Restoring speech after a stroke if it is impaired or completely lost

home
Services and prices
Neurology
Restoring speech after a stroke

A stroke is an acute disruption of the blood supply to the brain, when cells in the nerve centers die from a lack of oxygen and neural connections are destroyed. Its consequences can be very different: memory loss, partial or complete paralysis, dementia and speech disorders. The latter are classified into several types: light, medium and heavy.

However, the results of a stroke are not irreversible: in most cases, it is possible to return the victim to normal life with the help of a set of rehabilitation measures.

How to restore the ability to speak in an adult after losing it?

How long it takes for speech function to recover depends on how severely the brain was damaged.
Therefore, in some patients, the ability to speak is restored quite quickly (within a few weeks or months), while in others it takes years, and it is difficult to predict how long it will take. To restore patients who have suffered a stroke, the following types of rehabilitation are used:

Drug therapy.
Classes with a speech therapist.
Physiotherapy.
Massage.
Surgical intervention.

Medicines

During rehabilitation after a stroke, the doctor prescribes several groups of drugs to the patient that help reduce side effects, improve the condition and help the patient quickly return to their normal lifestyle:

Muscle relaxants.
Antidepressants.
Anticonvulsants.
Antiplatelet agents.

Muscle relaxants

On a note. In the third month after a stroke, the patient may develop muscle hypertonicity, which greatly slows down the rehabilitation process.

Then muscle relaxants are prescribed that can reduce excessive muscle tone. The best muscle relaxants for stroke:

Sirdalud (cost in Moscow from 227, in St. Petersburg from 176).
Tizalud (cost in Moscow from 160, in St. Petersburg from 125 rubles).

Antidepressant series drugs

Almost 80% of patients suffer from depression after a stroke, which slows down the recovery process. In this case, antidepressants are prescribed. The best antidepressants for stroke:

Nortriptyline (cost in Moscow from 990, in St. Petersburg from 1,000 rubles).
Paxil (cost in Moscow from 650, in St. Petersburg from 660 rubles).

Anticonvulsants

When seizures occur, anticonvulsants are prescribed, but they should be taken with caution, as this group of drugs can cause side effects. The best anticonvulsants for stroke:

Finlepsin (cost in Moscow from 215, in St. Petersburg from 193 rubles).
Convulex (cost in Moscow from 116, in St. Petersburg from 135 rubles).

Antiplatelet agents

If after a stroke the patient’s blood becomes more viscous, this slows down the recovery of brain tissue. In this case, the help of antiplatelet agents is required to prevent the formation of blood clots. The best antiplatelet drugs for stroke:

Reopoliglyukin (cost in Moscow from 102, in St. Petersburg from 110 rubles).
Clopidogrel (cost in Moscow from 226, in St. Petersburg from 205 rubles).

Important! Any medications should be prescribed only by the attending physician. Do not self-prescribe medications, otherwise this can only worsen the patient’s condition.

Medication alone does not provide much benefit, but it does help progress recovery when used with other types of therapy, such as speech therapy and physical therapy.

Exercises after a stroke at home for recovery

Classes with a speech therapist

At the first lesson, the speech therapist draws up a plan for each patient individually. The following exercises are required:

Reading tongue twisters.
Drawing.
Mimic and speech therapy massage.

If all the specialist’s recommendations are carefully followed, about 20-30% of patients with moderate and severe speech disorders begin to speak normally by the time they are discharged from the hospital. Classes can also be held at home. The exercise program must be combined with medications, physical therapy and other types of rehabilitation.

Physiotherapy

This type of rehabilitation stimulates muscle recovery and helps to achieve better results from classes with a speech therapist and from taking medications.

Magnetotherapy. This procedure stimulates all processes in the brain, and also improves the functioning of the endocrine and nervous systems. A rather painful method, but it is considered one of the most effective. The patient's condition improves after 2-3 weeks.
Dorsanval. Prescribed for poor blood supply to the brain and limbs. After a whole course of procedures, which is at least 5-7 sessions that take place over 2-3 weeks, the patient’s condition improves significantly.

Massage

Therapeutic massage for stroke significantly improves blood supply to the affected tissues, which increases the flow of oxygen and other nutrients to them. In addition, massage helps relieve muscle and psychological tension. A therapeutic massage course usually consists of 10 sessions , but can be adjusted individually for each patient.

Note! A massage course can only be conducted by a qualified specialist with a medical education.

Surgery

A method such as surgery is resorted to in extreme cases, when other methods do not improve the patient’s condition and cannot restore lost speech. To restore speech, a neurosurgical operation is performed, which creates additional connections between healthy tissues and vessels in the speech area of the brain, without affecting the damaged areas.

Speech impairment due to stroke

Stroke can be hemorrhagic or ischemic. With a hemorrhagic stroke, too much blood flows to the brain, and arteries may rupture, but with an ischemic stroke, on the contrary, not enough blood flows to the brain.

Hemorrhagic stroke is less common, but causes more serious consequences for the patient. But in both cases, the areas of the brain responsible for speech may be damaged in a person.

Is it possible to do Bubnovsky exercises for arthrosis of the joints?

If speech fails, then the disturbances occurred in the left hemisphere of the brain. With such a stroke, the right side is paralyzed and there is no speech.

Strokes with paralysis on the right side occur more often than on the left. And this is better for the patient, since in this case it is easier to make a diagnosis, since speech disorders are always manifested.

Such disorders are called aphasia. In this case, disturbances can occur in different parts of the brain. Depending on this, the consequences may be different. How to restore speech after an ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke?

Let's look at the types of aphasia and their consequences:

Amnestic . A person can communicate, but periodically forgets the names of the objects he is talking about.
Semantic . In this case, you need to talk to the patient exclusively in simple sentences; he simply will not understand complex ones.
Sensory . A complex type of aphasia in which the patient does not understand speech at all. For him it comes down to a set of sounds. At the same time, he practically cannot understand the meaning of what was said.
Motor . A person understands everything, but cannot say anything coherently, confuses sounds and words, or gets stuck on one sound combination.
Total . The patient does not understand anything, does not recognize anyone, cannot say anything. Most often, this phase occurs immediately after a stroke. After some time, it can turn into motor.

No one can give a 100% guarantee that the patient will be able to speak at all. But if you act quickly, correctly, follow all the recommendations of specialists, create an atmosphere of patience, love and care around a sick relative, support him as much as possible in his desire to recover, then he has a much better chance of quickly recovering his speech loss.

Simple speech problems can be solved in 2–6 months with special regular training and exercises. If the degree of violation is greater, then more time will be required.

Sometimes this can last up to several years. A forecast of 5-10 years is considered a period after which changes for the better are hardly possible. However, miracles of recovery happen, but they most often lie in the realm of intangible reality.

People say, “Houses and family walls heal.” This relates to the question of how relatives of a stroke patient should behave. The first questions they ask the doctor are: “Is speech restored after a stroke? Is it even possible to restore speech after a stroke? How long does it take for speech to be restored after a stroke? Relatives can be understood. But a lot depends on their behavior, on their actions.

Here are the usual recommendations from doctors to the patient’s relatives:

The patient must feel that his family needs him, that he is valuable to her, that his relatives believe in him, love him, sincerely wish for his recovery and do not doubt it at all. In this case, he will have additional motivation to get back on his feet as quickly as possible. This means there will be energy for this.
You need to constantly talk with the patient and in his presence. Then he will feel involved in the family. But the most important thing: if the topic is important to him, he will try to talk.
It’s good if his favorite music, the songs he used to sing, are played in the house. The inner desire to sing along can well stimulate the awakening of his speech impulses.
But it is better to remove excess noise, variety and volume of sounds so as not to overload the patient. You need to talk to him quietly, calmly, without explosive emotions. Surround him with your kindness. At the same time, there is no need to emphasize every time that he is terminally ill.
Relatives need to have maximum patience, since they are the ones who must become constant assistants for the patient when performing the exercises that the speech therapist will show. And under no circumstances should you react with irritation if you can’t do the exercise.

Methods of speech therapist work

The most successful results in speech restoration are possible with long-term work with a specialist.

The speech therapist begins getting to know the patient by checking his reaction to a quiet voice or whisper.
The tasks become more difficult gradually.
The specialist does not work on the pronunciation of individual words or sounds; it is important for the patient to feel them in context and to learn the general meaning.
Topics for exercises are selected from problems that are significant to the patient.
The speech therapist begins the phrase, and the patient is asked to finish it.
Some people respond very well to their favorite song and start singing along. The words are pronounced unclearly at first, but the situation pleases the patient.
If the condition allows you to draw, then the doctor shows pictures on the topic and asks you to draw them.

The doctor names the depicted objects in words, the patient remembers their meaning and tries to pronounce

Initial sessions last 15 minutes. The intervals between sessions are determined by the patient's condition. After one and a half to two months they last up to half an hour.

At home, you can work with the patient only after periodic examinations by a speech therapist. Consultation with a specialist helps you choose a task and convenient exercises.

Please note that disappointment and impatience are “written” on the facial expressions of relatives. Therefore, some experts generally do not recommend exercising in the presence of loved ones.

A set of activities after the crisis

Despite the fact that each type of aphasia has its own exercises for restoring normal speech after a stroke, it should be remembered that all disorders are mixed in nature and require a systematic, special approach.

A set of special classes will help not only regain lost skills, but also improve a healthy person’s oratory abilities and diction.

How can exercise therapy help restore knee joints with arthrosis of degrees 1 and 2?

During training, it is recommended to adhere to the recommendations of the speech therapist, which include:

Pull the lip folds into a tube, hold for 3-5 seconds, then repeat (up to 10 approaches).
Use the lower part of your jaw to grab the top of your lip, hold for 2-3 seconds, release (5-10 times).
Similar to the previous exercise, only in reverse - pinch the lower part with your upper lip.
Open your mouth slightly, stretch your neck forward, stick out your tongue (as far as possible), hold for a few seconds (5-10 repetitions).
We take turns licking the upper and lower lip folds, from left to right, then vice versa (up to 10 approaches).
Draw a tube with your tongue.
Lick the lip folds in a circle.
Close your mouth and reach your lower palate with your tongue.
Clicking your tongue like a horse while running.
Close your mouth, open your teeth, move your tongue in a circular motion between the labial folds and teeth.
Try to smile, showing all your teeth, then repeat the movement with your jaw closed.
Hiss like a snake, moving your tongue out of your mouth.
Send a kiss while smacking your lips loudly.
Use your tongue to reach your chin, after the tip of your nose.

Speech therapy exercises after stroke

Exercises for aphasia can be performed in different sequences 2-3 times a day, combining them with other activities to restore speech functions. Logically complete phrases with an assistant, learn tongue twisters, poems, counting rhymes, songs, listen to your favorite pieces of music.

In order for speech to be restored completely (as far as possible), it is necessary to approach the implementation of the recommendations of the speech therapist or the attending physician with all responsibility. There should be complete silence in the room during classes.

Other methods of treatment and prophylaxis

Complex speech impairment after a stroke can be eliminated using other methods of therapy, which only a qualified neurologist can recommend. For these purposes, he will conduct a comprehensive diagnosis, based on the results of which he will prescribe appropriate treatment, including:

Physiotherapy – electrical stimulation of speech muscle tissue. It is most often used for the motor type of aphasia. But modern doctors resort to it in rare cases.
Acupuncture - used to restore articulation and speech function. Prescribed for motor type of pathology.
Functional biofeedback. This technique is based on visual influence on the speech muscles. It is not recommended for use in patients with perception disorders.

Complex therapy, including these methods of influence, helps improve speech functions. The complexity of the rehabilitation period and how long it will take to treat the consequences of a hemorrhagic or ischemic stroke depend on the location of the hemorrhage and its extent. In some cases, recovery takes only a month, in others up to 2 years.

Problems with speech after a cerebral hemorrhage can consist not only of direct damage to the centers, but also of paralysis of facial muscle tissue. As a result, the articulatory muscles stop doing their job, and therapy and rehabilitation are carried out as for coordination disorders.

Acupuncture – used to restore speech function

How to recognize paralysis on the right side?

When a stroke occurs in the left hemisphere of the brain, the right side is usually affected, the muscles of the legs and arms are paralyzed, and speech is lost. Such symptoms allow us to say with confidence that the patient has right-sided paralysis. In addition, additional symptoms are noted.

The main signs of a stroke are sudden fatigue, severe headache, nausea and vomiting. These symptoms are observed in the patient on the first and second days after the attack and are characteristic behavior of the body when brain cells die.
Immobilization. If the central part of the brain is damaged, the right leg and arm cease to obey, become numb and sag. If the peripheral nerve cells are damaged, the right side of the body begins to tremble, and the patient cannot perform certain actions, but overall mobility is maintained.
Memory impairment. It is difficult for the patient to repeat several phrases at once. With a serious disorder, the patient instantly forgets even one word.
Disruption of the right facial nerve - this leads to loss of control over the muscles of the entire right side of the face, and the ability to make facial expressions is lost. As a result, the right side of the mouth and eyelid droop down.
The skeletal muscles of the right side of the body contract in any direction. As a rule, the arm bends at the elbow, the leg straightens, and the foot turns toward the center.

The above symptoms appear within minutes after a stroke. Due to disruption of the functioning of different parts of the body, the patient experiences a stressful state, which can lead to nervous breakdown and rejection of social contacts.

Speech therapy exercises to restore speech after a stroke at home

Let us now consider what methods a specialist can offer to restore a patient’s speech, and how they should be applied.

Articulation and breathing exercises

First, the person is asked to simply breathe, then, as he exhales, pronounce certain consonant sounds, one sound per exhalation. After this, while exhaling, all these sounds are pronounced in a row. There are no more than four of them. Sounds can be pronounced while exhaling, also with the chin raised.

Articulation gymnastics after a stroke

It includes exercises for the tongue, lips, voice, and facial muscles.

Exercises for the tongue and soft palate

Stick your tongue out of your mouth and hold it there for a few seconds.
Pull it down again and bend it up, hold it for a while.
Pull it down and direct it first to the right corner of the mouth, then to the left.
Move the tip of your tongue back and forth across the roof of your mouth.
Direct your tongue to the right and left cheek.
Click your tongue, first once, then twice, then three.
Relax your tongue and, moving it back and forth, lightly bite with your teeth.
Lick your lips first in one direction, then in the other.

Lip exercises

Move your lips forward.
Make a smile with your mouth closed.
Bare your teeth and raise your upper lip, hold this for a couple of seconds.
Puff out your cheeks and pump the air from side to side, rolling the air around your mouth.
Relax your lips and blow through the gap in them.

Voice exercises

Speech gymnastics is performed for ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke.

We pronounce all the vowel sounds separately, first long, then short, while exhaling. After this, as you exhale, we pronounce all the sounds in a row.
We say the sound Y only articulatory, without sound, and feel the tension under the chin.
We pronounce all the vowel sounds in a row, flowing into one another, alternately emphasizing different sounds.
We pronounce consonant sounds, first unvoiced, separately, then one after another on one exhalation. After this, we pronounce voiced sounds in the same way. We add consonant sounds with vowels into certain syllables, while alternating paired unvoiced and voiced consonants.

All combinations of sounds, their permutations and combinations are determined by the speech therapist.

Tongue twister exercises after a stroke

First, we ask the patient to finish the tongue twister he knows, gradually increasing the number of words he says. If possible, we bring the exercise to perfection.

Exercises for facial muscles

Raise your eyebrows, lower them, frown, relax.
Open your mouth wide, try to stretch it, then relax it.
Smile without opening your mouth.
Inflate and deflate your cheeks.
Pull your lips out as if for a kiss.
Extend your tongue as far as possible in different directions from your mouth.
Move your lower jaw carefully, first to the left, then to the right, then in a circle.

Speech therapy massage after stroke

After completing a set of exercises, it is necessary to apply a facial massage to each area of the face.

It is important that massage movements are selected only by a specialist. Some areas of the face will need to be relaxed, while others will need to be toned. If you approach this on your own, you can cause irreparable harm.

In addition to massaging the facial muscles directly, they massage the tongue, lips, inner surface of the cheeks, ears, scalp, and hands. All this relieves muscle stiffness and thus liberates speech.

Restoring everyday skills

All everyday skills should be developed under the supervision of a loved one, an assistant who will control the patient’s movements and, if necessary, support and guide his hand.

Nutrition

To prevent spoons and forks from slipping out of the patient’s hand, you can wrap their handles with thin foam rubber. If paralysis/paresis affects the leading hand, then when eating, you should help the patient - support and guide his hand towards the mouth.

Using the tap and washing your face

A chair should be placed in front of the sink so that the patient can wash while sitting. He should open the tap with the affected hand and, if necessary, should be assisted by guiding his hand towards the tap. In this case, the patient should check the temperature of the water with a healthy hand with preserved sensitivity. Once a comfortable temperature has been established, the patient should attempt to wash the affected hand.

Combing

You should choose combs made from non-slip materials, or wrap the comb handle with thin foam rubber. If possible, you should try to comb your hair with the hand with impaired function.

Dressing

Clothes (jacket, shirt) should be loose, fastened with buttons. It is placed on the knees, between which the sleeve for the affected arm is lightly fixed. With the help of the healthy one, she gradually moves into the sleeve.