Stroke at Very Young Age

[Matilda]

I went to the doctor again and he finally show me the MRIs and the reason I was so lucky than the usual most people die from a stroke like that. It happens that had my stroke happened 1 to 2 millimeters higher in the same artery, the only result left was death. Basically, I was saved by a hair.

The lower right part of my brain is whiter than the left side, based on the images. Everything else looks fine.

One lucky guy. Don't focus on why did I survive - survivor guilt is normal in these cases. Listen to Dominican logic. You survived as it was not your time. You survived as you were saved to do great things. You survived as this was a learning experience for you, and so that you can help others. I was told I survived as I had had a rum and it warmed my blood lol. Now you need to focus on what you can do and not what you can't do. You are doing great!

Matilda

 

[texan]

I paid cash to have this exam done in the US. I am not sure where all you can get this done in the Dominican Republic but I would highly recommend it. It wish I would of gotten down when I was younger to give me a comparison as I got older. I have blood work done every year but I think this is a great test in addition to routine blood work. Your blood work might be ok but your vascular age could be a lot higher then your actual age.

Vascular Age Screening (CIMT-Carotid Intimal Thickness) – $120

Using ultrasound, the thickness of the arteries is measured to produce a risk assessment that estimates the vascular age of your arteries. Blood vessels are also checked for blockages.

https://www.houstonmethodist.org/heart-vascular/diagnostic-imaging/heart-scan-packages/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrUqdlffDow here is a short video explaining the test

 

[Commander Ooh La La USN]

I didn’t remember its April fools. Unfortunately, its real. I had to wake up to take the pills.

Thank you for the kind words.

Yea man I hear U.
I went in for a physical and they said my BP was Dangerously High. Like so dangerous you need to get medicated now. I tried changing my diet alone for a month. I lost weight but not lowered my bp. So I went to take Chlorathalidone as a diuretic. Works really well and no side effects beyong peeing.
Man you gotta watch the mega amounts of sodium they put in prepared foods. It is in everything! In Dominican cuisine forget it. Salt is the main additive to food. You have to keep your weight in check also. I lost 40lbs since last year and have another 20 to go for my ideal. Then also eat foods rich in potassium to counter the elevated sodium levels.

The Thermoquad Cowboy

 

[Derfish]

Yea man I hear U.
I went in for a physical and they said my BP was Dangerously High. Like so dangerous you need to get medicated now. I tried changing my diet alone for a month. I lost weight but not lowered my bp. So I went to take Chlorathalidone as a diuretic. Works really well and no side effects beyong peeing.
Man you gotta watch the mega amounts of sodium they put in prepared foods. It is in everything! In Dominican cuisine forget it. Salt is the main additive to food. You have to keep your weight in check also. I lost 40lbs since last year and have another 20 to go for my ideal. Then also eat foods rich in potassium to counter the elevated sodium levels.

The Thermoquad Cowboy

USA canned veggies are more salt than food I think. A can is said to have 3 servings within and each serving has 33% of the recommended salt in many cases. My vegetarian brother thought he was eating well until I showed him the cans his so called food was coming from.
Derfish

 

[texan]

Yea man I hear U.
I went in for a physical and they said my BP was Dangerously High. Like so dangerous you need to get medicated now. I tried changing my diet alone for a month. I lost weight but not lowered my bp. So I went to take Chlorathalidone as a diuretic. Works really well and no side effects beyong peeing.
Man you gotta watch the mega amounts of sodium they put in prepared foods. It is in everything! In Dominican cuisine forget it. Salt is the main additive to food. You have to keep your weight in check also. I lost 40lbs since last year and have another 20 to go for my ideal. Then also eat foods rich in potassium to counter the elevated sodium levels.

The Thermoquad Cowboy

Hopefully you get to the point that you do not need medication. I think way too many people are on medication that could lower their blood pressure with diet and exercise. I am not saying every case can be control by diet and exercise but I think the majority can.Congratulations on losing the weight.

 

[Aguaita29]

So sorry to hear this. I'm glad to know you're getting better.

 

[NALs]

My update for this week is that I’m able to balance much better. The exercises of balancing no longer makes me dizzy, albeit I still feel some dizziness. I’m walking much faster (still on the walker though) and I can feel all of my tongue, just a cold sensation on the right side which I think will go way by the end of this week. I can hear very low passing my fingers through the right ear. First time since the stroke that I hear something in this ear. I had to do it several times just to make sure I was hearing from the right ear and it wasn’t my hearing from my left ear. I also have gotten better in writing, the right hand shakes a lot less and I can stop it by making a fist. No need to use the glove anymore.

Everything else I think is the same.

 

[Commander Ooh La La USN]

USA canned veggies are more salt than food I think. A can is said to have 3 servings within and each serving has 33% of the recommended salt in many cases. My vegetarian brother thought he was eating well until I showed him the cans his so called food was coming from.
Derfish

True
I dont get canned. I get it fresh and cook it in a crock pot. Mrs. Dash and black pepper is all.
Sucks I havent had spaghetti.in a long time because the tomato.sauce has 28% RDA of sodium.

Sent from the Federation Intergalactic space vessel: DromOlax 3B55-90R

 

[Commander Ooh La La USN]

Hopefully you get to the point that you do not need medication. I think way too many people are on medication that could lower their blood pressure with diet and exercise. I am not saying every case can be control by diet and exercise but I think the majority can.Congratulations on losing the weight.

Working on it. I wanna get down to my 23-25yo weight, 188-197lbs. Im trucking along nicely. I was 265lbs last february and 229 this february. Just lay off the processed foods and it should be suitable.

Sent from the Federation Intergalactic space vessel: DromOlax 3B55-90R

 

[william webster]

NALS
That is REAL progress!! Great going !!

Neurological stuff is slow and fussy.

My friend had a stroke (2 actually-back to back) and squeezed the recovery time - went skiing

Guess what?
That side that was getting better went backwards... she now has a drop foot

don't push it until it's time !!!

Keep chuggin'
===================================================

Commander
Stay in the space vessel until 200-210 lbs or so

No space walks

You're killing it at 35/yr... 3lbs monthly
It will get easier

 

[Commander Ooh La La USN]

NALS
That is REAL progress!! Great going !!

Neurological stuff is slow and fussy.

My friend had a stroke (2 actually-back to back) and squeezed the recovery time - went skiing

Guess what?
That side that was getting better went backwards... she now has a drop foot

don't push it until it's time !!!

Keep chuggin'
===================================================

Commander
Stay in the space vessel until 200-210 lbs or so

No space walks

You're killing it at 35/yr... 3lbs monthly
It will get easier

Well...the nurse said yesterday Im at 210lbs. But the FINAL BP reading was still high 143/96. So I will need a stronger dose of the Chlorthalidone Im hoping on Sunday.
I dont believe the 210...I saw the scale as she read it, so Ill have to retest at home this weekend.


The Thermoquad Cowboy

 

[william webster]

The most effective diet I ever went on was every 4th meal.
That calls for a day of fasting every 3rd/4th day

I ate whatever I wanted at those meals.... bacon, eggs, toast... u name it

Lost a ton.... when I decided to stop, it took DAYS for my body to stop shedding

Hard to start with .... then you slide into gear

The other tip for that diet is....
When you feel hunger.... exercise.... kills the hunger

 

[Commander Ooh La La USN]

The most effective diet I ever went on was every 4th meal.
That calls for a day of fasting every 3rd/4th day

I ate whatever I wanted at those meals.... bacon, eggs, toast... u name it

Lost a ton.... when I decided to stop, it took DAYS for my body to stop shedding

Hard to start with .... then you slide into gear

The other tip for that diet is....
When you feel hunger.... exercise.... kills the hunger

My thing is make a kale stew. Kale l, red potatoes, and cut chicken breast. A cup of kale(8oz). Only has about 26 calories from the kale.
Then I steam broccoli. Then I drink water with lemon juice.
My physical regimen is just walking when I can.

The Thermoquad Cowboy

 

[Ricardo900]

This is one of my daily diets. Utilizing a Vitamix blender, I add the following:

Pack of Kale
Pack of Baby Spinach

Tablespoon of Apple Cider Vinegar

Scoop of Super Beets

One Banana

Ounce or more Juniper Berries
Add water as needed.

And also take a tablespoon of Cod Liver Oil before I drink the juice. Yumm!

 

[william webster]

My daughter is kind of a specialist on this stuff = healthy

A 30yr old Lymphoma survivor (websterworks.com)

She juices a head of celery every morning..... one whole head
Mushes up so many greens in a Vitamix... the darker the green - the better

The nurses asked her when in Chemo--
How are you tolerating this better than anybody else in the ward ??

Seems to work !!

 

[NALs]

I’m still using the walker, but I’m much faster and use it more to balance from time to time. Today I walked with the cane and for the first time without the cane. Other than getting faster in the next few weeks and stopping from time to time to catch my balance, everything with the feet and leg seems the same as last week.

With the right arm I basically have all of my sensation (and also on the right leg). The right face is the problem area. I can feel any finger tips on the right face, but not like in my left face. I can feel the blade for shaving and its cold, but I can’t feel the cold water on that side of the face. I can move many of the muscles much faster and I think my right lip is waking up. For the past few days I’m able to fill my cheeks with air and now I’m able to keep the air without letting it out through my right lip. I can also drink from a cup like a normal person, without using the straw. I used to need the straw because if I drink something, some of it would come out through my right lip and make a mess.

I still feel the pressure from my right forehead to my right ear, but its much less. Everything stay in its place, even when I walk.

Everything else I think its the same. My therapist of the legs/walking was very impressed that I’m able to balance myself, walk faster, and most importantly that I walked with no help of the cane and very little support from her.

I also have to say that late last week I went to Orlando, FL. I had bought the flight three days before the stroke. Yes, you read that right. The goddaughter was graduating last week and somehow I needed to be there. All the doctors said I can go, so I went. My only complaint is with the TSA in Orlando, which is horrible. They even bought me a new walker because TSA said they will put my original walker in the plane and it never arrived. Who knows where it is. Other than that, it was a good trip. Everybody tell me the pressure from the plane did me good in the legs, judging how much better I got over the weekend. The shaking on my right arm has mostly subsided and most people blame it on the flights too. lol

 

[Matilda]

Glad to hear you are improving albeit slowly. Thanks for the update.

Matilda

 

[Derfish]

Well...the nurse said yesterday Im at 210lbs. But the FINAL BP reading was still high 143/96. So I will need a stronger dose of the Chlorthalidone Im hoping on Sunday.
I dont believe the 210...I saw the scale as she read it, so Ill have to retest at home this weekend.


The Thermoquad Cowboy

A battery powered blood pressure unit costs less than $50.00 at Walmart. I feel that it is much more accurate than the squeeze bulb type whuch is all I have seen here.

 

[Derfish]

Working on it. I wanna get down to my 23-25yo weight, 188-197lbs. Im trucking along nicely. I was 265lbs last february and 229 this february. Just lay off the processed foods and it should be suitable.

Sent from the Federation Intergalactic space vessel: DromOlax 3B55-90R

I left Tennessee on Jan 5 at 192 lbs. According to my odometer on my threewheeled moto Jumbo is 2.1 kilometers there and back, so just a "chin" more than 1 kilometer each way. For the first while living here i walked there one way everyday and paid a taxi to return me home. I dropped to 174 lbs. in 6 weeks. Then I bought this little scooter and walk no more. Am back up to 185 lbs. Should do the walking thing again, but don't feel like paying the taxi to get home. Maybe find another route.
Derfish

 

[NALs]

This week I’m still using the walker, but yesterday I walked again with the cane and again with no assistance except the usual belt around my waist that the therapist use in case I loose my balance. Today I saw the neurologist, it has been about a month since the last time. I had to show him that I’m able to walk with no assistance again. It is small steps for now, but I walked about a quarter of the hallway with nothing but the neurologist on my left hindsight. Needless to say that I think I will not be in the cane for a long time, but we will have to wait and see. I thought the walker was only for a couple of weeks and now we can count in months and I’m still on the walker. Wait and see..

The pressure on my right face has gone down. If I don’t think about it I’m not even aware its there. I’m a little worried about the upper right lip, which is not moving. The whole muscle that is to the right of the nose is simply not moving. I can control some of the other muscles in the right face. They move much more slowly than the muscles in the left, but at least I can move them. But that upper right lip is simply not moving. Some people tell me to do acupuncture to see if it works for that, because they did it and it worked, but it was for pain. I also started to search what are my options if it doesn't move on its own again.

All in all I think I’m doing great, except the upper right lip. The right face feels a little heavy (this is different from the pressure), but that is obvious because whatever muscle isn’t paralyzed its weak. I can also see it on my nose. I can flare normally the left nostril, but can now flare much less the right nostril. I can crunch the left bridge of the nose, but I can’t move the right side yet. I can move my left eyebrow like I normally do, but I can move much less the right eyebrow. I can form more wrinkles on my left forehead than on my right forehead.