Stroke doesn't only impact the elderly. Strokes occur in more young people than you might think. About one third of stroke patients are between 20 and 64 years old. From that population, stroke incidence has jumped nearly 25 percent in recent years. Even babies can have strokes before they are born.
Some famous people have had a stroke. They include;
• Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (/ˈdɪkɪnz/; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era.
Some stroke survivors are locked-in after a stroke. Locked-in syndrome is a rare condition that most often occurs after a basilar artery stroke. A basilar artery stroke is considered the most devastating stroke, especially if someone survives from it. People who have had a basilar artery stroke can have paralysis from head to toe, hence where the term “locked-in” came from..
Stroke kills more women than breast cancer. In fact, in the U.S., statistics show that nearly 41,000 women die from breast cancer each year, while over 82,000 women die from stroke each year. Women also have a greater risk for stroke than men, with approximately 55,000 more women than men have a stroke each year.
...if other stroke victims are feeling it too, but the pain i used to have has gotten substantially worse. All i can do is bite the bullet and bear it. I don't really have any other choice. People have experienced worse pain, i'm sure. I haven't been told what i should expect, i just know it is getting worse. No longer do i look forward to the nighttime and the peaceful sleep it brings. Nowadays, i dread the mornings arriving and feeling like a punchbag when it comes.
You'd think 'thank goodness for the painkillers', but they don't work. Paracemol. The only thing that does any good are the prescription drugs and they involve having an injection. Having an injection every day is something i couldn't bear. And, thankfully, there's no doctor that will get up at that time in the morning to give it. The pain is still there when they give me the exercises that are supposed to help, but very rarely do. Meanwhile, my fingers are clenched so tightly into the palm of my right hand. That can't be a good thing.
When i think back to how it used to be, i get worried that it might actually get worse. I don't see how that could possibly happen, but it could. There must be thousands of people having to put up with this every day of the week. We never hear about it, though. Pull yourself together mate. Are you going to let a bit of pain beat you or are you going to show them what you're really made of. It's the kind of pain that never goes away, not while you're still alive.
How do other people put up with it? It's a stupid question really because they don't have any choice. They have to bear it, whether they like it or not. They'll psyche themselves up like i do, everyday. The afternoons are the best part of the day, but they soon lead into night and before long it's morning again.
It's been two months since i quit smoking. P is puffing away on an e-cigarette and it would have been easier for me too. Why the hell do i want easy for? Giving up smoking has been like climbing a mountain. Barefoot. I was ready for the challenge, though. Becoming vegetarian is next. If you put your mind to it, there's nothing you can't do. P is weak-willed and will start puffing on the fags again. She has no will power to do anything. She should set herself the task of not talking while people are eating, but she can't even do that.
Giving up smoking is something you have to do one day at a time. There is no other way to do it. You rack the days up, one by one. The craving never goes away. You have to realise that when you start. If it is so easy to do, people like P would give up every day as long as there was a fag in it for her. Remember, at the end of everyday, to make a big issue of it. My way was to take the piss out of P and make her feel like the bag lady she really is. In your mind take every opportunity to rub it in. Don't feel sorry for her. She can do that for herself. Your mission is to give up smoking and that's all you have to do.
It's not your problem to look out for other people. Just do it for yourself, Worrying about other people is not your priority and you need to be very single-minded about that. There are those who want you to fail. Well, we tried, didn't we? they'll say. Smoking is so addictive that they'll try every trick in the book to make you start again. Fighting the urge to give in is better when you see how much money you've saved. It's a great motivator..
Some people will never give up fag-smoking. It's in their DNA. You're not going to be one of them. When X coughs up his guts every morning remember that that could have been you. He really needs to give up now, but he hasn't got the will-power to do it. Next year he could be dying from cancer or have one of the many illnesses associated with smoking. He took a gamble and it hasn't come off. He'll always rue the day he started to smoke.
I've been a stroke survivor since Feb 2013. And anybody, who has experienced it for as long as i have, will say how tired you'd be in a really short space of time. That's why i don't encourage anyone to stay longer than 15 minutes when they visit me. I could fall asleep at anytime and not realise i'm doing it. Since i've had the stroke it's happened on several occasions. You have to understand that you've changed and you're not the same person you were.
The hallucinations that follow are part of what happens when you have a stroke. You don't know what's real and what isn't. What's funny and what isn't. You actually laugh when it's not appropriate and are embarrassed that you did it. You have to say things such as "i can't help what i'm doing" and make people understand that it's not you that's doing it. Hallucinations are something you want to go away.
There's something that won't go away when you've had a stroke. You always feel like you've been in a fight with Mike Tyson. You wish you could lose that sense of grogginess you feel. You can understand what's going on around you, but you can't react to it. Not properly, anyway. It gets worse - if such a thing is possible.- you won't notice any deterioration in the short term, but you will in the long term.
Having anybody know what you're talking about is quite an achievement. Then there is the physical pain you have to put up with. At first, you'll think what pain? Then it hits you. You can't turn it off, as much as you'd like. It comes and it goes, but it's never far away.
It's very easy to turn your back on blogging and walk away from it, forever. Blogs were a great idea when you first started to write them, but they seem less relevent now there are more interesting things to do. Real-life has caught up with having to write about yourself, to actually living a life. And guess what? The blogger that hasn't posted in 7 years won't be coming back He's long gone..
Seven years is a long time to wait for someone. i realise that, but he's probably just working on a new post. It's difficult to do at times. It'll be worth reading when he's finished it though. He won't have left the internet. He's probably a father right now and'll be back when he's put his kid through university or got his kid married off. Twenty years isn't a long time to wait. I bet he's got some great blogposts lined up. Can't wait to read them.
Twenty five years have passed and he still hasn't posted, but maybe he will tomorrow. That bloody Treey talks Jack Shit. It's a good job he doesn't know about the mobility scooter i've got Thirty years since he last posted and he's probably a grandad now. Maybe he isn't coming back. thirty fucking years! I've waited for him to post something..
The future of blogging depends on the bloggers, i suppose. There's a lot of things that can happen. You can learn something from the best blogs. They can inspire you and very often they do. They also give you something you just can't get from a book. Well i don't know about that last bit. If a book left an email address i'd normally write to them...
Writing a blog has given me plenty of freedom to express myself, at a time when i need it the most. My wife, Mandy, has never stopped treating me like she always has done and the carers here know me, and treat me, as the person i aspire to be. The biggest problem i get is from SALT. They refuse to treat me as anything other than they'd treat a 5 year-year.old kid who's trying to bunk off school. They have given me, in an assessment they made, a zero-rating of mental capacity. They really don't like me or what i'm doing. This isn't a blogpost about them though. If it were, i wouldn't be able to stop myself from swearing.
Cannabis could lower a person's risk of having a stroke, new research says. Medical strains of the drug are prescribed across more than half of the United States to treat chronic pain, anxiety and epilepsy. It is controversial; as more states legalize the drug, scores of medical experts warn marijuana carries other dangerous side effects, and we do not have enough research to be sure of its benefits.
However, a study by the University of Texas at Dallas has found the drug can improve oxygen and blood flow to the brain, reducing the risk of clots that cause a brain attack. In fact, the research team found chronic cannabis users have the most efficient brain blood flow of all, suggesting their stroke risk is lowest.
It won't be long before cannabis is used here in Britain. You would think so, anyway. Anything that can prevent a stroke from happening should be looked at. It adds new meaning to The Beatles's "Getting High With A Little Help From My Friends". I doubt it will ever happen though.
I caught a glimpse of myself in a shop window the other day and thought is that really me? I'm not surprised people get so embarressed with what they see. They're just glad it's not them and i can't really blame anybody for feeling that way. I don't really have the inclination to be concerned by how things have turned out though. I've been through far worse situations than this that give me nightmares. One day, when i have time, i'll tell you about them, but i doubt that you'd want to listen.
I truly know how the elephant man must've felt. To be stared at as if you were a wild animal takes some getting used to. It's not a great feeling if the truth be known and i wonder how much my smoking or if something else has contributed to this dilemma? The stark reality is that nothing will ever be the same again. In fact, it's getting worse. It's something i've noticed about myself. Over a period of time the changes are more noticeable and more significant.
I knew, from the age of 30, that something wasn't quite right. I hadn't met Mandy yet and thought that whatever was wrong with me would end there. i didn't want to carry the depression i was feeling, into another generation. When i met Mandy she told me she couldn't have kids, which is what i wanted to hear. How wrong was Mandy? Very wrong is the answer.
We seemed to gel together and the months became years. I just hope that Jonny doesn't become a dad, but who am i to say that? It's his life to do with as he wants. I will try to help him out as best as i can, but i can't live his life for him. if only i could. The trouble is, i'm not the best decison-maker there is Far from it.
Is it really 40 years ago since Elvis passed away? 57 years since the release of 'it's now or never'? It's hard to believe how quickly time has gone. He once ruled the world. Nobody had ever seen his like before and the chances are we'll never see anybody like him again. He became famous over 60 years ago. He never left America, which is surprising when you realise how big he was in Europe. His manager though, Colonel Tom Parker, was thought to be an illigal immigrant who would struggle to get back into the country if he left.
Elvis would have been 82 if he he had lived. His girlfriend, assuming he still had one, would be 19 and be seeing somebody behind his back. The Memphis mafia would be known as the Memphis geriatrics who would now hire bodyguards to do what they once used to. Everybody reaches their sell-by date. At the time of his death Elvis was a washed-out 42 year old who didn't play an instrument and who couldn't write a song to save his life. His voice wasn't good enough to keep on pulling in the punters.
Maybe he did fake his own death. His popularity had certaiinly taken a nosedive. The Beatles had shown him, in the sixties, what it would be like to be outgunned and when they disbanded, in 1970, he would stage a very successful comeback. Who would know that a very health-looking Elvis, in 1973, only had four years left to live? That's the year the video-clip is. It shows Elvis on stage in Hawaii. He looks so pleased with himself he could eat a burger. Or two. Or three. Hell, just leave the fucking van there!
So, this day forty years ago saw us lose a burger-eating legend. He could sing pretty good too. Unlike Paul McCartney who has lost it at the age of 75. It would be amazing if Elvis was still alive. I doubt whether he could still sing though. Or move like the Elvis we all know.
It's nearly 10 years since a single mother took her own life and that of her handicapped child. They lived a few miles from us.
A single mother who was the focus of a sustained campaign of abuse from a gang of youths killed herself and her teenage daughter by setting her car on fire, an inquest heard.
Fiona Pilkington, 38, committed suicide in October 2007 by parking in a lay-by in South Leicestershire with her daughter, Francecca, 18, dousing the back seat in petrol before setting it alight with both women still inside.
The fumes in the car caused an explosion, destroying the Austin Maestro and killing Ms Pilkington, who was in the driver's seat next to her daughter. The pair had to be identified by matching DNA samples taken from relatives with swabs recovered from the scene..
The inquest, held at Loughborough Town Hall, heard that Ms Pilkington and her two children had been targeted by a gang of 16 youths that carried out a string of abuse to their home in Bardon Road, Barwell. In a campaign that lasted more than 15 years, youths pelted the house with flour, eggs and stones, urinated on the property and abused her children.
The court heard how the gang would shout vile abuse at her daughter, who had severe learning difficulties, and lock her son in a shed at knifepoint and beat him up with an iron bar.
The attacks started when the family moved into the house. But it is believed to have intensified after her son, Anthony Hardwick, now 19, fell out with a friend who lived on the street.
The inquest heard that despite Ms Pilkington's repeated calls to police for help, officers never brought a prosecution against any member of the gang, an issue that was argued extensively in court. Assistant chief constable Chris Tew said it was difficult to bring prosecutions against the gang because it was not what the family wanted.
But Coroner Olivia Davison said: "This was a woman who may have been terrified, who might have been vulnerable and not the best person to make the decision about a prosecution under the circumstances."
Mrs Pilkington's mother, Pam Cassell, told the hearing the council imposed a 300-yard exclusion zone for the youths around the family's house but had failed to enforce it. Mrs Cassell, 72, added: "Fiona couldn't defend herself. She was very shy and she didn't want any trouble so she tended to ignore them. She was very vulnerable.
It also emerged that Ms Pilkington wrote to Tory MP, David Tredinnick.
The inquest heard that Ms Pilkington's letter resulted in a beat officer being appointed to monitor the road. But the abuse continued and in February 2007, the mother-of-two wrote again to her MP. Nine months later, Ms Pilkington and Francecca were dead. The letters were handed to police, who are holding a separate inquiry. A serious case review was launched, the findings of which will be published after the inquest concludes.
I spent the morning reading and have tried, unsuccessfully, to find somebody who is disabled (like me). I used a link that Lee left on the blog and have found the website i'm looking for, but it's a very quiet one, called stroke.org. It's so quiet that they get some activity on there every six years or so (erm.. a joke) That doesn't really help me a lot because i need somewhere that's constantly busy. I might go looking for a blog instead, but they've probably been frightened off by the discrimination of boggers that are out there. Thwy're not all like that, but there are quite a few who are. "There's a guy in a wheelchair that's coming. Quick let.'s hide". Is the usual response i get. A disabled person's blog should be different.
It's really important for me to find someone i can relate to and that it's sooner rather than later. It's fine to deal with anybody on a one-to-one basis, but having somebody who has experience of what it's actually like to be like me is something that i just haven't faced. I found a website yesterday that looked interesting, about a girl - Jordan Bone. Jordan was hospitalized after a car accident when she was a teenager. She was just 15 years old and spent 6 months in hospital. She now has to use a wheelchair permanently
She's in her 20s now and has written a book about her life as an invalid. She's appeared as a guest on the ever-so-patronising 'Lorraine' show too. Jordan must have a whole wealth of knowledge on the subject of diability that is now available to her. Spending the rest of her life in a wheelchair is something i'd know all about. My mind went back to a question posed to her on the Lorraine show: who would she like to play her if her book ever became a film? Purlease. So fucking help me god, girl!
I plan to get the book as soon as i can. It'll be a good read, i reckon. Either that or it'll make a handy table support. She became disabled at an early age and now has to live the rest of her life in a wheelchair. It's an amazing story but it's also a tragic story too. Only time will tell how she gets on as she gets older.
I remember hearing about David's cancer and how helpless i felt. David, my youngest brother, is the kind of guy who could live with having a stroke. That's how tough he is. You could say to him "hey Dave, look after this stroke for me for 10 minutes, will you?" and he'd say "ok then" and he'd do it. No problem. Having to do chemotherapy for 8 months is a different thing though. You lose your hair, your appetite and you feel tired all the while. It takes a lot of time to do and it's time you could spend down the pub.
i remember him coming home from the army. His eyes were black and blue. He'd beaten everybody at boxing but didn't want anyone to know. It was his business. He doesn't have a wife but he has a son that he loves to bits. He doesn't have much to do with mum. I don't know why. He lives his life as if he's Clint Eastwood in 'High Plains Drifter'. I see very little of him and i bet he's tried to keep his cancer treatment a secret. That's the way he is. I still remember a 10 year-old kid with that cheeky smile on his face just trying to convince everyone, for the past thirty years, that he bears a resemblance to Tom Cruise.
Since i had the stroke, i've seen very little of him. This stroke has that effect on most relationships. I start to think about Dave. He hasn't smoked in his entire life and that leads me to believe that i may have seen the last of him that i'll ever see. I hope that's not the case. I don't think grief is something i can handle right now. I wish i'd known what was going to happen to me and when. I could have time to sort my life out, then. Things always happen when you least expect them to.
Having the stroke has been devastating for me. It could happen to anybody in the future. Make sure it isn't you. When i was younger i wouldn't have taken any advice as seriously as i should. Give up smoking and cut down on your salt intake. Go to the doctor's and get your blood pressure checked out. This post is to do with cancer and there's not much you can do about that. Having a stroke is something you can do to prevent it happening to you, though.
Being disabled as i am, there are certains changes i experience within myself that are happening to me. They aren't good things either. Everything is taking a turn for the worse and there's nothing i can do about it. I just accept that i find it harder to get up in the morning, where at one time i used to spend the night reading a good book. I can't do that anymore and maybe i should be glad. I sometimes wonder if everybody who has a stroke goes through the same feeling processes that i do.
There must be somebody in the country who is going through the same thing that i am. They can't walk, struggle to talk and their eating and drinking is subject to plenty of eyebrow-raising too. I can't be the only one who struggles like this? How do i get in touch with them and find out what problems they have? One thing i do know about this condition is that it's very lonely. I'm not talking about how many people come to see me, either. If i could talk to them online, i would.
Everyday, in this country, someone goes down with an illness they can do little about. I've carried this condition around with me for nearly five years. It's not easy. At times, it's worse than others. I remember seeing a news story of somebody like me, who died after being like this for years. It must be such a relief when that happens There's no more pain to endure. If that happens to me i don't know how i'll feel. One thing i will say is that there is a distinct lack of communication between me and the people in charge. That's something i'm not happy with at all.
Being like this is not something i would wish on anybody. To put up with it you have to have nerves of steel. If i can give up smoking, why can't everybody? The time i went into hospital for an injection and had to have it five times. Do you realise how much an injection hurts? That's what i mean by "nerves of steel"
Tuesday, August 8, 2017
I don't know what it is about the Americans. it happens quite a lot in this country (Britain) too. Attitudes really need to change. Donald Trump is trying to make America great again. But, despite promising to smash IS into oblivion, he is stopped from doing it and i wonder why. Let's face it: Trump isn't a 'politician', That's a quality we should admire about the man. It's because of politicians that we have gotten into the mess we now find ourselves in. Incompetent leaders such as Barack Obama, in America, or Tony Blair, in Britain, (he was lambasted by an iquiry for his involvement in the Iraq war) and the way in Britain that MPs were shamed so publically by the Daily Telegraph meant that politicians were people you just couldn't trust.
It makes me laugh in dismay when an American couple, after hearing that Trump won the presidency, made the decision that moving to Canada would be the best option for them. Why? There's nothing wrong with Canada. When i hear Donald Trump compared to Adolf Hitler i am shocked. Nobody has died with Trump in charge, yet millions of Jews died thanks to Hitler. How on earth can you compare the two?
You can't compare them.. But some people do. i try not to get involved with politics, but some people are just so wrong with what they say. Maybe i i am wrong. Who knows? Here in Britain we have an ex-Prime Minister who was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians. He can be compared to Hitler, but NOT Donald Trump. Trump must be judged by what he does, not by what people think of him.
in some ways i feel sorry for Donald Trump. He has so much negativity surrounding him. Everything he says and everything he does gets scrutinised. He gets Madonna breathing down his neck. That wouldn't have been such a bad thing 25 years ago when you were single, but come on luv i'm married.
There's something about the care home on Mount Road that makes me mad to live there. It's just this: where the hell do you go if you want to find some peace and quiet? The answer is there is none ANYWHERE. There should be, but there isn't. Living there is like having a barrage of constant noise thrown at you from all sides. It's a noise that will eventually drive you fucking mad if you let it. You sit in your room and all you hear is rock and roll music. You sit on the balcony and all you hear is rock and roll. You sit in the lounge and all you hear is the television. They leave the dining room empty for Y and. after five minutes you've really had enough. We need a quiet room where there is no noise at all.
If next-door doesn't have his radio on full blast, he normally does an impression (really loudly) of what it would sound like if the Concorde came in to land. Then he noisily spits at a bird. The bird runs for cover as if he's facing a showdown with Clint Eastwood in one of those old spaghetti westerns that you see on tv.
Then there's the noise that comes from X's room, a noise that is so loud you can literally feel the earth move beneath your feet. It's like the noise you get from a pneumatic drilland it only gets turned off at at 1.30 when she has her lunch. That's what it feels like to be me. People often wonder why i twitch like i do. That's the reason i give them.
The sound is almost deafening and you have to put up with it on a daily basis. They wonder why you don't like noise. It's a part of everyday life, isn't it? I mean, reading a book is so wrong and the amount of stress you get is unbearable. But no-one does anything because it would affect the rights of those that make the noise in the first place.
I remember, as a teenager, struggling with depression. These days i've got it under control by reading and reading. It's not something you enjoy having to deal with. It's an awful condition you have no control over. It takes over your life and makes it difficult to live with, making the most simplest of decisions a matter of life and death. These days it's known as an illness and more and more people get help from their doctor. Back in the s 70s and 80s you had to fend for yourselves although i'm sure that it was a condition you could get help for.
The best man at my wedding has depression and i didn't even know ihe he has t, but it's a serious condition that you never really lose. You can deal with it though. I used to deal with it by going on long runs; by cooking;; by playing cricket; by spending hours cleaning out a room. There are other ways. You can take your dog for a walk, go fishing or strum your guitar. Just do something that is really active. It doesn't matter how famous you are or how much money you've got, Deppression will strike anybody.. My best man at the wedding is as goodlooking as anybody else. I've known him for years and he's the last person you'd thought would suffer from depression.
Depression is more than simply feeling unhappy or fed up for a few days. Most people go through periods of feeling down, but when you're depressed you feel persistently sad for weeks or months, rather than just a few days. Some people think depression is trivial and not a genuine health condition. They're wrong – it is a real illness with real symptoms. Depression isn't a sign of weakness or something you can "snap out of" by "pulling yourself together". The good news is that with the right treatment and support, most people with depression can make a full recovery.
It's important to seek help from your GP if you think you may be depressed. Many people wait a long time before seeking help for depression, but it's best not to delay. The sooner you see a doctor, the sooner you can be on the way to recovery.
It's an uphill struggle to be disabled in an able-bodied world. To know what it feels like, you have to be disabled yourself. It's not something you can easily describe though. For instance, how does a black man describe what it's like to black. He can't (apart from being used as target practise in America). The only redeeming factor is that he knows he's not alone in this world. I can't be alone although I feel very much like i am though, as i try to come to terms with it all.
i've been through enough hard and embarrasing situations for me not to worry about anything in my way. It's hard being disabled. I'll not act the tough-guy and say it isn't. There have been many times when i've felt enough is enough. Then i wake up the next day and face new challenges. There's always something on the hoizon. It feels like the ultimate test of endurance sometimes.
Then i go on to blogger and get treated like an outcast. It's not true of everyone i've met, though. Not everybody should be tarred with the same brush as not everyone treats me the same. I've not done anything to deserve it and it left me wishing i hadn't joined the site in the first place. Being disabled is all it takes and is something you should remember if you join the site: Keep your disability a secret.
How they would have got on if they were disabled is something i can't say. They may have exceeded expectation or they might not. I wouldn't like to imagine. What i can say, though, is that i wouldn''t have treated them like dirt. I would now. Still, i find it hard to inflict them them with any lasting grief if i can. Even though i have a brain injury, i still remember who tried to cause me biggest brain injury of all, and it wasn't SALT. That's a first then.
