My mom age 66 had a bilaterial brainstem stroke on Dec. 12 06, she is still in the hospital. She is unable to open her eyes on her own. She is able to swallow, follow commands about 50 % of the time. She had no warning signs such a High Blood Pressure, etc.... She was energetic as a 20 yr old. She had a flu shot the day before, had vertigo 1 1/2 yrs ago, was experiencing leg cramps (charley horse) recently. Currently they got her on Ritalin, to keep her alert but this seems to do nothing at the time for her. She is not locked in, the area that the stroke hit is her thalumus in the brain. Does anyone have info about this type of stroke? It seems like she just sleeps all the time now. They may put her on Provigil to increase her alertness, if the ritalin is not helping. The ritalin was working the first few days but now it does not help with keeping her alert. She also is hypothyroid. And the Dr.s said today that they may need to increase the dose for that because her thyroid is getting out of whack. She has been on the hypothyroid med. for 2 yrs now.
Thanks and God Bless,