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My mom had a stroke two weeks ago. I know I haven't been a big participant in this board. Maybe I'm too new to be suggesting changes. But - depending on the source of your data, strokes are a leading, or *the* leading, cause of long term adult disability. Seems like there must be other people with stroke-specific questions or problems?

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Jessie raises good points about connecting with others in similar situations.

I'm sure many of us went through the stages of being literally trapped and overwhelmed by caregiving, before we were able to create more of a balance so that we too had some down time. I did, and had to work out a balance that meets the needs of both of us, and it has worked.

That's necessary to travel this journey without becoming too trapped in the caregiving mode.

I'm not saying or suggesting this is your situation, but there have been numerous posts here reflecting a common attitude of : "I don't have any time for myself", "I spend all my 24 waking hours caring for my [husband/wife/father/mother/grandparent]".

Learning to balance time for caregiving and for self care is mandatory. Even if you have to get someone from your church, or hire someone, you need some time off.
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ohreally, there are several caregivers on the group whose parents have had strokes. There are many others caring for people who have the after-effects of strokes or mini-strokes. Spend some time looking around. I have a feeling you will locate people who are facing a situation similar to what you're going through. You can follow these people to keep up with what is going on in their days.
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Thanks, GardenArtist, for the response. I believe you when you say live support groups would be most helpful, but it is more difficult for some caregivers, without the time, energy or liberty to add even one more outside activity to their schedule.
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Search for "stroke support" in the search box in the upper right hand corner. You'll find a lot of posts. What you could do if you wanted to start a support thread is do so, and contact those who've posted recently and ask them to participate.

Have you thought about contacting hospitals or rehab centers to see if they have stroke support groups? I think the person to person interaction would actually be more helpful than an online support group.

One of the local hospitals in the SE Michigan area has a stroke support group; if your local hospitals don't have any, you could contact them, as well as the treating physician for your mother, to see about getting together a group.

Good luck - I think a person to person live stroke support group with hospital affiliations would be the most helpful, as you'll generally have medical professionals involved as well as stroke survivors and their caregivers.
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