Recovery after stroke

Medical and social problems in Russia

Alexander Postnikov, the portal "There is NO stroke!"

On September 23 and 24 in the walls of the First St. Petersburg State Medical University named after Academician I.P.Pavlov hosted the All-Russian conference with international participation "Innovations in Angioedema rehabilitation". The conference discussed further prospects and ways of developing rehabilitation after stroke in Russia.

The event mainly touched upon the role of drug treatment in recovery after stroke, and only a small proportion of the reports concerned other, equally important aspects of recovery after acute cerebrovascular accident.

The number of new annual stroke cases in Russia is approaching 500,000; most of the patients are over 50 years old. Mortality from cardiovascular diseases firmly occupies the third place in the structure of total mortality in the country. To date, stroke is a huge not only medical, but also social problem for our state. At least 10-15% of stroke survivors become profoundly disabled, unable to self-care. This is the "fault" not only of the stroke itself, but also of the amount of medical and psychological assistance provided to this person.

More than half of stroke survivors need serious rehabilitation. It is the medical rehabilitation of such patients that remains one of the most pressing problems of medicine and the social sphere in our state.

If we return to the topic and content of the conference held on September 23 and 24, the report of Maria Nikolaevna Maltseva "Depressive disorders in relatives of patients with ONMC deserves special attention. The phenomenon of family disability". In this report, Maria Nikolaevna reflected a very important aspect of rehabilitation – the psychological state of relatives, their attitude to a person who has suffered a stroke and how this attitude affects the prospects for his recovery.

It's no secret that in Russia a stroke is almost a sentence. And many ordinary citizens regard this condition as a "ticket" to being immobile in bed and in acute need of outside help. Most relatives of people who have suffered a stroke are forced to take care of them for long months and years without hope for the patient's independence. Although in some cases, stroke survivors have pretty good prospects for restoring independence by performing some habitual household activities.

For example, hygiene procedures: washing, brushing teeth, skin and hair care. Or, for example, an independent meal and a change of underwear. It is not always possible for a person to perform these actions independently.

In the approach of caregivers, if you choose between performing these actions for the patient or helping the patient perform this action independently, preference is given to the second. In this case, two sides of the assistance provided in this way open at once:

• A person regains the ability to self-serve (at least partially).
• The burden on close people who are forced to stay close to the patient and take care of him 24 hours a day is reduced. And for the caregivers, this is not only hard physical, but also psychoemotional work.

Therefore, the main idea of M.N. Maltseva, which runs through her entire report, is to help in the return of a person's independence, as far as possible with the existing disorders of neurological functions. And it is not always the result of medical procedures and restorative treatment.

In some cases, this is the merit of occupational therapy – a discipline that has not received recognition in our country as a separate medical specialty. Meanwhile, in the West, an occupational therapist is at the forefront in the struggle for the return of a person to his former life and his independence. This is not only an important task in changing the quality of life of the stroke victim himself, but also a significant reduction in the burden on the whole family forced to take care of him.

This is a serious reduction in the burden on the country's budget, which is losing huge funds for disability benefits and at the same time losing the working population in the person of relatives. Relatives of a person who has lost independence and ability to work are often forced to quit their jobs or take out loans to make ends meet in such a difficult situation.

Therefore, recovery after a stroke is, first of all, the restoration of a person's independence in his new life, in which there should be no attention deficit or overprotection on the part of relatives. A person who has suffered a stroke is not a hopeless invalid, he has only temporarily lost the ability to independently perform the usual household and work chores.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru  03.10.2016