Total Health Breakthroughs: Free Natural Health Newsletter and Alternative Health Articles

Mr. Johnson’s eyes showed his frustration as he tried to speak. What should have been words came out as meaningless sounds.

He listed to one side in his wheelchair, unable to use his weakened left side to straighten himself. The paralysis meant that he needed help with the most basic things — getting out of bed, eating, getting dressed, going to the bathroom.

But perhaps most frustrating was that inability to talk. After 79 years of living a happy and productive life, it was almost too much to bear.

It’s heart rending to see a person with a stroke. Some strokes are fatal, and many consider that a blessing if they’ve seen the disabilities survivors have to live with. And although the risk of stroke increases with age, it can happen to anyone.

A stroke occurs when an area of the brain dies. Eighty percent are caused by a blockage of blood flow. Most of the rest are caused by bleeding in the brain.

Hardening of the arteries, the same process that causes heart attacks, underlies most strokes. As plaque builds up, it narrows the artery, reducing flow. This happens slowly. Since the body is remarkably adaptive, even a very marked narrowing might not cause any symptoms for some time.

However, plaque in the carotid artery (the main artery supplying the brain — there’s one on each side) is a ticking time bomb. At any time, it might cause the artery to clot off, starving the brain of blood.

Or a portion of the plaque might break off, traveling downstream in the blood flow until it wedges in a smaller artery, blocking it and causing the part of the brain supplied by that artery to die. Physicians call this an embolus.

The exact symptoms of a stroke vary with the part of the brain affected. The person may or may not lose consciousness. An arm or leg or both may become paralyzed or lose feeling. Damage to language processing areas can render the person’s speech garbled or confused.

Another possible symptom is the sudden loss of vision in one eye. This symptom is caused by a tiny bit of plaque, that embolus I referred to earlier, lodging in the artery to the eye.

The first part of the retina to die is the area farthest from the blockage. Vision fades there, then the darkness spreads as more of the retina dies. The person experiencing this often describes it “as if a shade was pulled down”.

An Ounce of Prevention

Perhaps the most disturbing thing about strokes is that the vast majority should never occur. They’re preventable. Right now I want to let you know what you can do to protect yourself from this catastrophic event.

As I mentioned, most strokes are caused by the same underlying process that causes heart attacks. That means that the same factors that decrease your risk of heart attack also decrease your risk of stroke.

I’ll review some of these but won’t belabor them. In Part 2 of this article I’ll point out other effective steps you can take that aren’t talked about enough and you may not be aware of.

Stop Smoking

I’ll avoid a long lecture. If you smoke, do whatever you need to do to stop. Simply put, it’s one of the most self-destructive habits you can have. An increased risk of stroke is only one of a laundry list of negative consequences. Enough said.

Drink Alcohol in Moderation

The relationship between drinking alcoholic beverages and stroke remains a little unclear. It appears that one drink a day may slightly reduce the risk of stroke, while 3 drinks a day more than doubles the risk.¹ It’s another reason to refrain from heavy drinking.

Control Your Blood Pressure

High blood pressure contributes to both heart disease and stroke. It’s also a major cause of kidney failure.

Most physicians recommend maintaining the systolic blood pressure at 120 mmHg and the diastolic blood pressure at 80 mmHg or lower. However, even small reductions in blood pressure (i.e., 9 mmHg systolic and 5 mmHg diastolic) can reduce the relative risk of stroke by about one third.^2-3

Ideally, you control your blood pressure with a healthy lifestyle. A diet emphasizing fruits and vegetables and low in salt intake helps. So does maintaining a normal weight and exercising regularly.

The balance between sodium and potassium in the body is important for blood pressure regulation. Most people get too much sodium from salt and not enough potassium. An easy way to add potassium as well as other nutrients to your diet is to regularly drink a no salt or low salt tomato-based vegetable juice with a little potassium chloride salt substitute added (No Salt and Nu Salt are widely available brands).

Magnesium contributes to blood pressure control as well. It won’t do the job by itself, but is part of an overall program — 500 mg a day is a reasonable dose for most people.

Coming Friday: Part 2 — Some lesser known facts about stroke prevention.

References

1. Bronner LL, Kanter DS. N Engl J Med 1995;333:1392-40.
2. Stroke 1994; 25:1320-35.
3. MacMahon S, Rodgers A. J Hypertension Suppl 1994,12:S5-14.

[Ed. Note: Joseph F. McCaffrey, MD, FACS is a board-certified surgeon with extensive experience in alternative medicine, including certification as a HeartMath Trainer. His areas of expertise include mind-body interaction and cognitive restructuring. Dr. McCaffrey strives to help people attain their optimum level of vitality through attention to all aspects of wellness. For more information, click here.]