Effects of Stroke

When you understand the effects of stroke, you will clearly see that stroke is always a medical emergency!

It is important to recognize the early signs of a stroke or TIA. The specific abilities that will be lost or affected by stroke depend on the extent of the brain damage and most importantly part of the brain that suffered stroke.

The brain is an incredibly complex organ, and each area within the brain has responsibility for a particular function or ability. The brain is divided into four primary parts: the right hemisphere (or half), the left hemisphere, the cerebellum and the brain stem.

Effects of right hemisphere strokes

The right hemisphere of the brain controls the movement of the left side of the body. It also controls analytical and perceptual tasks, such as judging distance, size, speed, or position and seeing how parts are connected to wholes. The effects of stroke in the right hemisphere may include the following:

• Left-sided weakness (left hemiparesis) or paralysis (left hemiplegia) and sensory impairment.
• Denial of paralysis or impairment and reduced insight into the problems created by the stroke (this concept is called "left neglect"). Stemming from visual field impairments, left-sided neglect causes the survivor of a right-hemisphere stroke to "forget" or "ignore" objects or people on their left side.
• Survivors of right-hemisphere stroke may have spatial problems with depth perception or directions such as up/down and front/back. This may cause them to misjudge distances (leading to a fall) or be unable to guide their hands to pick up an object, button a shirt or tie their shoes.
• These people often have judgment difficulties that show up in their behavioral styles. Behavioral changes include lack of concern about situations, impulsivity, inappropriateness, and depression. These patients are often unaware of their impairments and certain of their ability to perform the same tasks as before the stroke. These people may try to walk without aid or try to drive a car.
• Some survivors of right-hemisphere strokes experience problems with short-term memory. They may suffer from inability to understand maps and find objects such as clothing or toiletry items.

Effects of left-hemisphere stroke

The left hemisphere of the brain controls the movement of the right side of the body. It also controls speech and language abilities for most people. The effects of stroke in the left hemisphere may include the following:

• Right-sided weakness (right hemiparesis) or paralysis (right hemiplegia) and sensory impairment.
• Aphasia i.e. problems with speech and understanding language may develop.
• Impaired ability to write, read or understand speech may also develop.
• Visual problems, including the inability to see the right visual field of each eye occur in survivors of left-hemisphere stroke.
• Patients who have had a left-hemisphere stroke often develop a slow and cautious behavioral style. They may need frequent instruction and feedback to complete tasks.
• Finally, patients with left-hemisphere stroke may develop memory problems similar to those of right-hemisphere stroke survivors. These problems can include shortened retention spans, difficulty in learning new information and problems in conceptualizing and generalizing.

Effects of cerebellar stroke

The cerebellum controls many of the reflexes and helps to coordinate muscle action and control, fine movement, coordination, and balance. Although strokes are less common in the cerebellum area, the effects can be severe. The common effects of strokes in the cerebellum include the following:

• Abnormal reflexes of the head and torso
• Inability to walk and problems with coordination and balance (ataxia)
• Dizziness
• Headache
• Nausea and vomiting.

Effects of brain stem stroke

Strokes that occur in the brain stem are especially devastating. It controls all of our involuntary, life-support functions, such as breathing rate, blood pressure and heartbeat. The brain stem also controls abilities such as eye movements, hearing, speech and swallowing. Some common effects of a stroke in the brain stem include the following:

• Complete paralysis
• Double vision
• Swallowing difficulties
• Coma
• Unfortunately, death is common with brain stem strokes.

Other effects of stroke

Other effects of stroke that are common across stroke survivors include:

• Depression is very common amongst people who have had a stroke. It can be quite severe, affecting both the survivor and his/her family.
• Excessive emotional display i.e. sudden laughing or crying for no apparent reason and difficulty controlling emotional responses also affects many stroke survivors.
• Stroke affected people may not seem the same person as before. Changes in personality following a stroke may be very disturbing to the survivor’s family.
• The way in which the person affected by stroke reacts to these changes affects their personality, and may cause changes in control of emotions and behavior.  They may not be able to adjust easily to anything new and may become anxious over seemingly small matters.