Brain information
Your brain is divided into two different sides, the left and the right. The left side controls the right side of your body, language, and logic (math). The right side controls the left side of your body and your awareness of the world around you. If you have a clot or bleed in the right side of your brain, you can expect to have the left side of your body paralyzed and probably won’t struggle with aphasia (a brain disorder where you struggle to access language) but you are more likely to struggle with being impulsive, vision issues, situational awareness, and also processing things that happen around you. If your clot or bleed was on the left side, you can expect your right side of your body to be paralyzed and also there is a good chance that you will have trouble with language and math.
Spasticity
As your muscles fully wake up from paralysis, you’ll start to get super tight muscles pulling in. This is because your brain is confused on exactly how & where to send the signal to pull the muscle in, it is trying to hold together your muscles as it always has but is doing a very poor job of managing how tightly to pull in. All of your paralyzed muscles can struggle with spasticity/tone. Medication: there are medications for spasticity, they don’t always work for everyone. Some survivors report success with these medications Botox: Spasticity is frequently treated with Botox shots in your muscles that are trying too hard to pull in. Botox is a great treatment but there are some downsides to be aware of:
1. Risk of botulism: Poorly applied injections of Botox can cause a medical condition called botulism. It is very important to go to the best hospital & doctor for your injections, botulism is entirely injector error, (too much, incorrect muscles, or expired Botox)2. Pain: the shots can be very painful, your injector should use cold spray to slightly numb your skin right before injecting. If they aren’t numbing you, you might be at an unsafe injector, so we recommend finding a different provider.
