Eine got speach and swallowing difficulties after a stroke

Eine and Lars Sellman work as a team, finishing each others’ sentences and agreeing with each other. The atmosphere around them is electric and you can’t miss the warmth between them.

Left the big city for the countryside.

The couple had left the big city for a peaceful village in the countryside after they retired.

– I ran a dental hygiene practice outside Stockholm, but sold it when I retired, to concentrate on my interest in dogs instead, says Eine.

The hobby that led to her fall

The breed of dog that Eine loves, is the Giant Schnauzer, and it wouldn’t be wrong to say that it was her hobby that literally led to her fall.  One morning it was livelier than usual in the puppy room on the bottom floor of the three-story house. Her husband Lars was still in bed.

I tripped and banged my head.

–  I rushed a bit too much, tripped and banged my head.

Her words were gone

On shaky legs, she went to the kitchen sofa to catch her breath a little. Eine, who doesn’t seem to be the type to complain unnecessarily, thought that there was nothing to worry about. She wasn’t bleeding after all. Her husband, who rushed to the rescue, was of another opinion however.

– He insisted that we should call the hospital. Absolutely unnecessary! I was just a little giddy and had trouble with my balance. But Lars won this one and contacted the clinic and made an appointment for later that afternoon.

The clinic referred Eine to the hospital. Staff there, wondered if Eine perhaps would like to be collected by ambulance.

Not a chance that I am going to lay in an ambulance!

– Not a chance that I am going to lay in an ambulance! Lars will drive me, said Eine in a tone that could not be argued with.

The stroke was a fact

At the hospital, they performed a computer tomography. Eine´s blood pressure was sky high, so she was admitted with observation every fourth hour. Some days later she was discharged. Eine was not given any proper explanation that she had in fact been afflicted by a stroke as a result of the fall. But this would become clear during the car journey home.

– Suddenly I could not speak, and I wondered what the hell was going on.

My blood pressure was up at 250 and the stroke was a fact.

Despite his wife’s stubborn protestations, Lars contacted the clinic again. Now Eine´s blood pressure was up at 250, and there was no longer any doubt. Eine had had a stroke.

The stroke led to a number of problems

The couple describe the period after the diagnosis as a whirlwind. It took a month before Eine was called to the stroke care team at the hospital. During this time, it was Lars who was responsible for talking, because his wife could only utter a few simple words. In addition, Eine had swallowing difficulties and problems with her balance – symptoms that are common after a stroke.

–  The visit to the stroke care team was nothing to write home about either, says Eine as she shakes her head.

The SLT thought I seemed fit though I could hardly speek.

She tells us about the referral to a speech and language therapist, somebody who she had first met several months earlier. According to Eine, wasted time. The speech and language therapist wondered what was wrong with her and how she could help.

–  But she must have heard that I could hardly speak! The therapist thought that I seemed fit and asked me to come back only if I got worse.

Searched for help and found it

It’s not difficult to understand that the couple’s despair when the health care system failed them. As a result, they began to search for help online. They wanted to know everything about stroke, and therefore joined the stroke association. It was also via their members’ newsletter Stroke News that the couple read about the new treatment method of a research-based neuromuscular exerciser – IQoro.

The treatment method seemed logical to me.

–  Through my profession as a dental hygienist I knew that the treatment method was logical. I sort of recognised the thinking from my own profession. When I googled the background and also found that it was a dentist behind the product, I ordered one immediately.

In the middle of July 2015, Eine started training with IQoro.

The training gave results quickly

From the beginning, she exercised intensively and the results did not take long to appear. Speech came back bit by bit, and her swallowing ability improved markedly, as did the strength in her facial musculature.

–  Stupidly enough I began to slack off though, says Eine, a little ashamed.

During the autumn, she suffered a real setback in her swallowing ability.

–  It was dramatic. We had good friends visiting us when I suddenly felt how my food had got stuck. I had to run away and was almost throwing up.

Need to stick to the instructions.

That setback made Eine understand that she had to stick to the recommended training from the training manual.

Even my snoring is cured!

–  I have always lived an active life and I want to continue to. I absolutely don’t want to experience the same setback again, she says as she pats one of her much-loved dogs. And as the icing on the cake, she has also cured her snoring.

–  Lars hasn’t though. I have told him that he should starting using IQoro as well, laughs Eine as she passes over the challenge to her husband.