Different strokes for different folks
A stroke is basically a blockage in the brain caused by perfusion (bleeding - usually from an artery but sometimes from a vein) into the brain. Oxygen is cut off from the part of the brain that is affected by the perfusion and brain cells start to die. It is the third leading cause of death and the leading cause of adult disability in the United States.
There are two major categories of strokes: ischemic and hemorrhagic. In an ischemic stroke, a blood vessel becomes blocked and the blood supply to part of the brain is cut off. Ischemic strokes are usually caused either by a thrombosis or embolism. A thrombus is a blood clot. If the clot breaks off, it's called an embolus. 80% of strokes are ischemic. Most ischemic strokes are not fatal but cause permanent brain damage and subsequent paralysis.
The other major category of stroke is the hemorrhagic stroke that occurs when a blood vessel in the brain ruptures and bleeds into the brain. Like ischemic strokes, hemorrhagic strokes interrupt the brain's blood supply because the bleeding vessel can no longer carry the blood to its target tissue. If the bleeding continues, it causes increased pressure on brain tissue and blocks the blood flow into the brain. For this reason hemorrhagic strokes are more dangerous than ischemic strokes and are often fatal.
Ischemic strokes can be treated with clot-busting drugs like TPA which cannot be used for hemorrhagic strokes because they will cause more bleeding. So the first thing that doctors are supposed to do is a CAT-scan to rule out hemorrhagic stroke.
The symptoms of stroke depend on the type of stroke and the area of the brain affected. In most cases, the symptoms affect only one side of the body. Severe paralysis can last anywhere from a few days to several months and partial paralysis can be permanent but stroke victims can continue to improve over the years. Complete recovery is unusual but not impossible. Most stroke victims will recover to some extent.
In July of 2003 I had a hemorrhagic stroke. The biggest causes of my stroke were that I had been a smoker for many years and had high blood-pressure but a whole string of nasty events led up to it. Some may have contributed and others may have just been coincidental. All I know is that it was a pretty traumatic time leading up to the stroke.
Earlier that year I had to stop taking my blood-pressure medication because it made me feel like a zombie and because I was allergic to it - it caused swelling and itching on my hands and scalp. I knew that I could not discontinue it suddenly because strokes often occur when you do, so I tapered it off over a period of a few months but that may have still been a factor in my stroke.
A few weeks before the stroke I had to have a toenail removed from a big toe. I had crushed the bones in the toe when I slipped off a wet rock while walking the dogs on the beach. I had not bothered to get it fixed at the time because I only go to doctors when I'm really sick or dying. The toenail had grown out deformed and was causing me a lot of pain. Usually a toenail can be removed with a couple of injections of local anesthetic into the toe but the doctor could not get my toe numb with a couple of shots and had to give me 24 shots before it was finally numb enough to cut into. Those shots may have been a factor.
Then, about a week before the stroke, our next-door neighbor in San Francisco murdered his nine year old son and then killed himself. (One day I'll tell that story.) This was probably the most horrific thing to ever happen in my life as I had known the child since he was a baby. It was almost like having a member of my own family murdered.
Soon afterwards one of the commie customers in my restaurant said to me one night: "I'm so glad that so many soldiers are being killed in Iraq because the more body bags means less chance that the fascist Bush will be re-elected." This was the worst thing that any of my commie customers had ever said to me and I felt as if I had been stabbed in the heart.
The morning before the stroke I had to have a tooth pulled out. I had just had it root-canalled and crowned the day before but it flaired up. I knew that second root-canals usually don't work because I'd had a second unsuccessful root-canal on another tooth before. The pain was so excrutiating that I told the dentist to pull it out despite the fact that I had just spent $2,000 for the root-canal and $1,500 for the gold crown. (It was so expensive because it was a big molar.) Again the numbing shots did not work (dentists are always amazed at how many shots I need) and it was a nasty experience as it was a big tooth with deep roots and hard to pull out. The dentist gave me some Vicodin for the pain.
That night after dinner I started getting a searing headache over my right eye and felt nauseous. I figured it was the Vicodin because codeine-derived drugs usually give me headaches and upset my stomach. I was chatting on a political Internet forum at the time and started noticing that my depth perception was a bit off. I would go to type but my hand would miss the keyboard. Again I figured it was because of the Vicodin.
Then some commie bitch on the forum said to me that our soldiers were desserting by the thousands in Iraq. I became extremely angry and demanded that she link to a source to back up her assertion. I found that I could not type and had to give up in frustration. I decided to call it quits but promised myself that I would destroy the bitch in public the next day. By now the ache above my eye felt like a nail being driven into my head so I went to bed.
The next morning I woke up and started to jump out of bed immediately as I do every morning but, as soon as I stood up, I collapsed on the floor because my left leg was paralyzed. I started to crawl across my bedroom floor to get to Chas' room to ask him for help. That's when I realized that my left arm was also paralyzed. I knew immediately that it was a stroke. I could barely talk but I managed to tell Chas to get me to the hospital quickly.
At the hospital, they were about to give me the usual clot-busting drug, TPA, but I refused since I do not trust it. Eventhough they had been using it for over ten years, it was (and still is) a controversial drug and, having been in the drug business for so long, I don't take any drugs if I can help it. Thank God that I did refuse it because it turned out that the CAT-scan showed that I had had a hemorrhagic stroke and the TPA would have killed me. Of course they should have done a CAT-scan first.
I was still in the emergency room waiting for them to move me to the ICU. The bed next door was separated from mine by only a curtain. The patient there was a woman who had two other women and a bunch of howling kids visiting her. The women were talking loudly and angrily. Every second word was "motherfucker." I was in an extremely sensitive and irritable state of mind and their loudness and coarseness made me feel like they were making me even sicker. I told Chas to get the doctor and check me out.
It took a while to convince the doctor to let me go home. He told me that I could die. I told him that I would prefer to die in the peace of my own home rather than in the hell created by the vulgar sub-humans in the next bed.
Obviously I survived but I had to shut down my restaurant because I could no longer cook. I could not drive for a long time afterwards and had to use a cane to walk. My brain (thoughts and speech) recovered most quickly probably because I forced myself to get onto that Internet forum and put that commie bitch in her place as soon as I could type a few words.
Later I found out that reading and writing are the best things for stroke victims to do to get their brains functioning again. It took about six months before I felt my brain starting to work well again but, as my son said to me: "You're no longer a genius. Now you're just a smart aleck." Most of my paralysis has worn off over the past 3 and a half years since the stroke but my left leg and arm are still weaker and less reliable than they used to be before the stroke.
What triggered off my rememberance of the stroke was that last Friday I woke up feeling weak and trembling. Then I noticed that the paralysis had returned on my left side. Fortunately it was only a TIA (mini stroke) and I was fine the next day.
Here's a stroke joke. Three old ladies were sitting on a park bench when a flasher walked up to them and exposed his willie to them. The first old lady had a big stroke. The second old lady had a small stroke but the third old lady wouldn't touch it at all.
There are two major categories of strokes: ischemic and hemorrhagic. In an ischemic stroke, a blood vessel becomes blocked and the blood supply to part of the brain is cut off. Ischemic strokes are usually caused either by a thrombosis or embolism. A thrombus is a blood clot. If the clot breaks off, it's called an embolus. 80% of strokes are ischemic. Most ischemic strokes are not fatal but cause permanent brain damage and subsequent paralysis.
The other major category of stroke is the hemorrhagic stroke that occurs when a blood vessel in the brain ruptures and bleeds into the brain. Like ischemic strokes, hemorrhagic strokes interrupt the brain's blood supply because the bleeding vessel can no longer carry the blood to its target tissue. If the bleeding continues, it causes increased pressure on brain tissue and blocks the blood flow into the brain. For this reason hemorrhagic strokes are more dangerous than ischemic strokes and are often fatal.
Ischemic strokes can be treated with clot-busting drugs like TPA which cannot be used for hemorrhagic strokes because they will cause more bleeding. So the first thing that doctors are supposed to do is a CAT-scan to rule out hemorrhagic stroke.
The symptoms of stroke depend on the type of stroke and the area of the brain affected. In most cases, the symptoms affect only one side of the body. Severe paralysis can last anywhere from a few days to several months and partial paralysis can be permanent but stroke victims can continue to improve over the years. Complete recovery is unusual but not impossible. Most stroke victims will recover to some extent.
In July of 2003 I had a hemorrhagic stroke. The biggest causes of my stroke were that I had been a smoker for many years and had high blood-pressure but a whole string of nasty events led up to it. Some may have contributed and others may have just been coincidental. All I know is that it was a pretty traumatic time leading up to the stroke.
Earlier that year I had to stop taking my blood-pressure medication because it made me feel like a zombie and because I was allergic to it - it caused swelling and itching on my hands and scalp. I knew that I could not discontinue it suddenly because strokes often occur when you do, so I tapered it off over a period of a few months but that may have still been a factor in my stroke.
A few weeks before the stroke I had to have a toenail removed from a big toe. I had crushed the bones in the toe when I slipped off a wet rock while walking the dogs on the beach. I had not bothered to get it fixed at the time because I only go to doctors when I'm really sick or dying. The toenail had grown out deformed and was causing me a lot of pain. Usually a toenail can be removed with a couple of injections of local anesthetic into the toe but the doctor could not get my toe numb with a couple of shots and had to give me 24 shots before it was finally numb enough to cut into. Those shots may have been a factor.
Then, about a week before the stroke, our next-door neighbor in San Francisco murdered his nine year old son and then killed himself. (One day I'll tell that story.) This was probably the most horrific thing to ever happen in my life as I had known the child since he was a baby. It was almost like having a member of my own family murdered.
Soon afterwards one of the commie customers in my restaurant said to me one night: "I'm so glad that so many soldiers are being killed in Iraq because the more body bags means less chance that the fascist Bush will be re-elected." This was the worst thing that any of my commie customers had ever said to me and I felt as if I had been stabbed in the heart.
The morning before the stroke I had to have a tooth pulled out. I had just had it root-canalled and crowned the day before but it flaired up. I knew that second root-canals usually don't work because I'd had a second unsuccessful root-canal on another tooth before. The pain was so excrutiating that I told the dentist to pull it out despite the fact that I had just spent $2,000 for the root-canal and $1,500 for the gold crown. (It was so expensive because it was a big molar.) Again the numbing shots did not work (dentists are always amazed at how many shots I need) and it was a nasty experience as it was a big tooth with deep roots and hard to pull out. The dentist gave me some Vicodin for the pain.
That night after dinner I started getting a searing headache over my right eye and felt nauseous. I figured it was the Vicodin because codeine-derived drugs usually give me headaches and upset my stomach. I was chatting on a political Internet forum at the time and started noticing that my depth perception was a bit off. I would go to type but my hand would miss the keyboard. Again I figured it was because of the Vicodin.
Then some commie bitch on the forum said to me that our soldiers were desserting by the thousands in Iraq. I became extremely angry and demanded that she link to a source to back up her assertion. I found that I could not type and had to give up in frustration. I decided to call it quits but promised myself that I would destroy the bitch in public the next day. By now the ache above my eye felt like a nail being driven into my head so I went to bed.
The next morning I woke up and started to jump out of bed immediately as I do every morning but, as soon as I stood up, I collapsed on the floor because my left leg was paralyzed. I started to crawl across my bedroom floor to get to Chas' room to ask him for help. That's when I realized that my left arm was also paralyzed. I knew immediately that it was a stroke. I could barely talk but I managed to tell Chas to get me to the hospital quickly.
At the hospital, they were about to give me the usual clot-busting drug, TPA, but I refused since I do not trust it. Eventhough they had been using it for over ten years, it was (and still is) a controversial drug and, having been in the drug business for so long, I don't take any drugs if I can help it. Thank God that I did refuse it because it turned out that the CAT-scan showed that I had had a hemorrhagic stroke and the TPA would have killed me. Of course they should have done a CAT-scan first.
I was still in the emergency room waiting for them to move me to the ICU. The bed next door was separated from mine by only a curtain. The patient there was a woman who had two other women and a bunch of howling kids visiting her. The women were talking loudly and angrily. Every second word was "motherfucker." I was in an extremely sensitive and irritable state of mind and their loudness and coarseness made me feel like they were making me even sicker. I told Chas to get the doctor and check me out.
It took a while to convince the doctor to let me go home. He told me that I could die. I told him that I would prefer to die in the peace of my own home rather than in the hell created by the vulgar sub-humans in the next bed.
Obviously I survived but I had to shut down my restaurant because I could no longer cook. I could not drive for a long time afterwards and had to use a cane to walk. My brain (thoughts and speech) recovered most quickly probably because I forced myself to get onto that Internet forum and put that commie bitch in her place as soon as I could type a few words.
Later I found out that reading and writing are the best things for stroke victims to do to get their brains functioning again. It took about six months before I felt my brain starting to work well again but, as my son said to me: "You're no longer a genius. Now you're just a smart aleck." Most of my paralysis has worn off over the past 3 and a half years since the stroke but my left leg and arm are still weaker and less reliable than they used to be before the stroke.
What triggered off my rememberance of the stroke was that last Friday I woke up feeling weak and trembling. Then I noticed that the paralysis had returned on my left side. Fortunately it was only a TIA (mini stroke) and I was fine the next day.
Here's a stroke joke. Three old ladies were sitting on a park bench when a flasher walked up to them and exposed his willie to them. The first old lady had a big stroke. The second old lady had a small stroke but the third old lady wouldn't touch it at all.
posted by Joubert at 11:11 AM
The Alliance
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