Young Overland Park stroke victim working to help patients
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The struggle is rarely the same from patient to patient.
Patients recovering from strokes complain of a wide variety of symptoms — anxiety and depression are high on that list.
The summer of 2017 left its impact on Overland Park’s Angie Read. She was a healthy professional and mother who suffered a stroke at age 46. Read says the stroke didn’t leave many physical scats, but the mental health crises it left her with have been torture.
Read, who has written a series of books about her recovery, cites research that claims a third of stroke survivors battle anxiety and depression in some capacity.
Chiefs rally shooting suspect speaks from jail
Read now works as a life coach helping patients who are trying to put their strokes behind them.
“Not all stroke survivors look like stroke survivors,” Read said on Wednesday.
Read said she needed a year of working with various doctors and prescriptions to get her mental health under control. She said her condition worsened to the point she considered ending her own life.
“I felt absolutely alone when I was going through this because I had nobody who knew anything about it. Even. My psychiatrist had never heard of these things from a stroke,” Read said.
Sutter Health reports 15% of stroke patients are now age 45 or younger. The Mayo Clinic recommends calling for immediate help for patients who experience:
Sudden trouble speaking and understanding what others are saying
Paralysis or numbness of the face, arm or leg on one side of the body
Problems seeing in one or both eyes, trouble walking, and a loss of balance
Dr. Kadie Harry, a psychologist with St. Luke’s Health System, said some patients aren’t aware of help that’s available.
See the latest headlines in Kansas City and across Kansas, Missouri
“The hope is your neurologist is asking about your mood and coping strategies and connecting you to resources specific to stroke survivors or access to a health psychologist that may specialize in stroke survivors. I think that’s an essential piece,” Harry said.
Read and Harry agree recovering from a stroke, and seeking mental healthcare might actually be tougher for females since they’re accustomed to being traditional caregivers, and it’s sometimes harder for them to ask for help.
Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
