All About Natural Health And Wellness

Everyday people set goals for their life. These goals may focus on their desired career path, their desire to change something about their health, their desire to learn… the list goes on. Following a stroke, caregivers and stroke patients may find it helpful to set goals for recovery and rehabilitation.

Their goals may also center on improving their quality of life or regaining function in certain areas of the body damaged by the stroke. If a full recovery is not possible, the first goal a caregiver should have is making this clear to the patient, so no false hopes are set. All goals set should be realistic based on the patient’s illness and potential for recovery. The primary and most important goal a patient should have is to live the best quality of life they can, and live as independently as they can.

Goal setting may also include deciding on the best type of treatment and rehabilitation plan for a patient, and follow through to make sure a stroke victim receives the care and loving support he or she deserves. If you are working with a loved one to establish goals for recovery, here are some great suggestions to help get you started in the right direction:

1. To be as independent as possible.
Many patients suffering milder strokes will find they feel eager to regain full independence as soon as they are comfortable and able.

2. To live a life as full as possible given one’s abilities and limitations following a stroke. If one experiences a severe stroke, they may have to reevaluate their definition of a full life and find new ways to enjoy life given the changes their body experienced resulting from the stroke.

3. To learn how to live life in a new and interesting way, despite the effects a stroke has on one’s physical or emotional body. This goal is also helpful for caregivers and supportive friends and family members.

4. To support caregivers in a manner that allows them to offer well-informed, guided and supportive care for themselves and their loved one.

5. To learn how a stroke affects a person individually, so a survivor can set realistic expectations for recovery. A healthcare professional should work closely with a stroke survivor when setting realistic goals. If it is clear a survivor will have a permanent disability in some part of the body, but may be able to regain near to full function in another, it is important this information is shared with the patient so realistic goal setting can occur.

Hope Having and maintaining
HOPE after a stroke may seem impossible at first, especially if a survivor is struggling to communicate. However, HOPE is one of the most important factors in one’s ability to overcome stroke and the effects it has on the body. Many people assume that following a stroke, one’s life is damaged forever in a negative way. While a stroke may have many debilitating effects on one’s body, patient’s who maintain an optimistic outlook are much more likely to experience a positive quality of life following their illness than those that feel “hopeless.”

To establish and maintain hope, all people working with a stroke survivor should feel comfortable being honest about their expectations of one’s recovery, but also remain optimistic and HOPE for the best. There are incredible stories throughout life of patient’s recovering from seemingly devastating or life-threatening illnesses. Stories of patients that lived and enjoyed a better quality of life even if at one point during their life they experienced near-death.

Consider for example, the case of Lance Armstrong. Lance Armstrong is a well-known personality. But, in case you didn’t know, here is his story. Armstrong is one of the best known bicycle racers of all time. He won the Sports Illustrated and Associated Press’ Sportsman and Athlete of the Year respectively in 2002. Interestingly, just a few years prior, a doctor diagnosed Armstrong with testicular cancer, which rapidly metastasized, or spread throughout his body, including to his lungs and his brain. Most doctors predicted Lance had a 60 percent or less chance to survive, much less recover fully.

One year following his diagnosis however, Armstrong’s doctor’s claimed he had fully recovered, and conquered cancer. Armstrong has gone on to live a very full and rewarding life, and to inspire others to do the same, by having hope and faith. Since this time he has gone on to win the Tour de France a record 7 straight times. While Armstrong isn’t a stroke survivor, he is a model of how powerful the mind can be when facing recovery from a life-changing or debilitating condition.

The more in control you become of your disease or illness, the better able you will be to tap into your ability to heal, survive and conquer. The key to a stroke survivor’s ability to recover well includes their ability to look past the damaging effects a stroke has on their body, and instead focus on their ability to regain their self-esteem about their new body, their new image and life’s new potential and possibilities. There are as many amazing survival tales of patients with stroke as there are patients overcoming diseases like cancer.

To help inspire you and give you hope, read about some: strokecenter.org/pat/survivors.htm stroke.lotsahelpinghands.com www.caregiver.org/caregiver/jsp/home.jsp www.strokecenter.org Hope is available to anyone willing to reach out and embrace a new way of thinking about their life and a new way to approaching life. If you invest in hope, you will find those around you also become more optimistic and that creates positive energy, energy you need to recover to the best of our ability and feel as good as you can.

What We Learned
Every person experiencing a stroke will experience different physical, emotional and psychological effects. These effects may be minimized depending on the severity of the stroke, one’s willingness to overcome any physical damages to their body and one’s commitment to rehabilitation. Recognizing the effects of a stroke is the first step on one’s journey toward recovery. Another step is goal setting. Through active and reflective goal setting, a patient and his or her caregivers can dramatically improve the quality of life experienced by patients of stroke. In the next section, we will talk more about rehabilitation and how rehabilitation affects the wellness and quality of life of stroke victims.
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To your good health,
Joe
www.allaboutstrokes.com

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