The short term impacts of having a stroke are well known, but it can be less well recognised that as your experience of a stroke unfolds, depression and anxiety can set in. Around a third of people who experience a stroke will need treatment for depression. Family members too, may go through difficult times emotionally as you all adjust to dealing with the aftermath of a stroke.
Identifying depression
When we’re in a slump, it can be hard to see it clearly. Depression isn’t only feeling very gloomy or sad, it can also affect sleep, drain your joy and interest from everyday activities, and shrink your concentration and self confidence.
Immediate sources of help
If you’re stuck feeling low, the Australian Stroke Foundation has a great page with lots of great suggestions, from trying to be more active and social, to drinking less, to talking things through with a counsellor. They also link through to Strokeline (1800 787 653), Beyond Blue, Lifeline and 13Yarn, to receive support in difficult times.
Acupuncture for post stroke depression
And acupuncture may also be able to help. A 2023 systematic review and network meta-analysis looked at this. This is one of the best forms of research evidence, it is a study of all the available individual studies. They analysed 62 studies, involving 5308 people. Their conclusions were:
“The results of this study indicate that AC [acupuncture] alone or combined with other therapies appears to be effective in improving depression symptoms of stroke survivors. Moreover, in comparison to WM [Western medicine], AC alone or plus RTMS [a treatment with magnets], TCM [Chinese herbal medicine], TCM with WM, or WM, were more effective in improving depression symptoms of [PSD post-stroke depression].”
There are a lot of acronyms there! One of the simpler statements they made was that:
“When compared with UC [usual care], AC [acupuncture] alone or combined with any other therapy (including AC with RTMS, AC with TCM, AC with TCM and WM, AC with Tai Chi, AC with WM, AC with CT, AM, and AM with WM) was superior.”
And that some of these combinations, including acupuncture alone”
“were significantly associated with better neurological function improvement in contrast to UC [usual care] or WM [Western medicine].”
And:
“AC [acupuncture] alone may be more effective in alleviating depression symptoms as compared with WM [Western medicine].”
So, some positive findings there for acupuncture for post-stroke depression.
Book some acupuncture
Everyone’s response to acupuncture is a very individual business, and the only way to find out whether acupuncture may help in your case, is to give it a try.J Just get in touch to get started.
References
Image by Holger Langmaier from Pixabay