Stroke can cause disabilities like aphasia, a condition where a person’s ability to communicate is compromised.While myth has it that recovery from stroke happens only in the first 6 months, CE learns that therapy helps even after years
CHENNAI:Two years ago, Sudha Jayendra, an HR director, had a stroke that affected the left hemisphere of her brain (responsible for speech and language). She lost all her language skills — reading, speech and writing abilities, and was diagnosed with Aphasia — a common affliction that affects stroke victims, where individuals are unable to understand language. There are other complications such as partial or total paralysis and in some cases, vision impairment.
With 334-424 cases of stroke reported for every one lakh population in Indian cities, at least 25% are expected to develop Aphasia. But, the number of places and pathologists who offer post-stroke rehabilitation and awareness is alarmingly low in the city. Most victims do not get the much-needed rehab.
Jayendra, Sudha’s caretaker and husband, recalls how he, along with his friends and family, had tried everything to find a solution. “Officially diagnosing the condition was hard. But regaining her memory of language and speech was harder. I had zero awareness about the condition and lack of information and medical support made it even more difficult,” he rues.
The complication of speech can be traumatic. Jayendra says, “Neurologists treat stroke with blood thinners and so on but, nobody tells you how to recover from post-stroke disability. It requires complete therapy and an aphasia victim can recover only through intense therapy. It was a process of discovery for us,” he shares.
On this quest, the couple discovered RIC and their intensive therapy in Chicago, a high quality programme that runs twice a year. “It was a month-long intensive speech therapy programme and Sudha’s progress was brilliant! We were thrilled,” he says.
In our country, there’s a perception that post-stroke recovery happens only in the first six months. But Jayendra begs to differ. “This is not true and we experienced it. We discovered that you can keep improving, even if it takes five to ten years... So, a big message is that six months is not the end of anything. You can go on improving,” he asserts.
With most victims and caregivers not ready to spend time on recovery, Jayendra points to a lack of adult speech pathologists in the city. “A lot of people don’t take to adult pathology speech training in our country. Most victims give up after a point, as training is time consuming, while some don’t have the resources,” he says. “On the other hand, career growth of pathologists is affected as there are not many people willing to take to therapy sessions. So, many don’t look at this as a viable profession.”
Lack of support groups and associations also add to the degree of difficulty aphasia victims and caregivers face. “There are no support groups for brain injury, stroke and so on. So, with Bhoomika Trust, a NGO cofounded by us along with SRMC and their Speech Therapy Department, we are looking to bridge the gap between speech pathologists, stroke victims and caretakers through a conference,” he explains.
The conference aims to bring together neurologists, speech therapists, and physiologists to have a holistic discussion.
The conference will be held from Feb 23-25 at Sri Ramachandra University. For details, contact +919884114111