Posted on 04/23/2004 9:39:08 PM PDT by ijcr
A widower has begun a campaign to raise awareness of Beauty Parlour Stroke Syndrome following the death of his wife at 51.
Malcolm Crabb said his wife Pamela became ill and was diagnosed as having had a mini-stroke after a visit to the hairdressers, during which she was shampooed over a washbasin.
The rare syndrome has been linked to the prolonged distortion of the neck during shampoos.
Mr Crabb, 49, an estate agent, from Poole, Dorset, married his wife in April 2000. However in September that year Mrs Crabb visited the hairdressers where she became ill after stretching her neck during a backwards wash over the basin.
Her husband said that over a three-week period her speech became slurred and her hands became "claw-like". She recovered from the mini-stroke but her speech was occasionally slurred.
Last week she had another stroke beside their swimming pool on the Costa del Sol in Spain, where the couple had moved this year. She died later in a hospital in Malaga and was cremated yesterday.
Mr Crabb said he was convinced the visit to the hairdressers had led to her death. He urged that more should be done to warn people who are vulnerable to strokes of the dangers of stretching their necks, particularly those, like his wife, who have high blood pressure or hypertension.
"I am not scaremongering but I want to stop people dying from Beauty Parlour Syndrome," he said. "I don't blame the hairdressers but people with high blood pressure should be aware of the dangers and not bend backwards over the basin. There should be warnings in hairdressers about it in the same way that there are warnings about people with pacemakers going through airport security machines."
Mr Crabb and his wife each have two children by previous marriages. Mrs Crabb, a school special needs co-ordinator, had gone to the hairdressers before the start of the term, and her husband had accompanied her.
Mr Crabb said: "After she got up from having her hair washed I could see her face had gone very, very red. I asked if the water was too hot and she said, 'No, don't worry'. I asked her where she wanted to go to have lunch and she just said, 'Please take me home. I feel so ill'."
Mrs Crabb saw a specialist and spent about two weeks in hospital, after her stroke was diagnosed. "One of the sisters asked if she had had her hair done recently," Mr Crabb said. "She believed that was the problem.
"After that it all fell into place. I have since learned there is a Beauty Parlour Stroke Syndrome."
HA! Reminds me of this one that I got today in my email:
A woman was at her hairdresser's getting her hair styled prior to a trip to Rome. She mentioned the trip to the hairdresser, who responded, "Rome? Why would anyone want to go there?
It's crowded, dirty and full of tourists. You're crazy to go to Rome. So, how are you getting there?"
"We're taking Continental," was the reply. "We got a great rate!"
"Continental?" exclaimed the hairdresser. "That's a terrible airline. Their planes are old, their flight attendants are ugly, and they're always late. So, where are you staying in Rome?"
"We'll be at this exclusive little place called il Teste..."
"I know that place. Everybody thinks its going to be something special and exclusive. But it's really a dump, the rooms are small, the service is bad and they're overpriced. So, whatcha doing when you get there?"
"We're going to Piazza San Pietro to see the Pope."
Laughed the hairdresser; "You and a million people trying to see him. He'll look the size of an ant. Boy, good luck on this lousy trip of yours. You're going to need it."
A month later, the woman again came in for another hair styling. The hairdresser asked her about her trip to Rome.
"It was wonderful," said the woman, "not only were we on time in one of Continental's brand new planes, but it was overbooked and they placed us in first class.
And the hotel it was great! They'd just finished a $1 million remodeling job and now it's a jewel, finest hotel in the city. They, too, were overbooked, so they apologized and gave us their owner's suite at no extra charge!"
"Well," muttered the hairdresser, "I know you didn't get to see the Pope."
"Actually, we were quite lucky, for as we toured the Vatican, a Priest tapped me on the shoulder and explained that the Pope likes to personally meet some of the visitors, and if I'd be so kind as to step into the private residence and wait, the Pope would personally greet me.
Sure enough, five minutes later, the Pope walked through the door and shook my hand! I knelt down and he spoke a few words to me."
"Really?" asked the hairdresser. "What'd he say?"
He said, "Where'd you get that crappy hairdo?"
Actually, the refreshing thing about this article is that their was no talk of lawsuits. It didn't even sound whiney to me. He even said "I don't blame the hairdressers."
Just a man trying to warn people about a danger that he believes was responsible for his wife's death.
I had no idea -- all these horror stories.
Note to self: stay home, never go out again. NEVER!
Actually, I almost went to sleep the last time some chick scrubbed my hair in one of those sinks. The water was hot and her fingernails were sharp. Her blouse wasn't buttoned all the way up and.........I was bouncing to splitsville.
Do I qualify for a Purple Heart?
He said the only thing he could think of was getting his hair rollers back. The really funny part is that he asked his
boss to watch Mrs. X while he "ran" an errand.
When he got back, after the drying time of course, it was "Oh my God, Mrs. X died while you were gone...".
Actually, I thought it was going to be about some elderly driver experiencing some sort of unintended acceleration.
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