sensation of heaviness

[bisi]

I had a stroke in June of this year and have since had a strong nagging sensation of "heaviness" and pulling to my effected left side. (in addition to numbness and tingling in my left hand) I am wondering if anyone has had that feeling. If so, please respond and tell me what you do to make it feel better. The doctor prescribed neurotin which is not helping at all and nobody seems to be able to help me. thanks.

[coupe]

hi bisi, Monday will mark my 17 years since my stroke, also left side effected. I remember well those first few months. the heavy,numbness, pins and needles feelings. I think it was about six months when my fingers started to feel more normal, 1 finger at a time. the heaviness in my left shoulder, which has a 3 finger subluxation, has never went away though has closed a little bit? also the burning sensation down my entire left leg from the waist down to my foot remains. may never go away? also a heavy feeling in my left chest area, the skin feels heavy and hurts at times more than other times, don't know what causes that?

for your hand, I recommend you get a hand splint from a medical supply store may need a doctor's script? wear it 2 hours on then 2 hours off is the way they had me do it. and wear it at night to keep your hand from clawing, during the 2 hours off time, you might try a pair of those isotoner gloves? the real tight leather gloves. that helped my hand feel better more than anything else. you'll need someone to help you put it on your left hand, someone with a lot of patience! cause it's not easy to put on takes a good while. and remember to do a lot of stretching of your fingers, both closing it into a fist and opening it all the way. if you can get your hand open to lay flat on a table? do lots of weight bearing on your hand, just lay it on a table and lean on it if you can? weight bearing is about the only way your damaged brain can learn to even recognise your effected limbs so they told me. they call it left neglect. you can have your partner or friend massage your hand also, place your elbow on a table, hand up. they should massage your hand from fingertips to your wrist keeping the swelling down and helps with the pain some? the main thing is to keep your hand from clawing into a fist! the more you use it the better. once it's clawed? it may take surgery to release the tendons and ligaments. which is a very painful sugery.

I hope this helps and gives you some guidance from my own personal experience. and if you find any way to alleviate the burning sensations? please let me know

good luck and god bless

Larry/coupe

[oc1dean]

heaviness can be spasticity which your doctor will have no clue on how to treat. Look up Peter Levines book which will tell you lots of what you need to know.