Is extreme fatigue common after a stroke?

[Judy]

My mother suffered a severe right brain stroke last August. She is still paralyzed on her left side and has recently has periods of time when she just can't stay awake. She sleeps well at night, her blood tests are normal,& medications have been reviewed by the doctor. There is no apparent cause so I was wondering if this is normal for stroke victims. Thanks. Judy

[TrickyDick]

I would suspect that the medications she is taking are part of the cause. Secondly, I am sure that she is depressed which in of itself is something that takes away from someones energy and will.
She needs to know that exercise is an important consideration in recovering from stroke and also to prevent additional strokes.
I hope she improves, take care.
Peace

[Judy]

I thought I'd follow up by mentioning that the doctor thought she may have sleep apnea and ordered oxygen at night. This has reduced my mother's daytime fatigue. Other than that I do believe it is all the medications which cause the problem. Unfortunately if you eliminate some of the medications other problems arise. I guess there is no answer.

[Peter Brown]

It is common for people who have had a stroke, particularly a big one, and I had a massive one, to tire easily. One of the body's mechanisms for healing is sleeping however everyone's stroke and reaction to it is different and other factors may also be involved such as medication or even the area in the brain that was affected.
It has taken me the past 12 months to work up from 3 hour days 3 days a week to 8 hour days 4 days a week. It is a long hard haul. It takes a lot of patience and support, I have achieved in a relatively short time others can take years if at all.
For the record the stroke I suffered was caused by an arterial clot complicated with a haemorrage. Bilateral in that both sides of the body affected, I was in a coma for 5 days, quadruplegic for 4 weeks, learnt to walk in 5 weeks. I have no known speech or memory problems, have regained my drivers license and returned to work part time, all in 18 months.
What I went through in terms of my stroke can be found at [url="http://tbichat.org/stories/peter_b2.htm"]http://tbichat.org/stories/peter_b2.htm[/url]

regards, Peter

[jklynchjr]

I've suffered a massive cerebellar stroke.Fatigue is also my number one complaint.Does anyone have any suggestions for treatment to combat the fatigue???