Carmen’s Journey of Physical Therapy After Stroke: Strength and Advocacy

Recovery After Stroke

Introduction: Stroke recovery is often a long and challenging journey, especially when it comes to regaining mobility and independence. One of the most critical components of recovery is physical therapy after a stroke. Whether you’ve recently experienced a stroke or have been in recovery for some time, physical therapy plays a vital role in helping you rebuild strength, coordination, and confidence in your daily activities.

In this blog post, we’ll explore why physical therapy is essential after a stroke, the different approaches that can be taken, and how survivors can maintain progress over time.

The Importance of Physical Therapy After Stroke

When a stroke occurs, it can lead to significant physical impairments. These may include difficulty walking, using your arms, or maintaining balance. Physical therapy focuses on helping survivors regain these motor functions and improve their quality of life.

After a stroke, the brain undergoes a process called neuroplasticity, which means it can rewire itself to compensate for damaged areas. Physical therapy after stroke is designed to take advantage of this neuroplasticity by engaging the body in repetitive movements and exercises that encourage the brain to form new neural pathways. Over time, survivors may regain lost skills and improve their overall mobility.

Types of Physical Therapy for Stroke Survivors

1. Motor-Skill Exercises: These exercises are designed to improve coordination and strength in the muscles affected by the stroke. They often involve repetitive movements, such as lifting the arms or legs, that can help the brain relearn how to control these muscles.
2. Mobility Training: Stroke survivors may experience difficulty walking or balancing. Physical therapists use specific exercises and techniques, such as gait training and balance exercises, to help survivors regain their ability to walk independently.
3. Range-of-Motion Therapy: Stiffness and tightness in the muscles can occur after a stroke, limiting movement in the arms and legs. Stretching exercises and passive movement therapy are used to improve flexibility and prevent long-term immobility.
4. Strength Training: Physical therapists often introduce strength training exercises that focus on building muscle mass in weakened areas of the body. These exercises can include weight-bearing movements or resistance training.
5. Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES): In some cases, physical therapists may use FES to stimulate weak muscles through electrical impulses. This can help stroke survivors regain control of their muscles, improve movement, and prevent muscle atrophy.
6. Balance Training: Stroke survivors commonly struggle with balance and stability. Physical therapy often includes exercises to improve balance, which reduces the risk of falls and helps survivors feel more confident in their movements.

How Physical Therapy After Stroke Helps With Long-Term Recovery

Recovery from stroke doesn’t end once you leave the hospital or rehabilitation center. For many survivors, physical therapy becomes a lifelong process that helps maintain and further improve their abilities.

Some benefits of long-term physical therapy after stroke include:

• Preventing muscle atrophy: Ongoing physical therapy helps keep muscles active and strong, reducing the risk of muscle atrophy, especially in areas that have been weakened by the stroke.
• Improving independence: As survivors regain strength and mobility, they become more independent in their daily lives, needing less help from caregivers.
• Reducing the risk of future strokes: Regular physical activity, guided by a physical therapist, can improve overall health by lowering blood pressure, maintaining a healthy weight, and improving cardiovascular fitness—factors that reduce the risk of a future stroke.
• Boosting mental health: Physical therapy can also improve a stroke survivor’s mental health. As mobility and independence increase, survivors often experience less anxiety and depression, which are common after a stroke.

How to Continue Progress After Initial Physical Therapy

Once formal physical therapy sessions end, it’s important for stroke survivors to maintain their progress at home. Here are some ways to continue the recovery journey:

• Home Exercise Programs: Many physical therapists provide customized exercise routines that survivors can do at home. These exercises are designed to strengthen weakened muscles, improve balance, and maintain flexibility.
• Joining Support Groups: Connecting with others who are also recovering from a stroke can provide motivation and encouragement to continue working on physical recovery.
• Engaging in Alternative Therapies: Yoga, swimming, and tai chi are great examples of low-impact exercises that can complement traditional physical therapy and help stroke survivors continue to improve their flexibility and balance.

Conclusion: Why Physical Therapy After Stroke is Essential

Physical therapy after a stroke is one of the most effective ways to regain strength, mobility, and independence. Through targeted exercises, survivors can rebuild their physical abilities and improve their overall quality of life. The journey may be long, but with persistence and the right support, recovery is always possible.

If you or a loved one is recovering from a stroke, physical therapy offers a pathway to a better and more independent future. By sticking to your therapy plan and continuing with exercises at home, you can continue making progress long after the initial rehabilitation phase.

Carmen’s Journey of Physical Therapy After Stroke: A Path of Resilience and Advocacy

Physical therapy after a stroke is crucial for regaining mobility and independence. Learn how targeted exercises help stroke survivors rebuild strength.

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Highlights:

00:00 Introduction
03:45 Carmen’s Stroke Experience
09:42 The Importance Of Psychological Therapy
24:37 Physical Therapy After Stroke
30:01 Carmen’s Continued Recovery and Daily Challenges
44:40 Creating a Support System and YouTube Channel
50:25 Recovery After Stroke In All Languages
1:02:52 Lessons And Advice For Stroke Survivors

Transcript:

Introduction – Physical Therapy After Stroke

Bill Gasiamis 0:01
Hello everybody, and welcome to episode 322 of the recovery after stroke podcast. In this episode, I’m delighted to introduce Carmen Murrieta, the first stroke survivor from Mexico to be featured on the show. Carmen’s journey began unexpectedly when she experienced an ischemic stroke at just 34 years old. She shares her incredible story of resilience from being unable to walk to regaining her independence through physical therapy and a holistic approach that included meditation, yoga and a complete mindset shift.

Bill Gasiamis 0:38
Carmen also dives into the challenges of navigating the Mexican healthcare system, overcoming emotional struggles and the impact that stroke had on her personal life, her strength and determination are evident in how she has since turned her journey into advocacy, launching her own YouTube channel to connect with and support other Spanish speaking stroke survivors.

Bill Gasiamis 1:03
This episode is packed with valuable insights and inspiration, making it a must listen for stroke survivors and their families who are navigating recovery join us as Carmen’s story of hope and perseverance shows that recovery is possible even when it seems most difficult.

Bill Gasiamis 1:21
Now, just before we dive into Carmen’s story, I’d like to take a moment to talk to you about how you can support the podcast. If you find that these episodes are helpful, inspiring or insightful, consider supporting the show through Patreon, at patreon.com/recoveryafterstroke.

Bill Gasiamis 1:41
Your support means the podcast can keep going, allowing me to continue sharing powerful stories that offer hope and practical advice for stroke survivors and their loved ones everywhere, whether it’s covering production costs or helping spread the word, your contribution makes a big difference, and I truly appreciate it. Thank you for considering it.

Bill Gasiamis 2:04
Carmen Murrieta, Welcome to the podcast.

Carmen Murrieta 2:08
Hello, Hello from the other side of the world.

Bill Gasiamis 2:14
Hola, Hola to you.

Carmen Murrieta 2:16
Hola.

Bill Gasiamis 2:19
It’s lovely to have you here, the first Mexican guest on my podcast.

Carmen Murrieta 2:25
Thank you. It’s an honor to be here.

Bill Gasiamis 2:28
I have had a Mexican researcher on the podcast before, who I interviewed, who was raising awareness and trying to support stroke survivors, the lady who I interviewed lived in, I think, in one of the border towns along the United States and Mexico, and she was doing some good work there, supporting stroke survivors who were predominantly Mexican speaking, and also a little bit of English or Spanish speaking and a little bit of English.

Bill Gasiamis 3:04
And it was lovely to kind of understand the the work that she was doing because of some of the challenges that the people at the border areas faced, and particularly with access to medical care, that was one of the really difficult things that they found accessing so I’m very keen to find out your story and what it’s like to go through the system that you have in in Mexico, but before we have a chat about that, tell me a little bit about what happened to you.

Carmen’s Stroke Experience

Carmen Murrieta 3:45
Well, I will tell you my story as I remember it. On August 16, 2012 I was at work in the morning, suddenly I got dizzy. I told my peers I feel sick. They asked me, How can we help you? And I asked them to call my mother, because that day, my ex husband was out of the city. At my mom’s house, I lay down, I drank a cup of tea, that afternoon, my ex husband went to pick me up and we went home.

Carmen Murrieta 5:03
The next day, I didn’t go to work because I was feeling better, but they’re still weak, so I stay at home, that was Friday. On Saturday, we were celebrating a birthday, and I started to drag my left leg while walking that night, we went to ER. They found nothing wrong, that was Saturday. On Monday, I could hardly walk, and we went to see a private doctor a nose, ear and throat specialist, because we thought that my balance problem had something to do with my ear.

Carmen Murrieta 6:16
The doctor said, Your ears are, were my ears were fine, so he recommended to visit a neurologist. We went to the neurologist, and he said, is a stroke, take her to the hospital with the current diagnosis, I spent one week in the hospital. Many tests were done on me, trying to find the reason of my stroke, a Blue test, MRI, CIAD scan. But finally, the doctors said it was brain steam, ischemic stroke.

Carmen Murrieta 7:18
At that moment, I couldn’t walk and my left arm, I couldn’t control my left arm. After that, I did a lot of physical therapy, and I changed my diet. I changed my mindset into a positive one. I practice yoga, meditation, Reiki, and in 2022 I created a YouTube channel, and that’s it.

Bill Gasiamis 8:11
That’s good, alright? So, lots of things. So you were 34 years old at the time, it was 2012 and it was an ischemic stroke. Do they know what caused the clock? What was the underlying reason? Any idea?

Carmen Murrieta 8:33
No, no, they told me, doctors told me it was an ischemic stroke with unknown reason. So I felt very confused, because I didn’t know what was a stroke. I didn’t know why, what happened to me. I ask, Why me? What did I do wrong and well, because they say they didn’t find a reason. I made a lot of changes in my life, like the diet, my mindset, my routine, my life changed a lot.

Bill Gasiamis 9:35
Yeah, how long did it take for you to leave hospital?

The Importance Of Psychological Therapy After A Stroke

Carmen Murrieta 9:42
I was in the hospital, one week after that, I left the hospital, and I did a lot of physical therapy and occupational therapy. I been in psychological therapy too many times.

Bill Gasiamis 10:07
Fantastic. Me too, and I still go to therapy. It’s very important for people to go to therapy, right, especially when everything is normal, everything is okay. And then at 34 I was 37 Okay, so and my injuries happened in 2012 as well. That’s when it all started for me, especially when you’re good for 34 years, everything isn’t going normal, and then you have a stroke, and they can’t tell you why it happened.

Bill Gasiamis 10:38
Of course, you need some therapy and some counseling to try and work it out in your head and understand what is going on. Why me and did I cause this? Can I make it better? Will I be okay? All those questions going through your mind.

Carmen Murrieta 10:56
Yes, yes, it took me many years to understand my new me, because my new myself, because I didn’t know what to do, how my body will respond to so many changes now that I didn’t know what can I do and what I can do?

Bill Gasiamis 11:31
Yeah, what kind of challenges did you have when you came out of hospital and went into rehab? What were the physical problems that you had to deal with?

Carmen Murrieta 11:38
I think, well, many, many, many things. But main thing was, I couldn’t walk. I was on a wheelchair. It was very, very hard to learn walking again, and at first I was like a spider crawling.

Intro 12:17
If you’ve had a stroke and you’re in recovery, you’ll know what a scary and confusing time it can be. You’re likely to have a lot of questions going through your mind, like, how long will it take to recover? Will I actually recover? What things should I avoid in case I make matters worse? Doctors will explain things, but obviously, you’ve never had a stroke before. You probably don’t know what questions to ask.

Intro 12:41
If this is you, you may be missing out on doing things that could help speed up your recovery. If you’re finding yourself in that situation, stop worrying and head to recoveryafterstroke.com. Where you can download a guide that will help you. It’s called ‘Seven questions to ask your doctor about your stroke.

Intro 13:00
These seven questions are the ones Bill wished he’d asked when he was recovering from a stroke. They’ll not only help you better understand your condition, they’ll help you take a more active role in your recovery. Head to the website now recoveryafterstroke.com, and download the guide. It’s free.

Carmen Murrieta 13:20
My hands to balls because I was very afraid of leaving them, yes, and I didn’t move my left arm. Well, yes, it moved, but I couldn’t control my left arm. In fact, now my left side is weak.

Bill Gasiamis 13:58
A little weak?

Carmen Murrieta 14:00
Yes, I can walk now, but I use cane to walk.

Bill Gasiamis 14:09
Just for a little bit of extra strength and stability.

Carmen Murrieta 14:13
Yes.

Bill Gasiamis 14:16
At the time 34 were you still married then? Or what was the family situation like?

Carmen Murrieta 14:24
I was still married, then two years later, I divorced.

Bill Gasiamis 14:36
And do you have children?

Carmen Murrieta 14:38
No, suddenly I was divorced. I couldn’t work, I didn’t have care, so I was very, very, very sad, yes.

Bill Gasiamis 14:55
You were very sad was that one of the reasons behind the divorce is, what you’re saying?

Carmen Murrieta 15:03
No, I don’t think so we, my ex husband and me, didn’t get along very well before the stroke.

Bill Gasiamis 15:17
So it was just one of those things that was part of the relationship, it was a bit of a problem already, and then when you had the stroke, did it feel like the relationship got worse? Or was it just a decision that was made because you guys had been putting it off?

Carmen Murrieta 15:41
I see it got a little bit worse, because I was having all that changes in my body, and I didn’t understand what was going on, and he was trying to help me, but I was so different now. So now that I have talked with many survivors, now I understand that emotionally I was, I don’t know I wasn’t okay, and he wasn’t okay too. So how could that marriage work with the persons feeling like that?

Bill Gasiamis 16:38
Yeah, I think what you said is very profound, so if the relationship is a little bit difficult already, and then somebody in your relationship becomes unwell, and you’re already dealing with all of those difficult situations, stroke only makes things harder, so if the relationship is not stable, to continue the relationship and make it more stable, It’s very difficult, especially when you’re learning about your new body, all the challenges that you have to overcome the difficulties that that causes to the family income wise.

Bill Gasiamis 17:16
All those things like, it’s such a big challenge and it does need, it does need a stable relationship to continue fighting the recovery, you know, and overcoming all of the stuff that stroke causes, I know many people who have had a stroke who, as a result of the stroke, made the decision to separate or have a divorce, because there was no point being in that difficult situation together and making it more difficult. Was it still a hard thing for you to actually go through with the separation, or was it the logical thing to do, was it the correct thing to do after the stroke?

Carmen Murrieta 18:06
It was logical, but it was hard to make that decision because, because he was my friend, so it was hard.

Bill Gasiamis 18:26
Yeah, so there was still a mutual respect.

Carmen Murrieta 18:32
Yes, and I think he had, he helped me as much as he can kick with and, well, finally, it didn’t work, but we respect each other and, well, I wish he I wish him the best.

Bill Gasiamis 19:02
Yeah, that’s the best way to do it. Sometimes it’s not necessary to be together with somebody, if you are struggling in a relationship to respect each other, you can also do that separately, and especially if you’re not causing each other challenges and grief, and you can be civil, that’s still really important, that’s a good way to go about it. In the at 34 how were you occupying your time? Were you employed before the stroke? What were you doing?

Carmen Murrieta 19:34
Yes, I was employed, I was, I studied computer science, so I was working in an office as a webmaster.

Bill Gasiamis 19:49
As a webmaster, building websites?

Carmen Murrieta 19:52
Yes.

Bill Gasiamis 19:55
And of course, you became unwell, and then what happened with work were you able to eventually get back to work?

Carmen Murrieta 20:03
No because the office, it’s far from my home, and I couldn’t drive after my stroke. It was, I wasn’t me, so I didn’t go back to job, because I don’t know, and also I didn’t want to go back, actually, because it was like, the same every day. So I think in a way, it was good to leave that job.

Bill Gasiamis 20:57
So it was a little bit monotonous. You didn’t really enjoy it much while you were there.

Carmen Murrieta 21:02
Yes, yes.

Bill Gasiamis 21:04
So the stroke gave you a way out of there?

Carmen Murrieta 21:08
Yes, and the the environment, I don’t know how to say, and I didn’t like it very much the they were kind of a lot of gossiping in the work place.

Bill Gasiamis 21:30
Culture, that culture.

Carmen Murrieta 21:32
Yes, I wasn’t very, very happy. If they hear this, they will be mad with me, perhaps.

Bill Gasiamis 21:45
Well, maybe they’re not listening. That was a long time ago, maybe they have improved, and they’re not such gossips anymore.

Carmen Murrieta 21:54
I hope so.

Bill Gasiamis 21:57
Okay, so it was a difficult work environment, and it was nice not to be there. Yeah, fair enough. What in the part of Mexico where you live, what’s the medical system like? These are easy to access medical help?

Carmen Murrieta 22:14
My job gave me some benefits so I could, I I could access National Health System, which, know many people have access to it, but the National Health System, it’s saturated and they don’t have equipment in all hospitals when I needed the embryo MRI and the CAT scans, I have to to go to a private place, they transported me in an ambulance, and we have to pay the service in order to have those emerging image studios, yes.

Bill Gasiamis 23:29
Do you have to pay upfront? or do you go and have the scans and then they send you the bill? How does that work?

Carmen Murrieta 23:41
No, you you pay the scans, and they give you the scans, and then you took them to the doctors.

Bill Gasiamis 23:53
If you don’t have money to pay for the scans, what happens?

Carmen Murrieta 23:58
That’s very complicated for some people, because they have to wait or to find help from government or from friends, and they have to find them to get the money and pay those scans.

Bill Gasiamis 24:26
No money, no scans.

Carmen Murrieta 24:28
No.

Bill Gasiamis 24:30
Yeah, that’s very sad.

Carmen Murrieta 24:34
Yes.

Physical Therapy After Stroke

Bill Gasiamis 24:37
So once you have the scans, then do they send you back to the correct to the hospital which you started at, or do you stay there? What happens there? How did you that’s a lot of traveling for somebody who’s unwell, to leave one hospital to go to another hospital.

Carmen Murrieta 24:54
Yes, it could be very, very uncomfortable, but I stayed in the same hospital. They just checked my blood pressure and my signs, and that was it. After I leave the hospital, they gave me physical therapy and occupational therapy.

Bill Gasiamis 25:31
And was that as a result of the fact that you had some benefits because of your work, is that what about the costs of those therapies?

Carmen Murrieta 25:42
No, I didn’t have to pay nothing, nothing, the National Health System is free.

Bill Gasiamis 25:52
Let’s take a quick break here, but we’ll be right back with Carmen’s inspiring story in a moment before we continue, I want to remind you about my book, The unexpected way that a stroke became the best thing that happened. It’s just it’s not just my personal story. It’s a guide to post traumatic growth filled with insights from other stroke survivors who turned their recovery into a journey of growth and resilience.

Bill Gasiamis 26:18
If you’re looking for hope, practical advice and real stories of overcoming adversity after stroke. This book is for you. You can find it on Amazon by searching my name, Bill Gasiamis, or you can head over to recoveryafterstroke.com/book, for more details. Now, let’s get back to Carmen’s incredible journey.

Bill Gasiamis 26:41
Okay.

Carmen Murrieta 26:42
That’s something good when you have it, but when you don’t, it’s a problem.

Bill Gasiamis 26:51
Okay, so you had access to physical therapy, and that wasn’t something that you had to pay for.

Carmen Murrieta 27:02
During a period of time, I didn’t bait, but my family, they noticed I needed more therapy, so after one month, they gave me just one month of physical therapy, then I had bait and.

Bill Gasiamis 27:33
Private.

Carmen Murrieta 27:34
To receive my more physical therapy.

Bill Gasiamis 27:38
Okay.

Carmen Murrieta 27:39
And also I went to it’s like center when where they help poor people or people with disabilities, and I went there to get some therapy too, but for only a few months, because it was very, very far from my house. At that time, I was at my mom’s house because I couldn’t be independent, for some months after that, we came back home.

Bill Gasiamis 28:42
So in order to be cared for, you stayed with your mum to have some support, extra support.

Carmen Murrieta 28:53
Yes.

Bill Gasiamis 28:54
Yeah, so when you finished the therapy, when you left hospital, you left physical therapy, you went back to your mom’s house?

Carmen Murrieta 29:08
No, after one week in the hospital, I was one month, I was at my mom’s house, and I had to go to take physical therapy to the hospital, from my mother house to the hospital every day, from Monday to Friday, I went to.

Bill Gasiamis 29:39
How long did it take you to go one way? How long did the trip take from your mom’s house to the therapy?

Carmen Murrieta 29:49
15 minutes more or less.

Bill Gasiamis 29:54
Okay, so now there’s been quite a lot of time that has passed, 12 years have passed.

Physical Therapy After Stroke: Continued Recovery and Daily Challenges

Carmen Murrieta 30:01
Yes.

Bill Gasiamis 30:01
Are you still recovering? Are you still improving? How are things now compared to what they were like at the beginning? What’s better than before?

Carmen Murrieta 30:14
It’s better that I can walk, that’s that’s something good. I can move my hand, my left hand, but as I said, my left side is weak, and so I’m more in control of my body, but still, my fine motor skills are not very good, for example, if I try to do this.

Bill Gasiamis 30:50
Put your finger on your nose.

Carmen Murrieta 30:53
And this one, it’s easier. Right side, easier left side.

Bill Gasiamis 31:03
Okay.

Carmen Murrieta 31:03
Yes, so I still do therapy physical exercises every day, because I want to, I want to prove something, or at least stay the same. And I also have problems with my eating. I had a lot, a little bit dysphagia, so I only eat soft meals, I don’t eat spicy foods, liquids are very difficult to take to drink.

Bill Gasiamis 32:00
Swallow.

Carmen Murrieta 32:02
Swallow, and I also speak very slowly in Spanish too, so in English, it’s twice difficult.

Bill Gasiamis 32:16
Even more slow. Okay, so before you used to speak faster.

Carmen Murrieta 32:23
I don’t. I can’t remember. Well, yes, and I didn’t get tired of talking. For example, after I after this conversation, I won’t speak a lot, and during, every day, every day I speak, I don’t speak very much because I can’t.

Bill Gasiamis 32:58
Does it make your brain tired?

Carmen Murrieta 33:01
No, my I don’t think my brain, but my throat is like, I have to clear my throat frequently when I’m eating, while I talking, all the time, and I feel something here all the time, especially in my left side, and well, at first, doctors never mentioned the dysphagia, and I thought I was, I was, I don’t know, I thought it was psychological in my mind, something in my mind was creating this, but now there is a name for this. When I created the channel, I knew about the Aphasia and Dysphagia, and I finally understood what happened to me, yes.

Bill Gasiamis 34:19
So you had a lot of a very common thing that happens with people who have a stroke, sometimes their muscles in their throat, in their neck stop working effectively because of the stroke, and as a result, then they struggle to swallow and eat, and it can be dangerous, because if they can’t swallow properly, they might choke, etc. But the other thing that you mentioned that you feel like there’s something in your throat all the time, which is not there, that would be difficult to deal with at the beginning, you’re trying to work out, is there something there?

Bill Gasiamis 34:54
Do I have to clear my throat again? Is there something stuck? It would be very difficult to, to work that out. How, who was it that said you might have dysphagia? Did somebody tell you about that? Did you go to another appointment? How did they work it out?

Carmen Murrieta 35:10
And now I went to another neurologist, and he explained that the stroke damage some muscles here, and I finally understood I also went to the throat especially he analyzed my throat with something here.

Bill Gasiamis 35:49
A camera in your throat.

Carmen Murrieta 35:50
A camera and they said, my throat, it’s okay, and maybe I should see a psychologist, because, I got anxious, and then I went to psychological therapy, and I think I’m better, the symptoms are there, but I manage them better now.

Bill Gasiamis 36:34
You think about it differently now, Now that you understand they’ve had a look with the camera, there’s definitely nothing there, it’s damage to your muscles because of the stroke and you can have a your mind, you can ease your mind a little bit. You don’t have to be anxious about it.

Carmen Murrieta 36:55
Yes.

Bill Gasiamis 36:56
Even though it still does the same thing.

Carmen Murrieta 36:59
Yes, sometimes it’s still difficult, but then I remember my but it’s actually okay, but I must relax and take it easier. So I can manage that way.

Bill Gasiamis 37:29
Is, have you been able to transition back to an occupation now? Are you at work these days?

Carmen Murrieta 37:37
No, I’ve been struggling with that because I want finite job or something that that I need an income, but I also have many physical difficulties, so I struggle, struggle with that. I have noticed that there isn’t many opportunities for people with disabilities, they say yes, but there are works that jobs that I can do, because you had to, for example, they offered me to sell things.

Carmen Murrieta 38:39
I’m not good at that, and I don’t like it, and I had to speak a lot, and I get tired of talking, so I had to say no. And now in addition to all my stroke consequences, I also have an eye condition that it’s called dry eye. Have you heard from that?

Bill Gasiamis 39:11
Dry eye?

Carmen Murrieta 39:11
So dry eye and I can’t spend a lot of time in front of a computer because my eyes start watering, or my head pains, then my balance is not good, so it’s difficult, it’s been difficult.

Carmen Murrieta 39:11
The dry eyes. Is that a condition that happened because of the stroke, or is that a separate condition?

Carmen Murrieta 39:48
Separate condition.

Bill Gasiamis 39:50
Yeah. And does it affect both eyes, not just one eye.

Carmen Murrieta 39:56
Both eyes.

Bill Gasiamis 39:58
And Is it painful in your eyes? Do they actually go dry, like they don’t have liquid, or do they have too much liquid?

Carmen Murrieta 40:06
They have liquid, I don’t know if is it much, but yes, it pains sometimes. So I can’t watch TV, I can’t use cell phone or my computer. It’s hard for someone that studied computer science and I cannot use my computer.

Bill Gasiamis 40:39
Yeah, that would be that would be, that would be very challenging, especially if you have a skill that’s really that you’re very capable with, and so much of life is on computer screens these days. You know it really.

Carmen Murrieta 40:54
Yes, yes.

Bill Gasiamis 40:56
Requires you to be able to focus and concentrate for long hours. So how do they support you with the dry eye condition? Is there anything that they can do, or is it not something that can be supported?

Carmen Murrieta 41:10
Well, I do many things, like I use tears medicine, I don’t know how to say.

Bill Gasiamis 41:26
Tears, like from a bottle.

Carmen Murrieta 41:30
Yes, and I use high contrast in my computer. In my cell phone, I use zoom if you see my computer, the letter it’s fonts are like, really large, and my my cell phone too, and I wear a special glasses, these ones, they block blue light. I also have a filter in my computer. What else, I don’t use computer for long periods of time, actually, too many things, and the doctor recommend that still, I get tired of my eyes.

Bill Gasiamis 42:35
Yeah, it’s still very tiring.

Carmen Murrieta 42:38
Yes.

Bill Gasiamis 42:40
Neurologically, after a stroke, the eyes often struggle with different you know, with lighting, I still get sensitive with the light, depending on what type of light it is. I think the worst time of the day for me is when there’s a lot of clouds and you can’t really see the sun, but it still makes a lot of glare. You know, it still, it still feels like it’s very difficult on the eye, even though it’s not sunny, you know, you still get some strange light coming through all the clouds, that’s the hardest time of the day.

Bill Gasiamis 43:16
So I’ll be driving my car or walking around with my sunglasses on and there’s no sun out, and it’s the hardest time of day, really affects my mood, it affects my emotions. It really makes me feel down, and I always look forward for the sun, which is quite normal anyway, but the cloudy conditions are really difficult for me. If we have cloudy conditions for a few days in a row, I really notice it by the end of the second or third day.

Carmen Murrieta 43:53
Yes, it it’s the same for me, I sometimes, well, for example, I never use computer in the morning because the light is very strong so I don’t use it, at the sunset it’s better for me this time it’s working very good for me, because it’s dark outside. Well, here it’s the night, 7-8pm so it’s good for me, darkness is good for me.

Creating a Support System and YouTube Channel

Bill Gasiamis 44:40
Darkness is better for you, yeah. Okay, so you started a YouTube channel. What do you hope to achieve with it? And what are you posting on there? And it’s in Spanish, correct?

Carmen Murrieta 44:58
Una EVC en mi vida, I was trying to find more stroke survivors because I didn’t know any stroke survivor all the examples of stroke victims I knew about, were people who had died, so I was feeling very lonely, and also the information that I was finding in the internet at that time was very technical, so I was I needed something easier to understand and also I needed something to do instead of feeling sorry for myself. So that’s why I created the YouTube channel, and now I have many strong survivors, many friends.

Bill Gasiamis 46:25
Yeah. So what does the name of the channel mean?

Carmen Murrieta 46:31
Una EVC en mi vida.

Bill Gasiamis 46:36
What does it mean in English?

Carmen Murrieta 46:43
me, EVC means several vascular disease, I don’t know exactly how to translate, but it and EVC happens in my life, something like that.

Bill Gasiamis 47:09
Okay, so you’re discuss. So what it says is, it’s describing the condition that happened to you.

Carmen Murrieta 47:18
Yes.

Bill Gasiamis 47:19
Okay, all right, so EVC is an abbreviation. It, it’s not the full word, what? What does? What are the words in Spanish for EVC? What is the word?

Carmen Murrieta 47:34
E it’s Enfermedad, disease. And V stands for Vascular, and C means Cerebral.

Bill Gasiamis 47:56
Okay, so somebody who has your similar experience was looking for people that have been through what you’ve been through again, probably like you, looking for a community. More people to connect with, more people to learn from. Will be able to go to that website. What type of videos do you do? Are they interviews? Are they information, videos? What kind are they?

Carmen Murrieta 48:27
Interviews, I have talked with neurologist therapits and stroke survivors, caregivers, that’s it.

Bill Gasiamis 48:44
That’s lovely, so you have at the moment, it says there’s 82 videos, and they’re all different lengths, some of them are 40 minutes, some of them are 4 minutes, lots of different people, you have an episode on dysphagia in Spanish, which is amazing, and you have episode on Neuroplasticity, you have a really good mix of videos.

Carmen Murrieta 49:20
Yes, I have tried to cover the main topics of something that had a stroke, and to understand those topics. And also give hope through testimonies of survivors and let people know that recovery it’s possible.

Bill Gasiamis 50:00
I love it. You’re doing exactly what I’m doing in Spanish, you’re doing it in Spanish, fantastic.

Carmen Murrieta 50:04
I didn’t know you till after I created the channel. I found you, and I thought one day I will meet Bill and yeah, here we are.

Recovery After Stroke In All Languages

Bill Gasiamis 50:25
It’s so good that you reached out. I really appreciate it, and you know what’s lovely is that I can’t do all these other languages. It’s impossible for me to do Spanish, Italian, even I can speak Greek. But even finding people to do interviews in Greek is even that is very difficult. But the good thing about a lot of people who are from other countries, many people speak English, so I’m fortunate that we can still reach people who speak English. But of course, it’s my wish that there’s more people like you and me doing their own language recovery after stroke podcast.

Bill Gasiamis 51:08
You know, I hope there’s an Italian one, I hope there’s a Greek one, I hope there’s every version of it. I think it’ll be fantastic, because that’s very important, it’s what we’re missing. And when I started doing it, I was like, You, I wanted to occupy my time with something important, something worth doing, you know, something that was going to be useful for me and for other people, so you, you have found a really good thing to occupy your time with. Now, do you edit the video and do all the things to get it ready and upload it. Is that how you do it?

Carmen Murrieta 51:50
Well, when I created the channel, I didn’t know anything about editing videos for internet. I didn’t know nothing, so I was asking if somebody could help me. But, I didn’t find anyone, so I thought, how can hard it could be? So I started and, well, I think I did it fine, I don’t know if that’s what you wanted to know.

Bill Gasiamis 52:46
Yeah, that’s it. I wanted to know how you started. The videos there are edited, they have good thumbnails, everything about it is, is perfectly fine. You have subscribers. You have 430 subscribers. I imagine people also leave comments and let you know what they think of the video or ask questions.

Carmen Murrieta 53:13
Sometimes they leave comments. I think no many people have seen my videos, maybe, maybe they don’t know me yet, and well, my audience is a small audience, but I love to do videos and explain what is a stroke, because when it happened to me, I didn’t understand what was a stroke.

Carmen Murrieta 53:57
And in Spanish, we have so many names for stroke that one gets very confused about it, because you don’t know where it was this or that or that, because there are so many words for a stroke that you can you can know, you can understand what, what it says stroke and yes, I through, my through my videos, I tried to let people to give people knowledge and hope about the stroke.

Bill Gasiamis 54:49
Yeah, in your channel, in your about section of your channel, I translated it on Google translate from Spanish to English, and it says ‘Welcome to my channel, here you can find videos where I will tell you about my experience living with cerebral vascular disease and what I have done to recover, testimonies and information that will help you go through the process.

Carmen Murrieta 55:16
Yes.

Bill Gasiamis 55:17
Yeah, that’s really important.

Carmen Murrieta 55:21
Yes, because, well, I tried to give people what I didn’t have. That was I didn’t understand what was a stroke, and I guess, as I dare, I told you I was feeling lonely because I didn’t know more stroke survivors, and I saw this happen only, only to elder people, so I didn’t understand what, what was a stroke, and I think at that time, doctors also didn’t know what happened to me, I think ischemic strokes are harder to diagnosed, because, I don’t know, I don’t know why.

Bill Gasiamis 56:27
Because there’s so many causes, that’s, that’s one of the reasons. The thing about hemorrhagic stroke is the blood vessel has bled, it’s burst, it broke, so you can see very quickly what happened. Why did you have a hemorrhagic stroke, for some people, it happened because there was high blood pressure, so they can get to the bottom of the high blood pressure, they can work that out very quickly.

Bill Gasiamis 56:57
That’s the difference with hemorrhagic stroke. There’s sometimes there’s arteriovenous malformation, so it’s a vessel that hasn’t been formed properly. Also, there is a cavernous angioma, which is another vessel that isn’t formed correctly, or it’s it has changed over time and has become malformed. So there’s very clear evidence what caused a brain hemorrhage.

Bill Gasiamis 57:27
But sometimes with stroke like yours, it could be cryptogenic, there may not be any evidence what caused it. And after all, the tests, if they look at your heart and there is no hole in the heart, if they look at your genetics and there is no blood clotting disorder. And if they look at everything and they don’t find the reason, then, yeah, it can be a little bit difficult. I imagine you have to take some medication these days. Are you on blood thinners? Do they give you any medication to manage the condition.

Carmen Murrieta 58:04
Yes, during first years, I took blood thinners, but then now I don’t take any medicine. I just take care of myself, my diet and my mindset, and I do exercise, I try to have a healthy way of living.

Bill Gasiamis 58:35
Yeah, you really have to, you don’t have a choice, and it’s good to anyway, because you want to be you want to live long, and you want to live healthy for as long as you can, it’s really important. Tell me what was the hardest thing about stroke for you? Do you feel.

Carmen Murrieta 58:54
Physically, It was not a not, not being able to walk, and emotionally was losing my independence, because now I still, now, I can go some places alone, but at fears I couldn’t go alone any anywhere. So it’s difficult to ask people to find someone to help you every time you need something, I need something, I can go, for example, to grocery store. It’s really close to my house, and I can’t go, and, for example, stairs, sometimes they don’t have handrails.

Carmen Murrieta 1:00:13
So it’s really, it’s really difficult for me, and sometimes it has happened that I can’t go to the place I want, because stairs are difficult for me, and there’s no nobody to help me. So I can, I can’t go upstairs, and I think building are not prepared for people like us that we have reduced mobility. It’s very hard, and I hope to make architects or people in charge of that more aware of that, because we need those spaces.

Carmen Murrieta 1:01:20
For example, when I go to the to the zone of hospitals, you will think that they have an elevator or some facilities, or people like me or elder people also need it, and they don’t have facilities for that, and elevators don’t work, or stairs without hand rails, and it’s very difficult sometimes, you have to leave it to understand and to notice that, because people that doesn’t, that don’t need these facilities, don’t notice it, but I do.

Bill Gasiamis 1:02:19
Yeah, absolutely, when you haven’t had a condition that decreases your mobility, you’ve got no idea that mobility is an issue for a lot of people, and access to infrastructure, to buildings, to toilets, to all that stuff is really important, and yeah, it’s feel like it’s getting better, but it’s still not good enough, especially when you live in a city that is a lot older.

Lessons And Advice For Stroke Survivors

Bill Gasiamis 1:02:52
That perhaps the buildings have been there for many, many years already, hundreds of years, and they’re never going to upgrade them to modern buildings, and they just are the way they are, it makes it hard. What is? What is something that stroke has taught you?

Carmen Murrieta 1:03:12
Many things, for example, now I’m, I don’t give out easily, because I know things takes time, and when you do physical therapy, you know that you won’t walk in one day or two or three, it takes time. I also, now I have many friends, many new friends that have a stroke.

Carmen Murrieta 1:03:55
I also I never thought I could speak in front of many people, and I had to do it telling my stroke story, and that’s something I never thought I could do, and I also learned make videos for the internet, and I also hear speaking in English, but English, but at least I’m trying and many things, I change my mindset into a positive one. I take care of me, of my diet, many things.

Bill Gasiamis 1:04:46
Yeah, that’s fantastic, that’s fantastic because it’s difficult, stroke is difficult to handle, and there are some lessons that people can learn if hopefully they have the right focus. Sometimes, if we focus too much on the problems, we’re only going to ever see the problems, sometimes we have to stop focusing on the problems and focus on some of the things we can be grateful for.

Bill Gasiamis 1:05:17
But I also can understand that it can be difficult for people in the beginning of stroke to focus on the things that they are grateful for, because it does take away a lot. There’s some people that are listening now who are going through stroke recovery like you and me, and they may be early on in their stroke recovery. What do you want to tell them? What’s some piece of guidance or advice that you would like to give them?

Carmen Murrieta 1:05:48
I want to tell them that things get better. It takes time, but things get better, perhaps now you can move or you can talk, but everything gets better, and we always stroke survivors. Stroke survivors at first we think ‘why me?, and maybe the question is, what can I do now? That’s what I like to say.

Bill Gasiamis 1:06:42
That’s excellent. Carmen, thank you so much for reaching out and connecting with me. Thank you for the work that you’re doing in the Spanish speaking community, it’s really important, and I really appreciate your time. It was lovely to meet you.

Carmen Murrieta 1:06:59
Thank you Bill, it was nice to meet you too.

Bill Gasiamis 1:07:04
Well. That brings us to the end of another episode. I hope. Carmen’s journey of stroke recovery from facing unknown causes to creating a support system through her YouTube channel for Spanish speaking survivors, provided you with hope and valuable insight her courage to transform her struggles into a positive force for others is truly inspiring. Thank you to everyone who has left a review. It helps others find the show and gives much needed encouragement to stroke survivors.

Bill Gasiamis 1:07:35
If you haven’t already, please consider leaving a five star rating and sharing your thoughts on iTunes and Spotify. For those watching on YouTube, remember to like, comment and subscribe to stay updated to future episodes. If you’d like to further support the podcast, you can do so by subscribing to our Patreon page at patreon.com/recoveryafterstroke.

Bill Gasiamis 1:07:59
Your support helps us continue bringing these important stories and maintaining the podcast’s production costs, every contribution, no matter the size, goes a long way in helping us reach stroke survivors who need encouragement. Lastly, if you have a product or service related to stroke recovery, or if you are a stroke survivor with a story to share. I’d love to hear from you. My interviews are unscripted and casual, so come as you are, visit recoveryafterstroke.com/contact, to get in touch. Thanks again for joining me today, and I can’t wait to see you in the next episode.

Intro 1:08:37
Importantly, we present many podcasts designed to give you an insight and understanding into the experiences of other individuals. Opinions and treatment protocols discussed during any podcast are the individual’s own experience, and we do not necessarily share the same opinion, nor do we recommend any treatment protocol discussed all content on this website and any linked blog, podcast or video material controlled this website or content is created and produced for informational purposes only, and is largely based on the personal experience of Bill Gasiamis.

Intro 1:09:07
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Intro 1:09:32
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Intro 1:09:32
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