Which Medicines Matter During Stroke Rehabilitation and Why the Team Keeps Reviewing Them

The physiotherapy session is booked for ten. At half past nine a pharmacist is at the bedside with a printed chart, a pen and a question nobody expected: which of these did you take before the stroke, and which ones feel new? The person in the chair, three weeks into recovery and learning to stand again, has watched the pill tray change shape twice already. It is unsettling, and it is also entirely normal.

Medicines during stroke rehabilitation are rarely talked about with the same energy as the walking frame or the first trip home, yet they run quietly underneath every therapy goal. Some are there to stop a second stroke. Some treat the stiffness, pain, infections and low mood that a stroke drags in behind it. A few, left unexamined, can actually slow things down.

This explainer sets out what each group does, why the timing is so deliberate, and why a team that keeps revisiting the list is doing its job well rather than second-guessing itself.

What do medicines during stroke rehabilitation actually do?

Medicines during stroke rehabilitation carry three different jobs, and it helps to keep them separate in your mind. The first is prevention: lowering the chance of a second stroke while the brain is busy rewiring. The second is treatment of complications a stroke sets in motion, such as clots in an immobile leg, infection after a swallowing problem, or a bladder that no longer empties on cue. The third is symptom control, which means easing the stiffness, pain, low mood or poor sleep that would otherwise eat into the hours a person can spend in therapy.

The prevention job depends on what kind of stroke happened. About 87% of strokes are ischemic, caused by a clot or narrowing that cuts off blood flow, according to the CDC. The remainder are hemorrhagic, caused by bleeding into or around the brain. A medicine that protects against one can be dangerous after the other, which is why the team will not settle long-term prevention until imaging has confirmed the type.

Rehabilitation itself does not pause any of this. Physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy work on neuroplasticity, meaning the ability of surviving brain tissue to take over functions that damaged tissue once handled. Medicines protect the ground that therapy builds on. A second stroke during rehabilitation can undo months of gains in an afternoon, and an untreated chest infection can keep someone in bed on the day the plan called for standing.

Think of the medicine list as scaffolding rather than a verdict. It is expected to change shape as the building goes up, and a list that never changed would be the odd one.

Blood thinners after stroke: antiplatelets versus anticoagulants

“Blood thinner” is everyday shorthand for two quite different groups. Antiplatelet medicines, with aspirin and clopidogrel the common generic names, make platelets less sticky so they are slower to form a clot on a roughened artery wall. Anticoagulants, which include warfarin and the newer direct oral anticoagulants, act further along the clotting chain, slowing the chemical steps that turn liquid blood into a gel.

Which group a person is offered depends on why the clot formed. When the stroke came from narrowed arteries in the neck or brain, antiplatelets are the usual long-term choice. When it came from the heart, most often because of atrial fibrillation, an irregular rhythm that lets blood pool and clot in the upper chambers, anticoagulants do the job antiplatelets cannot. The NHS describes aspirin being offered soon after an ischemic stroke, with a change to a different antiplatelet or to an anticoagulant once the early phase has passed and the cause is clearer.

Timing is the part families find hardest to follow. After a large ischemic stroke, the damaged tissue can bleed if anticoagulation starts too soon, so the team deliberately waits, repeats scans and starts when the balance of risk tips. After a hemorrhagic stroke, antithrombotic medicines may be stopped entirely for a period and reintroduced, if at all, only after specialist review.

What the rehabilitation team watches is bruising, bleeding gums, dark stools, and any new headache or sudden change in alertness. Therapists plan around the medicine too: a person on an anticoagulant who falls needs assessment even when they seem fine. None of this is a reason to stop; it is a reason to report what you notice and let the prescriber weigh it.

Statins after stroke, blood pressure and blood sugar: the long game

Statins after stroke are not mainly about the cholesterol number on a blood test. They lower LDL cholesterol, the fraction that builds plaque inside artery walls, but they also appear to steady existing plaques so they are less likely to crack and seed a clot. That dual mechanism is why statins are offered after an ischemic stroke even when cholesterol looks ordinary, and why the NHS lists them among the standard medicines people are offered afterwards.

Blood pressure control sits beside them. High blood pressure is the largest modifiable risk factor for both types of stroke, and most people leave hospital with at least one antihypertensive. The classes vary: ACE inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers relax vessels through the hormone system that governs salt and water; calcium channel blockers relax the muscle in the vessel wall; thiazide-type diuretics reduce fluid volume. The combination that suits a particular person depends on kidney function, heart rhythm, other medicines and how their pressure behaves when they stand.

That last point matters a great deal on a rehabilitation ward. A medicine that drops pressure too far causes dizziness on standing, dizziness means falls, and falls mean fractures and lost weeks. Therapists often take pressure sitting and standing during sessions and feed the readings back to the prescriber. It is one of the clearest examples of why the list keeps changing.

Blood sugar belongs in the same conversation. Diabetes damages small and large vessels alike, and glucose that runs high or low during recovery clouds thinking and saps energy for therapy. Diabetes medicines are frequently adjusted as appetite returns, swallowing improves and activity rises. Each of these decisions belongs to the prescribing clinician, informed by numbers the rehabilitation team gathers every day.

Post stroke spasticity treatment: when medicines help the hands and legs move

Spasticity is a velocity-dependent increase in muscle tone, which in plain language means a muscle that tightens more the faster you try to move it. It develops in the weeks after a stroke when the brain’s braking signals to the spinal cord are lost, and it shows up as a bent elbow, a clenched hand or a foot that points down and turns in. Left alone, it shortens muscles, causes pain and can make washing, dressing and walking harder than the weakness itself.

Post stroke spasticity treatment starts with therapy: stretching, positioning, splinting and task practice. Medicines enter when stiffness limits function or comfort despite that work. Two broad approaches exist. Oral muscle relaxants such as baclofen or tizanidine act on the whole nervous system to dampen overactive reflexes, which also means they can cause drowsiness and weakness in muscles you need. Focal treatment with botulinum toxin injections, given into specific overactive muscles by a trained clinician, blocks the nerve signal at that muscle only, with effects that build over days and fade over months, after which the decision to repeat is reviewed.

The trade-off is the heart of the matter. Some tone in a leg helps a person stand; take it all away and the knee may buckle. For that reason the physiotherapist, the occupational therapist and the prescriber usually decide together which muscles to target and what functional goal justifies the treatment, whether that is opening the hand to hold a cup or clearing the toes during a step.

Spasticity is also a moving target. It can ease as recovery progresses or worsen with pain, infection, constipation or a full bladder, so a sudden change in tone prompts a search for a trigger before anyone changes the prescription.

Mood, sleep and fatigue: medicines that help and medicines that hinder

Depression and anxiety after stroke are common, and they are not simply a reaction to bad luck. The injury can disrupt the circuits that regulate mood, and the result is a flatness or tearfulness that arrives without warning. Low mood shrinks motivation, and motivation is the fuel of rehabilitation, so the team screens for it rather than waiting for someone to mention it.

When treatment is needed, talking therapy, structured activity and, in some cases, antidepressant medicines are used. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, the class most often chosen, increase the availability of serotonin, a messenger chemical involved in mood, and take several weeks to show their full effect, which is one reason prescribers review them at intervals rather than judging them after a few days. Older antidepressant classes with heavier sedative and anticholinergic effects, meaning they block a messenger chemical involved in memory, bladder and gut function, are generally avoided after stroke because of what they do to thinking and balance.

Sleep deserves the same attention. Poor sleep worsens pain, mood and attention, yet the remedies people reach for at home, sedative sleeping tablets and sedating antihistamines, can leave a person groggy for the physiotherapist the next morning and raise the risk of a night-time fall. Rehabilitation teams generally start with light, noise, routine and daytime activity, and reserve medicines for when those fail.

Post-stroke fatigue is its own problem, distinct from sleepiness, and no established medicine treats it. What the evidence supports is pacing, planned rest and tackling anything that makes it worse, including anemia, infection, low mood and sedating medicines that could be reviewed. If tiredness feels out of proportion to effort, say so; it changes what the team looks at.

Pain, clots and the bladder: treating the complications that stall therapy

Three complications take up a surprising share of a rehabilitation pharmacist’s day, and each has a medicine conversation attached.

Pain comes first. Hemiplegic shoulder pain, meaning pain in the shoulder on the weak side, often arises when the arm hangs unsupported and the joint is strained during transfers. Positioning, slings and careful handling prevent much of it; simple analgesics and, for nerve-type pain, medicines from the anticonvulsant or antidepressant classes may be added when pain stops someone sleeping or engaging. Central post-stroke pain, a burning or aching generated by the injured brain itself rather than the body, responds poorly to ordinary painkillers and is usually managed with those nerve-pain classes under specialist review.

Clots come second. A leg that does not move is a leg that pools blood, and a deep vein thrombosis, a clot in the deep veins of the leg, can travel to the lungs. Early mobilization is the main defense; where someone cannot move enough, intermittent pneumatic compression sleeves and, in selected cases, a preventive anticoagulant are used. The decision weighs clot risk against bleeding risk, and it is revisited as walking distance grows.

Bladder and bowel come third. Urinary urgency, retention and constipation are common after stroke and are more than an indignity: a full bladder can trigger spasticity and agitation, and straining can push blood pressure up. The team looks at fluid, fiber, toileting routines and the existing list before adding anything, since several commonly prescribed medicines make these problems worse. Where laxatives or bladder medicines are needed, they are chosen with a careful eye on their effect on thinking.

Infection, especially pneumonia after a swallowing problem, is the complication that most often interrupts a rehabilitation stay. Antibiotics treat it; swallow assessment and oral hygiene prevent it.

Which medicines can work against stroke rehabilitation?

The quieter half of the pharmacist’s job is subtraction. Some medicines, including ones that were sensible before the stroke, can slow recovery after it, and spotting them is a skill.

Sedatives lead the list. Benzodiazepines and related sleeping tablets dampen the very brain activity that rehabilitation is trying to strengthen, and they raise fall risk. Opioid painkillers, beyond short-term use, cloud attention and cause constipation. Anticholinergic medicines, a broad group that includes some bladder medicines, older antihistamines and older antidepressants, impair memory and concentration, and their effects add up when several are taken together. Certain anticonvulsants and some blood pressure medicines bring on drowsiness or dizziness that looks like a step backwards in recovery when it is really a side effect.

Then there are medicines that are reasonable but whose timing is awkward. A muscle relaxant taken shortly before a physiotherapy session may leave the legs too weak to practice standing; taken in the evening it may help with painful spasms and sleep. A blood pressure medicine that works well lying down may cause a drop when the person first walks the corridor. These are not reasons to stop anything, but they are reasons for the therapist to tell the prescriber what they see in the gym.

The person at the center of all this can help enormously by naming everything they take, including over-the-counter remedies, herbal products and supplements, which are easy to forget and sometimes interact with anticoagulants or blood pressure medicines. Bring the actual packets, or a photographed list, to every review. A medicine the team does not know about cannot be weighed, and the ones people forget to mention are often the ones causing the drowsiness.

Why does the team keep doing a stroke medication review?

A stroke medication review is a structured look at every medicine a person takes, asking whether each one is still needed, still safe and still doing the job it was prescribed for. On a rehabilitation unit it happens repeatedly, not because anyone made a mistake, but because the person is changing from week to week.

Consider swallowing. In the first days many people cannot swallow safely and medicines are given through a tube or in liquid form; some tablets cannot be crushed and alternatives are substituted. As the swallow recovers, the route changes again, and a medicine chosen only because it came as a liquid may no longer be the best option. Blood pressure follows a similar arc: often high in the first hours, settling over days, and sometimes falling further as activity and fluid balance improve, so a regimen that was right on day three can cause dizziness on day twenty.

Kidney function, weight, appetite and mobility all move too. Anticoagulant and antidiabetic choices depend on kidney function; nutrition affects how well medicines are absorbed; rising mobility lowers clot risk and may allow a preventive anticoagulant to be withdrawn. New symptoms such as spasticity or mood change may call for additions, while a review may find a pre-stroke medicine now doing more harm than good.

Interactions are checked at each pass. Combining an antiplatelet with an anticoagulant, or either with some anti-inflammatory painkillers, raises bleeding risk; some antidepressants interact with some anticoagulants; grapefruit juice affects certain statins and calcium channel blockers. The review exists to catch these before they cause harm.

Ask for a plain-language summary at discharge listing each medicine, its purpose and who will review it next. That document is the thread connecting the ward team to the community clinician.

Who is usually started early, and who is asked to wait?

The clearest way to understand the timing of medicines during stroke rehabilitation is to picture two lists: medicines that usually start early, and situations in which the team deliberately holds back.

Early starters, for most people with an ischemic stroke, include an antiplatelet, a statin and, once pressure has settled, antihypertensives. Preventive measures against leg clots begin in the first days. Treatment for any infection, pain or constipation starts as soon as it is identified, because each one delays therapy.

Waiting is deliberate in several circumstances. After thrombolysis, a clot-dissolving medicine given in the first hours of an ischemic stroke, antiplatelets are typically withheld until a follow-up scan confirms no bleeding. After a large ischemic stroke, full anticoagulation for atrial fibrillation is delayed because the softened tissue can bleed; the exact timing is an individual judgment based on scan findings. After a hemorrhagic stroke, antithrombotic medicines are usually stopped, and whether and when to restart them is referred to specialists who weigh the cause of the bleed against the reason the medicine was taken. People awaiting surgery on a narrowed neck artery, a procedure called carotid endarterectomy, have antiplatelet plans tailored around the operation.

Blood pressure is a special case. Lowering it too quickly in the first days can starve the injured brain of flow, so many teams allow it to run higher than usual at first and bring it down over the following days and weeks. A person who feels their pressure is “being ignored” early on is usually watching this intentional restraint.

Spasticity and mood medicines are rarely started in the first days. They are added once a pattern has declared itself and therapy alone is not enough, which is a judgment the treating team makes together.

Medicines during stroke rehabilitation at a glance

The table below is a map, not a prescription. It shows the groups most often discussed on a rehabilitation unit, what each is for, how it works in one line, and what the team watches. Your own list may include some, none or others, and every entry is decided by the prescribing clinician.

Medicine group	Usual purpose after stroke	How it works	What the team monitors
Antiplatelets (aspirin, clopidogrel)	Prevent clots after ischemic stroke from artery disease	Make platelets less sticky	Bruising, bleeding, stomach symptoms
Anticoagulants (warfarin, direct oral anticoagulants)	Prevent clots when the source is the heart, usually atrial fibrillation	Slow the clotting cascade	Bleeding signs, kidney function, falls, interactions
Statins	Lower LDL cholesterol and stabilize plaque	Reduce cholesterol production in the liver	Muscle aches, liver blood tests
Antihypertensives (several classes)	Lower long-term stroke risk	Relax vessels, reduce fluid or slow the heart	Sitting and standing pressure, dizziness, kidney function
Diabetes medicines	Keep glucose in a safe range	Vary by class	Glucose readings, appetite, low-sugar episodes
Spasticity treatments (oral relaxants, botulinum toxin)	Reduce stiffness that limits function	Dampen reflexes or block the nerve-to-muscle signal	Weakness, drowsiness, functional goals
Antidepressants (usually SSRIs)	Treat post-stroke depression or anxiety	Increase serotonin availability	Mood over weeks, sleep, bleeding risk with anticoagulants
Preventive clot measures	Prevent leg clots while immobile	Compression sleeves or a preventive anticoagulant	Leg swelling, mobility level, bleeding

Two patterns stand out. First, almost every row has bleeding or dizziness in the monitoring column, which is why fall prevention and bleeding awareness belong in the rehabilitation curriculum rather than in an afterthought. Second, the monitoring is shared: a nurse checks pressure, a therapist notices drowsiness in the gym, a speech therapist flags a tablet that is hard to swallow, and the prescriber draws the threads together. That, in practice, is what a review is.

What the first days and weeks of medicines during rehabilitation usually look like

No two recoveries follow the same calendar, but the medicine story has a recognizable shape, and knowing it reduces the sense that things are being changed at random.

In the first 24 to 48 hours the focus is acute treatment, scans and swallowing safety. Rehabilitation commonly begins within this window, as the Mayo Clinic notes, so the earliest medicine decisions are already being made with therapy in mind: can this person safely swallow tablets, is pressure in a range that allows sitting up, is pain controlled enough to move.

Across the first two weeks, prevention medicines take their longer-term form. The NHS describes an early antiplatelet phase followed by a change to the medicine a person will continue, and anticoagulation for atrial fibrillation is introduced somewhere in this period depending on stroke size. Statins and antihypertensives are started or adjusted as pressure settles. Clot prevention and infection treatment run in the background.

From the second week to the third month, the review cycle matters most. Johns Hopkins describes the first three months as the period of fastest recovery, when the brain’s spontaneous repair and therapy gains overlap. This is also when spasticity declares itself, mood problems surface and sleep patterns settle or do not, so additions are considered and sedating medicines are pruned. Blood pressure targets are tightened gradually.

Beyond three months, recovery continues at a slower pace and the list stabilizes, but it is never finished. Botulinum toxin effects fade and are reassessed; antidepressants are reviewed for continuation; kidney function and cholesterol are rechecked; community prescribers take over. Prevention medicines are usually intended for the long term, and any change to them remains a decision for the treating clinician, not for the calendar.

What people often get wrong about stroke medicines

A few beliefs come up so often that they deserve direct answers.

“Once rehab starts, the medical part is over.” The opposite is closer to the truth. Secondary prevention matters most precisely when a person is well enough to be working hard, because a second event would cost the most.

“A blood thinner means I should not exercise.” Antiplatelets and anticoagulants raise bleeding risk if you are injured, which is why fall prevention matters, but they are not a reason to avoid therapy. Therapists adapt sessions; they do not cancel them.

“My blood pressure is normal now, so I can stop the tablets.” Pressure is normal because of the tablets. Stopping without a clinician’s decision brings back the risk the medicine was holding down. The same logic applies to statins, which produce no symptoms when they work.

“Statins cause terrible muscle pain in everyone.” Muscle symptoms do occur in some people and should be reported, but trials comparing statins with inactive tablets find most reported symptoms at similar rates in both groups. A prescriber can check and, if needed, adjust; the person should not simply stop.

“The stiffness in my arm means the muscle is strong.” Spasticity is overactivity, not strength, and it often masks weakness underneath. Treating it can reveal how much movement is actually available.

“Feeling low is just part of it and nothing can be done.” Post-stroke depression is a recognized medical condition with established treatments, and treating it improves participation in therapy. Mentioning it is not weakness; it is good reporting.

“More medicines mean a worse outlook.” A longer list usually means more risk factors are being managed, not that recovery is going badly. What matters is that each item earns its place at every review.

Questions to ask your care team about your medicines

Reviews work best when the person and their family arrive with questions. These are the ones rehabilitation pharmacists say they wish were asked more often.

• What type of stroke did I have, and which of my medicines are there to prevent another one?
• For each medicine, what is it for, how will we know it is working, and what would make you stop it?
• Which of my pre-stroke medicines have been changed or paused, and why?
• Are any of my medicines likely to make me drowsy, dizzy or unsteady, and is there a better time of day to take them around my therapy sessions?
• Am I on an antiplatelet or an anticoagulant, and what bleeding signs should I report straight away?
• What blood pressure range are you aiming for, and over what period?
• If I have atrial fibrillation, when is anticoagulation planned to start, and what are we waiting for?
• Is my stiffness being treated with therapy alone for now, and at what point would you consider medicines or injections?
• Have I been screened for depression and anxiety, and what are the options if either is found?
• Which over-the-counter medicines, supplements or foods should I avoid with this list?
• Who will review my medicines after discharge, when, and how do I contact them before then?
• Can I have a written list with the purpose of each medicine, in plain language, for my family and my community clinicians?

Write the answers down, or ask whether a family member can join the review. Fatigue and language difficulties are common after stroke, and the person being discharged is often the least able to hold twelve answers in their head. If aphasia, meaning difficulty with language after brain injury, is part of the picture, a speech and language therapist can help build a communication aid for exactly this purpose.

When to call your doctor

Some changes during rehabilitation are expected and can wait for the next review. Others cannot. Call emergency services immediately, as you would for a first stroke, if you or someone you are caring for develops sudden face drooping, arm weakness, slurred or lost speech, sudden confusion, sudden loss of vision, or a sudden severe headache unlike any before. These are warning signs of a new stroke or of bleeding, and the time to act is minutes, not hours. The NHS and the CDC both stress that treatment works best when given quickly.

Contact the care team the same day, without waiting for a scheduled appointment, if any of the following appear:

• Bleeding that does not stop, blood in urine, black or tarry stools, or vomiting blood, particularly while taking an antiplatelet or anticoagulant.
• Any fall or knock to the head while on a blood-thinning medicine, even without obvious injury.
• A swollen, painful or hot calf, or sudden breathlessness or chest pain, which can signal a clot in the leg or lung.
• New or worsening drowsiness, confusion or unsteadiness after a medicine has been started or changed.
• Fever, a new cough or new difficulty swallowing, which can point to a chest infection.
• Muscle pain or weakness with dark urine while taking a statin.
• Faintness or dizziness on standing that is getting worse rather than better.
• Thoughts of self-harm, or a low mood that is deepening rather than lifting.

Between those two groups sits a wide middle: a new rash, nausea, a tablet that is hard to swallow, a side effect you suspect but cannot name. Note it, with the day and the medicine you think is involved, and raise it at the next review or by phone. Do not stop or change a prescribed medicine on your own. The person who prescribed it needs to hear what you have noticed and decide what to do with it.

Frequently asked questions

Which medicines are usually given during stroke rehabilitation?

Most people with an ischemic stroke are offered an antiplatelet or anticoagulant, a statin and one or more blood pressure medicines to prevent a second stroke. Alongside these, the team may use medicines for complications such as spasticity, pain, infection, constipation, clot prevention and low mood. The exact list depends on stroke type, other conditions and how recovery is progressing, and it is decided by the prescribing clinician.

Why do blood thinners after stroke sometimes start late?

Because freshly damaged brain tissue can bleed. After a large ischemic stroke, or after clot-dissolving treatment, the team waits for follow-up scans before starting anticoagulation or antiplatelets so that the risk of bleeding into the stroke area is lower. After a hemorrhagic stroke, antithrombotic medicines are usually stopped and only reconsidered by specialists. The delay is a deliberate safety judgment, not an oversight.

Do I need statins after stroke if my cholesterol is normal?

Statins are commonly offered after an ischemic stroke regardless of the cholesterol number, because they stabilize plaque in artery walls as well as lowering LDL cholesterol. The NHS lists them among standard medicines after ischemic stroke. Whether a statin suits you depends on the cause of your stroke, your other medicines and how you tolerate it, which is a decision for your treating clinician.

What is post stroke spasticity treatment and when is it used?

It is the management of muscle stiffness that develops after stroke, starting with stretching, positioning, splinting and task practice. When stiffness still limits function or comfort, oral muscle relaxants or botulinum toxin injections into specific muscles may be considered. Treatment is targeted at a functional goal, such as opening the hand, and is weighed against the fact that some tone can help with standing.

What happens at a stroke medication review?

A pharmacist or prescriber goes through every medicine, including over-the-counter and herbal products, and asks whether each is still needed, safe and effective. They check swallowing, blood pressure, kidney function, interactions and side effects such as drowsiness or dizziness reported by therapists. Medicines may be added, changed or stopped as a result. Bringing your packets or a photographed list makes the review far more accurate.

Can medicines slow down stroke recovery?

Yes, some can. Sedatives, opioid painkillers beyond short-term use, and anticholinergic medicines, which include some bladder, allergy and older antidepressant medicines, can impair attention, memory and balance in ways that resemble a setback. Timing matters too; a muscle relaxant taken just before physiotherapy may weaken the legs. Report drowsiness or unsteadiness so the prescriber can weigh the medicine against its benefit.

Should I stop my blood pressure medicine if I feel dizzy during physiotherapy?

No. Tell the therapist and the prescriber instead. Dizziness on standing can mean the medicine needs adjusting, but it can also come from dehydration, an infection or another medicine, and stopping an antihypertensive on your own raises your stroke risk. Teams often measure pressure sitting and standing during sessions precisely so the prescriber can make an informed change.

Are antidepressants safe after a stroke?

Antidepressants, usually from the SSRI class, are widely used for post-stroke depression and are generally considered appropriate when the benefit is clear. They take several weeks to show their full effect and are reviewed at intervals. Some can slightly raise bleeding risk when combined with anticoagulants, so the prescriber checks the full list. Talking therapy and structured activity are often used alongside or instead.

Can I take painkillers or supplements with my stroke medicines?

Check first. Some anti-inflammatory painkillers raise bleeding risk with antiplatelets and anticoagulants and can push blood pressure up, and certain herbal products and supplements interact with anticoagulants or statins. Grapefruit juice affects some statins and calcium channel blockers. Ask the pharmacist or prescriber about any over-the-counter product before using it, and list everything you take at each review.

Who reviews my medicines after I leave the rehabilitation unit?

Usually a community prescriber such as your primary care clinician, sometimes with a community pharmacist or a stroke follow-up clinic. The discharge summary should state each medicine, its purpose and when the next review is due. If it does not, ask for that in writing before you leave. Prevention medicines are generally long term, so these reviews continue well beyond the first months.

References

• MedlinePlus: Stroke Rehabilitation
• NHS: Stroke – Treatment
• CDC: About Stroke
• Cleveland Clinic: Stroke

This article is for general information only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult a qualified doctor about your individual situation.