Fighting back after stroke
Surviving a stroke is only half the battle. The real challenge begins for many stroke victims when they return home from the hospital. Many of them face debilitating and even permanent damage, and some even need to relearn basic activities like walking, talking and eating.
Now, two recent studies give some hope to a seemingly hopeless situation.
The first comes in the form of a simple easy-to-find everyday vitamin–one many people start their day with, whether they know it or not.
Vitamin B3–better known as niacin, a nutrient that can be found in abundance in coffee–helps rats that have suffered ischemic strokes to grow blood vessels and new nerve cells in their brains, according to a study presented at the recent International Stroke Conference.
That's all well and good for the rats, but will it work on humans? That's what the research team at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit wants to figure out–which is why they're now testing to see if humans can get those same benefits after suffering an ischemic stroke. (That's the most common type of stroke, which happens when blood can't make it to the brain.)
But we already know that niacin has some terrific benefits for the arteries, as I've mentioned before. (Read "Common vitamin tops meds.") What's more, it's easy to get it from your diet by eating more oatmeal, peanuts, mushrooms and fish.
And, as I mentioned, you can even get it from your morning brew. Espresso is overflowing with niacin, containing about 30 times what you'll find in a serving of tuna or mushrooms. Regular brewed coffee is also an excellent source of niacin, but it doesn't contain nearly as much as espresso.
Niacin is also inexpensive and widely available in supplement form.
The researchers say this nutrient appears to rewire the brain...which is exactly what another group of scientists working with stroke patients say about a very different treatment. Their study looks at how stroke victims benefit from something many of us do in the shower every day: singing.
It's long been known that singing and speaking use different parts of the brain, which is why many stutterers can often belt out a tune without a single pause.
And in recent years, stroke patients who've lost the ability to talk have been learning to sing instead. It's called "melodic intonation therapy," and researchers say that the singing appears to rewire the brain–putting regions to use that had not been used before the stroke.
Many patients who've lost all ability to speak can begin communicating again after just one therapy session.
Stroke is often a traumatic life-changing event that robs people of their independence along with many of their abilities. It can be a long way back–but there is a road that can take you there.
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Edward Martin writes House Calls, a daily letter chronicling the most cutting-edge alternative methods for beating diabetes and cancer, to the latest FDA foul-ups and Big Pharma conspiracies.
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Anonymous
My wife had her stroke 20 years ago. over the years we have tried everything without any results. Is there any hope for regaining movement in her right side.
Thank you
Steve
A TIA, or Trans-Ischemic-Attack back in around 1995, I was 42, was the beginning of my health problems. I did not see a doctor in my 30's... I suffered BAD headaches at the time. One was so severe that it was like the Devil himself standing there with a WHITE HOT POKER searing my right temple. There was a "FLASH OF LIGHT" in my temple and it "felt" like an egg had broken on the right side of my face, and was dripping down it.
I lay down to sleep. Probably saved my life, lowering my blood pressure and heart beat.
I woke up the next day with a numbness in my right side of my head. I walked like "THE MUMMY", you know, one foot dragging. I talked like I had a mouth full of cotton from the dentist. My right eye did not work right.
A CT scan showed an upper sinus infection. Got that cleared up with anti-biotics. THAT WAS ALL THEY DID FOR ME MEDICALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The aftermath...
Most of the mobility issues went away quickly, in a few days. My right eye I still bothers me at 57. I went COLOR BLIND in it, and I have a "marled" pattern on the left side of my vision in the right eye. Looks like a crescent. Light from the right side turns my vision GREEN in that eye. Like looking through a green piece of plastic. Every time I looked up and to the right, I would see a flash of light, in a darkened room. I STUTTERED FOR 10 YEARS!!!! I felt like there was a HARD BOILED EGG up inside the right side of my head. I have a right side "temporal bulge". The right side of my head bulges, my Chiropractor does cranial work on me. After about 4 months of Cranial work, my headaches subsided.
I think it was this Temporal Bulge that set it off... The chiropractic TEXT BOOK EXAMPLE is an upward reaction from the STOMACH as a reflex...That would cause internal pressure up and outwards.
HOW I TREATED IT......
CHINESE HERBS FOR CIRCULATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I just ordered more online, last night!!!!
Ho SHU WU... also called FOTI... Fo-TEE... is a Chinese, Tendril, (climbing) ROSE!!!! A primary herb in traditional Chinese Herbology. Good for Circulation. And several other Chinese herbs to go with it... but HO SHU WU, was the primary herb. You can get bulk, (looks like chips of beef jerky, dry but easily broken up), and powder it in a blender. Or pills. SHU WU PIAN... PIAN=PILL... There is SHOU WU CHIH, is a liquid form your drink.
It is also good for growing STRONG FINGERNAILS, good for hair, and increases sperm production... Very interesting herb, and comes in many grades.
Available at Chinese Herb places online. Or your neighbor hood Chinese herb shop. Some health stores might carry the SHU WU PIAN....Also check your Oriental Markets.
Hope this information from my experience helps you...
Life if TEMPORARY....THE SPIRIT IS FOREVER!!! That is your future....
Be Well and Happy....
Steve
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