Deans' stroke musings: Sexual Function in Post-Stroke Patients: Considerations for Rehabilitation

Changing stroke rehab and research worldwide now.Time is Brain! trillions and trillions of neurons that DIE each day because there are NO effective hyperacute therapies besides tPA(only 12% effective). I have 523 posts on hyperacute therapy, enough for researchers to spend decades proving them out. These are my personal ideas and blog on stroke rehabilitation and stroke research. Do not attempt any of these without checking with your medical provider. Unless you join me in agitating, when you need these therapies they won't be there.

What this blog is for:

My blog is not to help survivors recover, it is to have the 10 million yearly stroke survivors light fires underneath their doctors, stroke hospitals and stroke researchers to get stroke solved. 100% recovery. The stroke medical world is completely failing at that goal, they don't even have it as a goal. Shortly after getting out of the hospital and getting NO information on the process or protocols of stroke rehabilitation and recovery I started searching on the internet and found that no other survivor received useful information. This is an attempt to cover all stroke rehabilitation information that should be readily available to survivors so they can talk with informed knowledge to their medical staff. It lays out what needs to be done to get stroke survivors closer to 100% recovery. It's quite disgusting that this information is not available from every stroke association and doctors group.

Saturday, November 2, 2013

Sexual Function in Post-Stroke Patients: Considerations for Rehabilitation

I can't quite imagine a hospital hiring a sexologist for stroke patients.
My recreational therapist covered this in a one hour session, basically said, go ahead and do it. But he didn't go as far as getting the doctor to write a prescription for sex and provide a suitable location.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jsm.12343/abstract

Abstract

Introduction

While the rehabilitation goals of post-stroke patients include improving quality of life and returning to functional activities, the extent to which sexual activity is addressed as part of the standard rehabilitation process is unknown. Moreover, the specific sexual concerns of stroke patients, including the effect of stroke on intimate relationships and sexuality of the partner, the ability to physically engage in sex, and the effect of psychological components such as role identity, depression, and anxiety on sexuality, all warrant examination by rehabilitation professionals.

Aim

The aim of this study is to examine the existing literature on sexuality and stroke patients in order to better understand how the sexual lives of stroke patients and their partners are affected and to provide recommendations to rehabilitation professionals for addressing sexuality as part of treatment.

Methods

Narrative review, PubMed, PEDro, ISI Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases (inception—December 2012) were searched for the key words “stroke,” “sexual dysfunction,” “sexuality,” “quality of life,” and their combination. All relevant articles in English and secondary references were reviewed.

Main Outcome Measures

We report the results of the literature review.

Results

Sexual dysfunction and decreased sexual satisfaction are common in the post-stroke population and are related to physical, psychosocial, and relational factors. However, they are not adequately addressed in post-stroke rehabilitation.

Conclusions

As sexual function is an important component to quality of life and activities of daily living, physicians and rehabilitation specialists, including physical, occupational, and speech therapists, should receive training in addressing sexuality in the treatment of post-stroke patients. Sexologists and sex therapists should be an integral part of the rehabilitation team. Rosenbaum T, Vadas D, and Kalichman L. Sexual function in post-stroke patients: Considerations for rehabilitation. J Sex Med **;**:**–**.