A stroke survivor who suffered a stroke in December 2024 shares her baseline challenges and records her real-time progress following Perispinal Etanercept (PSE) treatment at the Institute of Neurological Recovery.
The video captures patient-reported updates across multiple functional areas, including pain reduction, improved visual focus, lifting of “brain fog,” and unassisted walking during her post-treatment evaluation.
Patient-Reported Changes Featured in This Video
- Resolution of Central Pain & Rib Spasticity: Prior to treatment, the patient reported intense “pins and needles” and electric shock-like pain down her left side, alongside severe rib cage constriction. Post-treatment, she noted that the pins and needles vanished, her left side felt looser, and the rib squeezing sensation resolved.
- Visual Acuity & Spatial Perception: The patient previously experienced peripheral vision loss and required her partner to point directly at objects. Post-treatment, she demonstrated improved visual focus, reading map text clearly and identifying distant objects independently.
- Unassisted Gait & Flat Foot Position: Before treatment, her left foot curled up and standing/walking caused back pain and dizziness. Following the procedure, she walked without her cane, noting that her foot rested flat, her balance felt stable, and her back pain was absent.
- Vocal Strength & Cognitive Clarity: The patient reported a stronger voice with easier speech articulation, along with a lifting of cognitive “brain fog” (describing it like a dirty window being wiped clean).
- Restoration of Endurance & Mobility Motivation: The patient expressed a shift in energy, moving from wheelchair dependence to expressing a desire to walk through parks independently.
Read Video Transcript
*Transcript generated by YouTube
When did you have your stroke? December 12th, 2024. And what kind of difficulties did it cause for you? I was completely paralyzed on my left side, couldn’t walk. Um, I was having a hard time swallowing and just fatigue, brain fog. I was having a hard time talking. Lost my peripheral vision and pain. A lot of pain. have a lot of muscle like involuntary contractions. That’s extremely painful. Feels like my muscles are shrinking. The pain is pins and needles and feels like I’m being electrocuted on my left side, especially when I’m trying to sleep.
What kind of things have you noticed starting to change? I feel like the left side’s connected. It’s not as tight, not as heavy. I just feel looser, like everything’s not constricted in my ribs. I’ve been complaining about that for months. Feels like someone’s in there squeezing everything. I could read the actual words on the map, even upside down. But I could see the letters. Good. And how about the pins and needles? Don’t feel them. Feel like my voice is stronger. Not so not so hard to talk. All right. And how do you feel in terms of your brain fog? I feel clear. I think I know what Linda meant. Like a dirty window. Mhm. Yeah.
Okay. Feels good. Feels good. Do you ever walk without your cane? No. Okay.
My balance is so much better. Oh my god.
Feels good. I feel like the cane feels like a burden. It’s like something I just have to pay attention to. Mhm. I don’t feel dizzy at all.
Are you having any pain with walking? No pain. Usually it hurts my back. I can only walk for like a minute. Have no stamina.
Standing was a problem before. Not now. I bet if I was barefoot, I’d be running around. And try without your shoes. Yeah,
my foot’s flat cuz it was curling up before. Okay, good. Much better.
I want to go see the parks cuz I can walk.
I want to walk. Okay. Walk around the state parks and stuff. That’s all I’ve been wanting to do. Just walk. Just walk on my own. I’m so [snorts] tired of the wheelchair.
Well, my vision I know is better cuz I was reading the words on that map, which I couldn’t before. Can you see those cups on the table? Yes. Where’s your person? On down there. Okay. I’m seeing things better. When he tells me to look at something, I say point and I have to follow his arm. Life change.
Yeah. Yeah, it is.
