Strokes can cause brain damage and memory loss, but rehabilitation and therapy can often reverse it. Memory loss can take many forms, and patients may develop delusions or vascular dementia. Rehabilitation can help patients recover memories and develop techniques to compensate.
Stroke and memory loss are closely linked, as strokes can damage the brain and brain damage causes memory loss. Stroke survivors commonly report at least some memory loss in association with their strokes. The good news is that this is often reversible through rehabilitation and therapy, though not always. After a patient has had a stroke, a rehabilitation specialist should visit the patient in the hospital to perform an assessment and make an accurate estimate of the patient’s ability to recover.
When people have a stroke, part of the brain is damaged due to bleeding, increased blood pressure, or lack of blood supply. The brain is a very flexible organ and can often adapt to injuries over time, depending on the location of the damage. When strokes involve areas of the brain where memories are formed and stored, patients can develop memory loss. Some may have their brains rewired after the event, allowing them to regain their cognitive abilities, while others may have permanent memory problems.
Stroke and memory loss can take many forms. Some patients have difficulty forming new memories. While they are able to recall events before the stroke, they are unable to acquire new information. Other patients may have short-term memory loss; they can clearly recall events 30 years in the past, but have trouble with the last day. Stroke and memory loss can also lead to the development of delusions, caused by the brain’s attempt to adjust to the damage, and this can lead to the creation of false memories. The patient may think that these events actually occurred and may experience distress when they are corrected.
A phenomenon known as vascular dementia is closely related to stroke and memory loss. Patients with this condition experience an overall decline in cognition due to brain damage. It is often compared to Alzheimer’s disease in terms of how it affects cognition. These patients will be less able to perform basic cognitive tasks and may experience mood changes in association with their impaired brains.
As soon as memory loss after a stroke is identified, rehabilitation can be used to help patients recover memories and develop techniques to compensate if they have difficulty forming new memories. The connection between stroke and memory loss is well known, and patients are usually evaluated many times in the hospital during stroke treatment and recovery for signs of cognitive impairment such as memory problems. The people around a stroke patient can help by making sure the patient knows who they are and by providing patients with information about their shared past, as in, “I’m Ted, your neighbor. I’ll look after your horses while you’re in the hospital.” Some stroke patients also benefit from memory games to sharpen their memory skills.
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