Posted on 12/31/2019 4:59:52 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
I certainly didn’t fit the classic profile of the aging stroke victim. At the time of my brain explosion, I was 38. I’d run eight half-marathons and had a diet and exercise regimen that helped me cross those finish lines. But I also had an intense job that involved booking groups—including NBA teams—into hotels in San Francisco. That’s what I was doing at 2 a.m. on the Friday before Christmas in 2013, welcoming the Los Angeles Lakers to their hotel. I got four hours of sleep that night, then drove 90 miles to my mother’s house to drop off holiday gifts. On Sunday morning I was supposed to meet another sports team.
But by that time, I was fighting for my life.
My stroke shouldn’t have come as a surprise. A few years earlier I’d been having migraines and thought that food sensitivities might be causing them. I set up a meeting with a naturopathic doctor, and during the intake exam, a nurse did a double take at my blood pressure. “If I can’t get your blood pressure lower, we’re going to send you to the ER,” she said. Still, to me my blood pressure was just numbers, like a race time or a salary.
Working with the naturopathic doc, I was able to lower my blood pressure without meds as I worked my way through an elimination protocol to knock out inflammatory foods: beef, food coloring, lemons, and bananas. And, of course, salt. Good for me, right?
Soon my husband and I moved, and with the pace of my new job and my active life, I started to take my health for granted. My dietary vigilance slipped, and my blood pressure must have spiked again. That’s when my brain cooked up a reminder.
(Excerpt) Read more at runnersworld.com ...
Great post.
I ran in my younger life, and it was great—but walking the dog is just the right amount of exercise these days...
She was an elite runner but her BP numbers were just gibberish to her..?
That’s really, really unusual.
That’s like being a Formula 1 driver but never caring about oil pressure & temp.
I had a neighbor who was a cyclist in excellent physical health went out for his morning ride dropped dead of a heart attack 32 years old!!! There was some sort of heart condition he was born with and should never have been over exerting himself in this manner but he never knew he had the condition!!! You just never know when it is your time it is your time!!!
I think running is fine when your young, but as we age we need to recognize our bodies limitations . Walking is just better for a number of reasons.
Caused by low magnesium
Stupidest advice ever. Clot breaking medication can be given in a hospital but there are some very tight time limits in which it can do any good. That extra 90 minutes could have killed her and at the very least increased her recovery time.
Seriously, if you suspect you have stroke symptoms call an ambulance right away. The worst that will happen is that the diagnosis will be "You slept on your arm which is why it is numb" and you'll be the subject of funny stories among the interns. But a numb arm, leg and facial drooping is a major emergency.
The best to you, for your determination FRiend.
I thought the same as you, call the damn 911, call your mother 2nd. Given it took her over 90 minutes to get there and then they decide to go the ER how dumb can you get and her mother has blame here also. Why didn’t she tell her daughter to call 911 instead, wait I will be there.
Your right she could have died or worse been disabled for the rest of her life when a different decision and those precious minutes would have meant all the difference.
Didn't you feel like something was really wrong? I can tell when my BP is up and I really don't feel good. I can't imagine it being that high. So glad, however, you recovered.
Yes! It puts a lot of stress on the body, stress raises cortisol output. I actually read that earlier in 2019 and had intended to tell my son, who is training for a marathon this spring. Thanks for the reminder.
There’s such a condition as exercise hypertension. Yes in some cases exercise can release certain enzymes causing tension on arterial walls affecting loss of flexible pulsating effects resulting in heart beating faster, harder and thus high BP. Exercise is great for vasodilation of blood vessels and usually helps to keep normal resting BP readings. I had to take BP meds to control mine and also supplementing with magnesium greatly helped too. We often don’t get enough magnesium in our foods and it’s a vital element for health.
Good advice.
If you can get those hospitals medications within 3 hrs of going down with a stroke it is big help.
Go by ambulance since you might need some help on the way and call 911 right away.
Calling 9-11 can be a problem if you have lost your ability to speak English; so indicate to a person with you to make the call.
If alone do it anyway and they can trace where the call came from. Don't wait! -Tom
As a current stroke survivor. Never had high blood pressure, anything over 130 and pulse in the 50 to 60 range. None of that is typical, again lucky it was small.
Like to think it took out any liberal I had in me.
Happened at 59. Going strong, and Mayo says my chances of another is the same as the general population. Now that makes no sense.. Will drink to that.
Prolly good advice to take an aspirin or two if a stroke is suspect and then on to the ER. Start attacking that arterial clot soon as possible.
.My family has a history of high blood pressure and I can't tell where is is at.
I am the oldest living male member of my fathers and mothers family. All the males were dead before 50 , my father was 34. I am 84.
When they cuff me and pump it up, they have to re pump it up because it is high. I have had them ask me if I felt OK, and I would say yes.
Since I have had 3 strokes, they have it so low I worry about suffering from low blood pressure now.-Tom
Running isn’t good for you. Even the original Marathon runner croaked as he reached the goal line.
Years ago I had a treadmill test. They hooked up the sensors and I started the test. I expected to see my blood pressure rise, and the opposite happened. When I was walking, my pressure dropped.
So eat, drink and enjoy life while you still can. I do not think so, I says as i drink homemade hot chocolate (twice a day), but God knows the day and second.
Thus He says to all,
Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. (Isaiah 55:6-7)
However, you are doing better than me in that you like Hot Tabasco!
Strokes can have several causes. Blood clots sticking in the brain can bring you down.- Tom
That is good advice and probably works for a heart attack also. - Tom
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