’ve read about aphasia, I know the issues with speech are not fully understood in the medical world. And they don’t know because the likes of myself have lost the ability to explain it adequately enough to them.
And I think, in order to understand all that, science and medical world need a greater understanding of neurons and their chain of events in how the body functions. They’re missing a lot of data from stroke survivors, due to our stroke inabilities to explain and describe.
