Certain factors increase the risk of a stroke. The following information will provide links to the National Stroke Association website. This website will provide information on the following types of risk factors:
Lifestyle risk factors for stroke, please click here
Medical risk factors for stroke, please click here
Uncontrollable risk factors for stroke, please click here
The COGFAST studies found that a stroke does increase your risk of developing dementia. If we can reduce our risk of a stroke we will also reduce our risk of developing dementia.
One of the risk factors for developing dementia after a stroke is depression. Read below for further information on stroke and depression.
A stroke and depression
A stroke for many people is a life changing event. Strokes can happen suddenly with no warning signs. This can be a scary time for that person and may mean that they now need to change their life style. The problems a stroke can cause will depend on how severe the damage is and where the damage is in the brain.
There are a huge number of problems a stroke can cause as the brain has an enormous number of functions. The most common symptoms are: loss of speech, confusion, memory problems, weakness of the limbs, loss of bowel or bladder control, problems with swallowing and personality change. If there is a personality change, this can make it very difficult for not only the person with a stroke but also anybody that lives with or cares for them, as they may be very different to how they were before the stroke.
A stroke can leave somebody with a disability that they didn’t have before, how they cope with that disability depends on many factors.
First of all, how severe is the stroke? The more severe the damage, the more the challenge will be for a person to cope with these changes.
How do we spot low mood in somebody who has had a stroke?
- This is particularly difficult if their speech is severely affected, we may not be sure what they are saying.
-People may hide how they feel if they are embarrassed to be depressed.
-Depression is a sensitive issue that many may feel it is difficult to talk about.
There are lots of barriers to spotting whether somebody is so depressed that they need help.
Healthcare and medical workers can help enormously when somebody has had a stroke.
There is a variety of help that can be offered to those with a stroke and the help that is given will depend what the problem or problems are and how severe these problems are. Here are some examples of how people with a stroke can get help:
-working with a health care worker to improve movement.
-being able to go to stroke support groups so that people can mix with other people who have had a stroke and talk about their experience. Please click here if you would like to find out where your nearest stroke support group is.
-Making changes to the home to make it easier to live in.
-Having volunteers, friends or family to come to the home if that person is less able to leave the house.
-Having somebody to help with food shopping
-Having somebody to help with daily living such as cooking dinner or washing.
The elderly are the commonest group of people to have a stroke, if a stroke is very severe and stops them from leaving their home then they may become very isolated and lonely. Its is very important that we help prevent this.
After changing factors and trying to help the disability, there may still be a group of people who are so low in mood that their function is so much lower than before, and and it may seem to them there is little hope of improvement. They may feel they are beaten by the stroke. They may block people trying to help, this person could be depressed and this needs tackling. Something that was very important to somebody may be taken away by a stroke. If there is little chance of it coming back to how it was before, this can trigger depression. Sadly, this is why people who have had a stroke do have a higher chance of developing depression. You may not have the mental fight left to beat it.
For these people, drug treatment can help and this is used a last option. Drugs to treat depression are called anti-depressants. These work by stimulating chemicals in the brain that make us feel more positive. These chemicals help with concentration, sleep, appetite, help us want to mix with people. Overall they make us feel happier.
A stroke can lower these chemicals that make us happy but mostly they are lowered because of the changes a stroke has made to somebody’s life. By stimulating these chemicals, we are not improving their physical disability, but we can help them in other ways such as improving their mood. This can be achieved by through a number of ways for example: improving their appetite, sleep, concentration, what they find interesting and all of these can really help allow that person to re engage in the life they thought they may have lost.
If you'd like to find out more about other risk factors for dementia that are not discussed in the research summaries, please click here and you will be directed to the Alzheimer's Society website. This website provides information on types of dementia for the public and scientists.