'Healing' Is the Word from My Stroke

By Ed Bas

“STROKE” is not a word in the index from a book about the Atkins pro-protein, non-carbohydrate diet. I’m not a nutritionist. But is an apple or a pear ever harmful? Exercise and healthy eating are essential for the days since my stroke in June 2002.

Almost dying from a stroke, it only began with aphasia. Aphasia is miscommunication in the brain from a stroke. It’s a dilemma with reading, writing, and speaking. Words are important to me. I’m trying to make my life healthy.

I was unconscious and drove to the hospital via a shrieking ambulance. I was crashing. I was 48. That was two years before my stroke, without my speech. I can write and read, thank you. I can talk two or three words, but sentences are tough. I lost my career and am in the middle of a divorce.

I read and listened to experts. Essential to the quality of my life are diets and exercise and drugs. Some nutraceuticals offer alleviating chronic pain, dizziness and depression. Research on many dietary supplements is contradictory. Even if some of the health benefits are true, it’s difficult to determine the right dosage or to figure out the differences between brands on the market. The rules would set standards for making and labeling dietary supplements.

Nutrition is the same. White bread, waffles, cereal, and a bagel are listed as ‘Almost Dangerous’ under the carbohydrates. “Cheerios” has 15% fat from a 150 calorie serving. The total carbohydrate is 10%; ingredients include whole grain oats (including the oat bran). A breakfast with eggs and bacon, everyday, is good for you, according to the Atkins diet. I don’t think so, even if you’re a weight watcher. Protein is listed under ‘Good.’ It’s a diet intended to lose fat, therefore losing weight. But is it good for the heart, cholesterol, arteries, etc.? Atkins said it’s so. A million (or more) have tried his diet and said they lost weight. Carbohydrates—enriched breads, pastas, rice and cereal—are the energy for runners.

“RUNNING!” exclaims author Joyce Carol Oates in the magazine, Writer. “If there’s any activity happier, more exhilarating, more nourishing to the imagination, I can’t think of what it might be... The structural problems I set for myself in writing, in a long, snarled, frustrating, and sometimes despairing morning of work…”

My stroke was in the middle of my hobbies—writing, running, tennis, bicycling, etc. Exercise is one word for my vocabulary. I can remember the first run I took, at a park on an asphalt path. It was warm. I wore blue jeans, not even wearing shorts! I ran, maybe a quarter mile. But I tried it, a second time, and a third. After almost 30 years, I am still running. It’s what we live and love that defines us. Physical inactivity is one of the major risk factors for heart disease and stroke. I ran the Bobby Crim Festival annual 10-mile race in Flint, Michigan, after my stroke. If you are in a field of 10,000 or just one individual, the contest is the same. You finished. “How did you do?” you asked other runners. Were you first, or 10th, or the 100th? I think: “I finished. That’s enough!” Next is my first marathon: the Cleveland marathon. I’ll be there. I paid for my admission. For now it’s a half-marathon. I’m thinking and still running. Dr. George Sheehan said in his last column on running before he died in 1993, “There can be no let up. If I do not run, I will eventually lose all I have gained—and my future with it…”

Ten miles: 9 minutes/mile (approximately): 90 minutes for a 10-mile race. I can do it. It doesn’t mean that I can run a full marathon—26 miles times 9 minutes. That means 3 hours! Can I do it? I’m not sure…

Some hints are good, some are worse. Keep hydrated. Drink a glass of water a few minutes before you start and carry a bottle or, if you can, stop at fountains on the way.

STRESS occurs when the body responds to a physical, chemical emotional or environmental stimulus. Increased stress activates the area of the brain that sends involuntary impulses to organs throughout the body – higher blood pressure, heart rate, breathing, metabolism and blood flow to the muscles. Depression more than triples the likelihood of dying in the 10 years after a stroke, and treatment with antidepressants may improve survival. As stroke research catches up, it’s showing that depression also can be lethal for adults who suffer strokes.

Some stroke victims are especially prone to depression. If brain imaging within two months shows the stroke occurred in the left frontal cortex or the basal ganglia of the left hemisphere, patients are at high risk for depression. About 70% will become depressed, compared with 10% of those with damage to other areas of the brain.

A study of 100 stroke patients followed for 10 years revealed—depressed adults were 3 times more likely than the non-depressed to die, even after accounting for other key influences on health. In a field of 103 patients, depression for cases can prompt weight gain, make blood stickier so it clots more easily and trigger the release of inflammatory molecules that clog arteries—all potential risk factors for strokes.

Researchers don’t talk about eliminating stress. Stress is an unavoidable consequence of life, of the human condition. It is a virtuous, sparking necessary action such as reacting to danger or improving, to a point, performance and productivity.

Here are some suggestions for healing from stroke:

1. List all the things that you want out of life. Ask yourself:
   a. Is this really my goal? (Not a 10-k run or a mile when starting.)
   b. Am I too afraid of past experiences to give it a fair try?
   c. Will I know when I have reached my goal? (It’s not a contest.)
   d. Is the goal worth the struggle? (Is it too hard? Maybe you’ll hate it.)
   e. Is the goal realistic, given my schedule, finances, and talents as well as possible opposition from others?
2. Organize your goals in the order of their importance. (Don’t try to run a 26.2 mile marathon. You’ll be too tired, and too drained to really attempt to make a run or a race. I will try to run, almost every day.)
3. Work out specific things you can do to achieve your goals. Talk with others and don’t be afraid to ask for help.
4. Choose these goals with activities that can be started immediately (Some goals may have to wait for a while).
5. Make sure that your goals are clear, specific, measurable, and realistic.

2002 was my first stroke. 2004 will be my first marathon. I will strive for healthy living and I will understand my life and my hobbies with its mind-boggling stroke and its extraordinary aphasia.

Ed Bas is the author of “Barkin’ Dog – How to Talk with Aphasia,” to be published by www.PublishAmerica.com. There are many meetings with stroke survivors at hospitals, senior citizen centers, parks and recreation centers, etc. Start at the National Stroke Association, www.stroke.org, and National Aphasia Association, www.aphasia.org. Ed resides in Sterling Heights, MI.)