Welcome to "Living Healthy Chicago".
I'm Jane Clauss.
We're starting today's show talking
about the power of positivity.
Staying focused on the future can go a long way
when you're working your way back from a health challenge.
And our first guest shares how a positive attitude
helped her rehab after suffering a stroke.
- Dr. Shaiba Ansari-Ali's health issues began
with a bout of coughing.
- I noticed some intense pain in the back of my neck,
it was like electric almost.
And it only lasted for a few seconds and then it went away.
And then that night the pain came back.
I couldn't go to sleep.
It now had kind of radiated to between my shoulder blades.
And it was up the back of my neck.
- [Jane] That pain persisted for an entire week,
keeping her from getting a good night's sleep.
And then one day it was suddenly gone,
but she started to feel dizzy.
- The spinning was just nonstop.
I went into the bathroom and I threw up like five times
and I didn't feel any better.
So I lay on the tile floor and that's when I realized,
I couldn't move physically.
I said, "Well, I'm having a stroke."
- [Jane] Dr. Ansari-Ali also realized that
because she couldn't move,
she was experiencing locked-in syndrome.
It's a condition where a person can't move,
but can feel and process what's happening around them.
- And at that point,
my husband was worried because I was vomiting
and then I was just quiet, I think.
And so he came to check on me and again,
in locked-in syndrome, on the outside anyway,
you looked unconscious.
- [Jane] She was rushed to the hospital.
After examination, the medical team determined
that she was having a stroke
and suffering from locked-in syndrome.
- They have to make sure that there's no bleeding
in the brain before you give a patient TPA,
because the TPA stands for a tissue plasminogen activator,
and that's a very strong, strong blood thinner.
So they passed me through the CAT scan,
didn't have any bleed.
And so then they gave me the TPA
and then suddenly I realized,
I could move my right side again.
- [Jane] After that, doctors made sure the clot
in her brain was completely dissolved
to then spend several days in the ICU
before going to rehab.
Here to tell us why rehab is so important
for stroke patients is Dr. Mahesh Ramachandran
from Marian Joy Rehabilitation Hospital.
Now, doctor, I think we should start with the basics.
What's actually happening to the body
when someone is experiencing a stroke?
- When someone has a stroke, there is a lack
of blood flow to part of the brain.
And so when the brain gets affected in certain areas,
the area that the brain helps control
and part of the body gets affected as well.
- Now, we're talking about this locked-in syndrome.
How many stroke patients will experience this?
- This is relatively rare for stroke.
It affects something called the basilar artery,
affects an area of the brain called the pons.
- So does having locked-in syndrome then
changed the approach to rehab?
- Depending on the severity of the locked-in syndrome.
Some locked-in syndrome patients,
all they can do is move their eyes.
So that is a completely different approach to therapy,
as opposed to somebody with partial locked-in syndrome
that may have some movement in their arms or legs.
So majority of stroke patients will get three disciplines
of therapy when they come to a rehabilitation hospital.
One is physical therapy, where they'll work
on lower extremity strengthening and gait and mobility.
The second is occupational therapy,
where they'll work on activities of daily living
such as feeding, bathing, dressing and toileting.
And the third is speech therapy,
all the work specifically on speech, swallowing
and cognition.
Most of the patients, after they've had a stroke,
typically get the maximum improvement
within about the first six months following their stroke.
- They have you work on everything and anything.
And it's exhausting.
A lot of manipulation stuff trying to write again.
Before speech, they had me do, you know,
like maybe 10 tongue twisters and for comprehension,
they would have me read a paragraph
or try to read it and then say, you know,
what I thought.
- [Jane] After a month of inpatient work,
she was able to go home and continue her rehab there.
- I never focused on what I couldn't do.
I always focused on what I could do.
And then I would try to work around the rest of it.
- [Dr. Ramachandran] About 70% of our patients
who have finished a stroke rehab program
are able to go back home.
And the rehabilitation process is crucial in that recovery.
- Always being optimistic.
That's what it is.
Keep doing what you need to do
literally for the rest of your life,
because you're gonna have to maintain what you got back.
Focus on what you can do
and work around things that you cannot.