Chris DeWald: Stroke and cerebral arteriosclerosis
Hello, readers, and the best to all of you. Most of this article is based on my inside look on this disease.
Let us break this down. A stroke, or “brain attack,” occurs when a blood clot blocks an artery (a blood vessel that carries blood from the heart to the body) or a blood vessel (a tube through which the blood moves through the body) breaks, interrupting blood flow to an area of the brain. When either of these things happens, brain cells begin to die and brain damage occurs.
When brain cells die during a stroke, abilities controlled by that area of the brain are lost. These abilities include speech, movement and memory. How a stroke patient is affected depends on where the stroke occurs in the brain and how much the brain is damaged.
For example, someone who has a small stroke may experience only minor problems such as weakness of an arm or leg. People who have larger strokes may be paralyzed on one side or lose their ability to speak. Some people recover completely from strokes, but more than two-thirds of survivors will have some type of disability. This is according to www.stroke.org/site/PageServer?pagename=stroke.
Now, here is a stroke, according to me, based on the above statement. First, “brain attack” is a politically correct term. A stroke is a stroke. You are now damaged in some way or manner and need to adapt and not surrender. More than two-thirds of survivors will have some type of disability. I am part of that two-thirds, and I am very happy I survived. It allows me to write for this paper to get the word out of this serious medical issue.
Learn the many warning signs of a stroke. Act FAST and CALL 9-1-1 IMMEDIATELY at any sign of a stroke.
Use FAST to remember the warning signs:
- F—FACE: Ask the person to smile. Does one side of the face droop?
- A—ARMS: Ask the person to raise both arms. Does one arm drift downward?
- S—SPEECH: Ask the person to repeat a simple phrase. Is their speech slurred or strange?
- T—TIME: If you observe any of these signs, call 9-1-1 immediately.
NOTE THE TIME WHEN ANY SYMPTOMS FIRST APPEAR. If given within three hours of the first symptom, there is an FDA-approved clot-buster medication that may reduce long-term disability for the most common type of stroke.
Learn as many stroke symptoms as possible so you can recognize stroke as FAST as possible.
Stroke symptoms include:
- SUDDEN numbness or weakness of face, arm or leg – especially on one side of the body.
- SUDDEN confusion, trouble speaking or understanding.
- SUDDEN trouble seeing in one or both eyes.
- SUDDEN trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination.
- SUDDEN severe headache with no known cause.
Call 9-1-1 immediately if you have any of these symptoms
Note the time you experienced your first symptom.
This information is important to your healthcare provider and can affect treatment decisions.
Please react quickly to any suspected stroke. Do not be like me and tell everyone you will be fine. To know me is to love me, but I’d rather not have the stroke. People are hard headed sometimes; they do not want to bother anyone.
Strokes can be devastating, so adhere to keeping yourself and your friends alive.
What is cerebral arteriosclerosis?
Cerebral arteriosclerosis is the result of thickening and hardening of the walls of the arteries in the brain. Symptoms of cerebral arteriosclerosis include headache, facial pain, and impaired vision.
Cerebral arteriosclerosis can cause serious health problems. If the walls of an artery are too thick, or a blood clot becomes caught in the narrow passage, blood flow to the brain can become blocked and cause an ischemic stroke. When the thickening and hardening is uneven, arterial walls can develop bulges (called aneurysms). If a bulge ruptures, bleeding in the brain can cause a hemorrhagic stroke. Both types of stroke can be fatal.
Cerebral arteriosclerosis is also related to a condition known as vascular dementia, in which small, symptom-free strokes cause cumulative damage and death to neurons in the brain. Personality changes in the elderly, such as apathy, weeping, transient befuddlement, or irritability, might indicate that cerebral arteriosclerosis is present in the brain. Computer tomography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain can help reveal the presence of cerebral arteriosclerosis before ischemic strokes, hemorrhagic strokes, or vascular dementia develop. This is according to: www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/cerebral_arteriosclerosis/cerebral_arteriosclerosis.htm.
Now, this has been the most fearsome with the stroke resulting from cerebral arteriosclerosis part I can deal with. I am the walking poster child for this with the exception that I am classified with the severe stage. I am not a candidate for any surgeries unless it becomes a life-threatening event. When you say I am hard-headed, I actually am. The MRI I received a few months back states that I am “void” of a blood flow. This means that I am not a zombie, but the flow is so small it can not be seen. Standing for periods of time is no longer viable. I no longer have the needed flow to keep myself in a marathon shape. I do retain my intellect but it becomes clouded when I exceed the needs of the available blood flow to my brain.
So how does this affect me? I want for everyone to know who is a caregiver or even with this disease to realize it is serious and draining to any individual. I remember a show named “All in the Family.” Archie used to tell Edith, “Don’t get sloppy on me now in your age.” I never knew completely what that meant. I do now know that everyone needs to recognize what can happen. I have the following symptoms that are the same as stated from the National Institute of Health, but more detailed. In order to fill those details, here we go.
Let’s start at the top. I mean the top of the body. It mentions headaches, oh yeah, people. This is from the lack of oxygen due to the blood flow making its way into the “Thomas Muffins Nooks and Crannies” of your brain. I will make it easy by being descriptive.
This is a signal to you to “sit” or “lay down.” Allow the blood flow to get back into where it is needed. Stop working and do not take the work with you in a seated or prone position. You only cheat yourself.
Admit to yourself that you need this. Do not try and work through it. Are you stubborn and want to try it anyway? Wake up on the floor like me many times. If you have had a stroke before, getting off the floor is horrible.
I have no idea why they tell you in the elderly watch the following symptoms. If you have it, I say it is the same no matter what age. They have listed dementia but do not really go into dementia. Me, I am starting to forget relatives’ names and items relating to that. Did I eat this morning? Have I taken my medications? This is real, folks. So listen to your survivor and inform your medical physician. I am also more exhausted than normal because I try to just “do.” People like me need to “do.” There are many of us hard wired from birth and you can see that in your prior usage of sick leave.
I hope I kicked this around enough for those who need to know. I shall return again in print.
Column by Chris DeWald
Chris DeWald: Hearing loss with strokes
Hello, readers. I had a wonderful adventure the other day, and I thought I would share it. According to the American Heart Association, stroke can affect people in different ways. It depends on the type of stroke, the area of the brain affected and the extent of the brain injury. Brain injury from a stroke can affect the senses (such as eyesight, touch, awareness of body positioning), motor activity (movement of arms or legs), speech and the ability to understand speech. It can also affect behavioral and thought patterns, memory and emotions. Paralysis or weakness (the inability to move the arms or legs properly, or at all) on one side of the body is common.
After a stroke, most of these problems can improve over time. In some patients they will go away completely. I am not one of those patients. Yes, I have improved but issues remain where I can not return to any type of work.
The American Heart Association also writes that stroke usually doesn’t cause hearing loss, but people may have problems understanding speech. They also may have trouble saying what they’re thinking. This is called aphasia. Aphasia affects the ability to talk, listen, read and write. It’s most common with a stroke on the left side of the brain (because the speech and language center of the brain is located on the left side of the brain), which may also weaken the body’s right side. Another possible symptom of a left-brain stroke is weakness on the right side of the body. Stroke effects can be found at http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4761.
Now there are some that beg to differ on the hearing study. I am one of those. I take it as who’s shoes you are in. I am in sneakers. OK, it’s a joke people on the sneakers.
I agree on one point, I do have issues understanding certain linguistics. Wow, a big word for me. So, I can’t understand certain inflections that are foreign. I guess it is because the brain is trying to reprogram what it is hearing and renewing the data base in the brain.
Mine does not work, apparently. The other day I clearly understood a couple speaking Spanish wherein the words were pronounced in a dialect I knew. I understand English but do find myself saying, “What?” quite a bit. Sometimes it is the speed of the person talking or a form of slang thrown in the middle of the sentence where the mind pauses to understand what was being said. Then here it comes “What”? You can see the frustrations on the person talking to you, then you get frustrated as you are trying. Strokers? Let me tell you, some have lost the veil of keeping things internal and lash out without thinking it through. Magical words formed in the military or teenage years seem just to come out during this frustration. It may be directed at you, or a release for them as they try to adjust.
Now, after attempting to explain that some stroke survivors have this and it does not just get up and disappear, I shall tell you a story.
Yesterday, I had to buy a new monitor for my computer. My computer is over 6 years old, and it works. Knock on some wood, please. I tried to setup my new LCD monitor and was surprised it came with a CD disc for startup. Usually, you just plug a new one in and go. I plugged it in, and it went into a mode that told me my input did not match the monitor. A white rectangle kept moving about the screen and covered a third of my monitor. I could not get it to disappear.
So what do I do, ahhh, a manual. I grab the manual, typical male, and open it. It was just the warranty in four different languages with call this help number. So, I called the help number. I waited on hold for 45 minutes and had a foreign-speaking toned man. He had me for 30 minutes getting the information from me, and I wish I had a quarter for every “What?” I said. I could hear the frustration in his voice. He finally said, very rudely, he can not help me. My computer is too old. He then gave me a live chat address for my computer. Wonderful, a third of my screen had a roving square telling me my input was bad. So, I start typing in the address block in between this moving roving square.
I got into live chat and within three minutes and had a live person (I think) typing to me. Now, picture yourself chatting in between a roving block and trying to read. Now think of a stroke survivor doing it. I started laughing because this was too surreal. I told her I was a stroke survivor and typed slow and had a roving square I could not get rid off. She was nice in writing, and I understood her wording format. She agreed my computer was old enough that they did not keep records on it, but could help me anyway and solve my issue. I say less than two minutes, she told me how to correct it to display the input that my old computer would only put out, and I was done.
So now I have a new screen. It is working and displaying this WordPerfect edition right now. So, the lesson learned. For the stroke survivors, this may be part of your stroke and is now a normal mode for you. Don’t blame yourself and ask for someone who can speak English if you get frustrated. Tell them why you need an English-speaking person without the inflections on certain words. I did not. I got hard-headed, and it did not get us anywhere. “Say what?”
If you can read and understand written word better, ask for an on line chat person. Explain to them that you are a survivor and are slow typing or whatever your shortcoming may be. It does work. For the people who know a stroke survivor, please realize this is part of the physical strike taken against them. They can not help it, so please be kind.
Column by Chris DeWald
Chris DeWald: Ketones
Column by Chris DeWald
Submit guest columns: freepress2@ntelos.net
I had the wonderful experience of being the research rat for ketones last night. This reminds me of the Keystone Cops with the Keystone Cops being your blood glucose meter.
According to http://diabetes.webmd.com/ketones-14241, ketone test checks for ketone in your blood or urine. Ketones are substances that are made when the body breaks down fat for energy. Normally, your body gets the energy it needs from carbohydrate in your diet. But stored fat is broken down and ketones are made if your diet does not contain enough carbohydrate to supply the body with sugar (glucose) for energy or if your body cannot use blood sugar (glucose) properly. Read more
Chris DeWald: Dealing with grief
Column by Chris DeWald
Submit guest columns: freepress2@ntelos.net
Grief may be triggered by the death of a loved one. People also can experience grief if they have an illness for which there is no cure, or a chronic condition that affects their quality of life. The end of a significant relationship may also cause a grieving process. Read more
Chris DeWald: Medications and you
Column by Chris DeWald
Submit guest columns: freepress2@ntelos.net
Welcome to springtime. Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Pollen. Cousins tree pollen and grass pollen are here whether we want it or not.
What does this have to do with me and my current medications? Well, here we go, ladies and gents. I shall list my medications and hope you can find one that you consume and read the “do not consume”… Read more
RMH recognized for achievement in stroke care
Edited by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
RMH has been awarded the American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Bronze Performance Achievement Award for its commitment to providing high-quality care for stroke patients. Read more
Chris DeWald: Stroke-cerebral arteriosclerosis-part two
Posted by afp on January 20, 2011 · 3 Comments
I am so lucky to have severe cerebral arteriosclerosis (yeah, right). My MRI does not see a blood flow due to all the accumulating plaque whisping through my brain. I have been told I have no flow but clouds going through this brain. I also have been told I am being kept “in the batter’s box.”
I do believe the count is 3-and-2 right now. Let me give you the official book “thought” views of this progressive disease. I want to go over this section of a web page: http://chestofbooks.com/health/psychiatry/Manual/3-Psychoses-With-Cerebral-Arteriosclerosis.html.
Psychoses with cerebral arteriosclerosis
The clinical symptoms, both mental and physical, are varied, depending in the first place on the distribution and severity of the vascular cerebral disease and probably to some extent on the mental make-up of the person.
I am writing this for you caregivers to see the symptoms of your loved ones. My comments are the way many of your close friends and relatives might fear, feel or act. Is the book true? There are so many questions to answer. But I’ll tell you how it is affecting me. Here we go.
Cerebral physical symptoms, headaches, dizziness, fainting attacks, etc., are nearly always present and usually signs of focal brain disease appear sooner or later (aphasia, paralysis, etc.).
The most important mental symptoms (particularly if the arteriosclerotic disease is diffuse) are impairment of mental tension, i.e., interference with the capacity to think quickly and accurately, to concentrate and to fix the attention; fatigability and lack of emotional control (alternate weeping and laughing). Often a tendency to irritability is marked; the retention is impaired and with it there is more or less general defect of memory, especially in the advanced stages of the disease, or after some large destructive lesion occurs.
Pronounced psychotic symptoms may appear in the form of depression (often of the anxious type), suspicions or paranoid ideas, or episodes marked by confusion. To be included in this group are the psychoses following cerebral softening or hemorrhage if due to arterial disease. (Autopsies in state hospitals show that in arteriosclerotic cases softening is relatively much more frequent than hemorrhage.)
Differentiation from senile psychosis is sometimes difficult, particularly if the arteriosclerotic disease manifests itself in the senile period. The two conditions may be associated; when this happens preference should be given in the statistical report to the arteriosclerotic disorder.
High blood pressure, although usually present, is not essential for the diagnosis of cerebral arteriosclerosis.
Here we go, as I am concerned:
Cerebral physical symptoms. Headaches indeed are mentioned. Mine are different than a forehead ache. Mine seem to be likened to an oil drill on the top area of my head drilling downwards. They seem to be short-lived, but cause me to become dizzy and then lethargic. They come on faster if I am doing heavy thinking or trying to do more than the doctors tell me. I have fainting spells but I do feel when they are coming and have enough time to lie down. Coming to terms to do this and know you can have this helps the anxiety. I have had enough time to think over the “batter’s box” scenario. I stink at baseball too. The aphasia is coming back stronger.
What is aphasia? Aphasia is a disorder that results from damage to portions of the brain that are responsible for language. For most people, these are areas on the left side (hemisphere) of the brain. Aphasia usually occurs suddenly, often as the result of a stroke or head injury, but it may also develop slowly, as in the case of a brain tumor, an infection, or dementia. The disorder impairs the expression and understanding of language as well as reading and writing. Aphasia may co-occur with speech disorders such as dysarthria or apraxia of speech, which also result from brain damage.
The most important mental symptoms: I was just shy of a master’s degree in public administration when I was struck with my stroke. I am witnessing a slowdown of doing puzzles, games of thought, simple quizzes, first names or last names of friends. Concentration is all over the thought process. I cannot keep thought processes on one subject for a length of time. I get confused over the points I try to make. Then forget what I was doing in the first place. My lack of emotional control is most recent. Crying to my son while I exhibit the need to tell him I love him and then cry. I am also having a sudden bout with sudden laughter for no reason. I feel like the Joker in “Batman.” Due to this happening, I am anxious about nothing and everything. It is so bad I have to take an extra klonapin (calming medication) to keep from getting up and just getting on a bus to nowhere. This is happening way too much. Although I know that my condition will not allow me to survive on the streets, I want to do this in my mind.
The one good thing is it has nothing to do with high blood pressure. I have to keep and elevated pressure to push what blood I can muster through the smaller arteries that feed this brain.
I felt the need to tell mostly you caregivers to watch this condition, try to understand it. It does happen. Tell his physician that you suspect he might be a little off. Most of all, love him as much as you can. Do not take the physical abuse that I have read in this.
Tell on him. Call his doctor or even case worker if you are lucky to have one. Thank you.
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