Although my particular stroke risk was considered low before I then had two fierce brain attacks at 26, there are some risk factors that can increase your chances of suffering a stroke and these factors can even be identified for someone through a brief health analysis -
Ways to Help Reduce Your Stroke Risk.
Using the above scorecard (courtesy of America Stroke Association), tally your results (1 point per box that applies to you specifically), then with your total points, identify your individual stroke risk (neuro experts suggest incorporating stroke-smart choices into your lifestyle accordingly and if necessary - seek appropriate medical advice #iamnodoctor).
If you so desire, you are most welcome to use Kitty's Healthy Brain Hot Tips (below) found courtesy of a little online research - it all surely has to help in reducing your risk of a brain attack/repeat brain attacks.
Let's be more stroke smart by actively reducing our individual stroke risks
& in the event of a brain attack, act FAST (for yourself if able and/or for someone in you company suffering a stroke) with emergency treatment for early assessment of acquired brain injuries and appropriate treatment + management of such cruel attacks of the vital mind.
With roughly one in six of us experiencing stroke and a concerning one in four of all strokes happening to youngsters (people under retirement age), as well as the high likelihood of being a repeat stroke 'offender' (ala this Special K) with a range of newfound disabilities, restrictions and challenges (stroke is the leading cause for adult disability) one can only imagine, together with stroke being renowned for not discriminating when 'picking' its victims, proactively trying to reduce our stroke risk (even if you feel it couldn't possibly happen to you) is a mighty fine idea. Swiftly acknowledging when someone (even yourself, if able) is suffering a stroke and knowing what to promptly do in such an emergency, as well as consciously trying to reduce your own individual stroke risk are all considered being stroke smart (Kitty's Hot Tips are below).
In 1998, the Rocket himself (aka Queensland/Aussie tennis legend, Rod Laver) also had his particular brain attack whilst otherwise simply enjoying life - at a men's tour event on UCLA's campus at Westwood, U.S.A. Being a dedicated hard worker, Laver's stroke struck in the midst of taping a few interviews for ESPN (whilst strokes are renowned for not discriminating when 'picking' their victims, they do seem to especially love attacking the goodies, ala Rod, Serene - the young American news reporter in earlier entries - and this Kitty Kat, during such prime events!) when he began to feel lightheaded, followed by sensitivity to light and a loss of feeling in an arm and a leg. Fortunately, Rod was in the company of a stroke-smart ESPN reporter who recognised the particular symptoms due to his own father suffering a stroke, ensuring Laver was swiftly put in an ambulance, receiving medical assistance within five minutes (time is of the essence - Rod & I may not be here today if our strokes were not identified & appropriately treated in the nick of time).
“Most stroke victims think they are second-class citizens,”
Laver has said,
“a lot of them hide in a corner and don’t take risks because they might fall or say something silly. I understand. A lot of times, things would come out of my mouth and I’d say, ‘Who said that?’
My message to them was: ‘Don’t give up on yourself.'"
Boom! Never one to give up, wise fellow Queenslander, Mr Laver!
Not even our dear Aussie Rocket aka Rod Laver is immune to strokes.
Like your biggest fan, Federer, I just want to make you proud of this Kitty, as I'm awfully proud of you, my fellow stroke survivor!
Upon acknowledging almost 20% of us likely to experience stroke (and a concerning one-third of such acquired brain injuries striking youngsters), it is important and wise to proactively try reduce your own risk of a brain injury (/recurrent strokes - at least 25% of stroke survivors will have more than one brain attack - an important statistic all stroke survivors and their supporters need to be aware of - I was not at the time. A mix of ignorance and denial of the rare autoimmune disease that impacted my brain's blood vessels and the true severity the first stroke caused on my noggin') and now that I am really wanting to avoid a third stroke/a young death from such, I have found a range of simple-yet-helpful lifestyle choices and strategies to promote a healthier life by specifically assisting in reducing the risk of stroke (and more than just blood-thinning booze, but do keep up such scientifically-proven 'medication'!).
Here are Kitty's Researched Healthy-Brain Hot Tips:
Sunshine
Croatia
August 2012
It may surprise you to discover this sunny shot was taken just a few weeks after Stroke 1 in mid-2012 - actively trying to reduce my own stroke risk with some sacred 'medicine' for the brain's blood vessels, vitamin D (with help from stroke-smart wine and 'Mediterranean-diet' influences, of course). Not only did I feel like I had minimal issues with balance (even though I still have distinct one-side body weakness), but I was also able to do so at the level this short, avid horse rider had succeeded at prior to strokes. The odd person may regard this as the ultimate sign the strokes I survived weren't major, which would be an incredibly inaccurate presumption considering how much actually goes on 'behind the scenes' in our complex minds where every moment of my life is an immense inner struggle. A team of doctors and therapists have officially established a RHS physical weakness & some RHS neglect since strokes, but I definitely would not have been able to identify that as I was even able to successfully go for a 2-hour-long horse trail ride recently (including a joyous canter!) - the ultimate sign of balance right there!
If only I stayed on that little boat bathing in the sunshine every day as part of my 'occupational therapy', sailing the picturesque Adriatic Sea with a healthy bottle of red, as the second stroke happened just two months after returning to grey, ole London Town (science never lies!).
A quarter of a century living in sunny Australia = Zero strokes
Just a few years living in grey, Old Blighty = Two strokes
I'm not a mathematician (merely teach it!), but the figures surely tell a convincing tale.
Keep up your healthy sunshine therapy!
Trying desperately to absorb medicinal vitamin D into my system (to help reduce my stroke risk as well as heart attack risk) by trekking around GB's countryside (with darling British students).
A few months post Stroke 1, totally oblivious to another (more fierce) stroke was mere weeks away (our focus had solely been on Stroke #1's rehab road - plenty of sleep)
Late 2012
Surrey, U.K.
Furthermore (if you don't believe my own 'credible' scientific investigations!), a quality British study has found that you ought to get out there and soak in that healthy vitamin D to actively try lower your stroke risk.
Scientists at the universities of Southampton and Edinburgh found that UVA rays alter nitric oxide in our bodies, which then can cause blood vessels to dilate, reducing blood pressure (living in London for a few years leading up to strokes, with its dull, overcast weather didn't help this tropics-raised, sunny sister - evidently) and thereby, assisting in reducing your stroke risk (especially in cases similar to 2012's particular strokes that occurred because the brain's blood vessels became inflamed - see image below for a vivid visual of just how my particular brain's blood vessels were assumed to be suffering from *B: Narrowed artery* as they rapidly destroyed vital brain cells when blood struggled to effectively travel through the inflamed vessels, denying the brain of sacred oxygen, thus deducing such then caused two major strokes).
Vasculitis (assumed - not identified - cause of the two strokes I suffered) occurs when blood vessels become inflamed and are narrowed, depriving the brain (or other organs) of oxygen (B) until medical help (i.e.: blood thinners) is administered.
This is why stroke smarts and time are critical.
Every single second counts - do familiarise yourself with the effective FAST test (explained by the National Stroke Foundation).
Yoga
Developed essentially to rejuvenate & exercise our minds through breathing, poses and meditation, yoga is said to be an ideal outlet to improve your strength, flexibility, endurance, immune function, depressive symptoms and mind power, in particular, being in the moment and optimism. Two mind stances I personally (and other stroke survivors I have interacted with) have since struggled with post brain injuries and am actively trying to hone in on (there's even a range of phone apps to assist you with such - how good are those clever apps?! Mighty, mighty good! Smiling Mind is one perfectly tailored meditation app, created by an Aussie so it is obviously quality, which aims to help bring balance into your life in the 21st century - do yourself a favour now and make your brain smile with assistance from this mindful *pun intended* app). As a teacher in the ever-chaotic world of London, meditation was an outlet with which I often frequented in the classroom (the students truly love such a soothing mind workout) and to further exercise their growing brains, I initiated a yoga school-run club with students of my supportive school, where we were indeed noticing results within students' minds and their thinking in the months leading up to my second stroke (I obviously needed to do more of the 'Kitty-Kat Pose'!). The power of the mind, right?!
Always love a pun, Aussie-created app, Smiling Mind!
Wise Yoga Kitty lowering their blood pressure!
Meditation in the 21st Century
Smiling Mind got my attention with its clever puns and has now kept my support with its engaging stroke smarts.
Below: Get on board (/'yoga mat')!
Stroke Rehabilitation -
this above image shows a physiotherapist helping a stroke survivor with their yoga position aimed to exercise their mind through breathing, posing & meditation.
Having a Cuppa this above image shows a physiotherapist helping a stroke survivor with their yoga position aimed to exercise their mind through breathing, posing & meditation.
A thorough study (published in US journal Stroke) of more than 80 000 Japanese adults has found regularly having a cuppa (coffee and/or green tea - at least one of each every day) can reduce your stroke risk (in particular, for an intracerebral haemorrhage, which is when a diseased blood vessel within the brain bursts, causing blood to leak inside the brain - vivid visual, indeed) by approximately 20% (coffee) and 14% (tea) respectively, when compared with those who rarely drank either. Scientists believe an antioxidant found in green tea with an anti-inflammatory known as catechins may just be the secret ingredient.
As for coffee, in particular - not only does a chemical called chlorogenic acid help to reduce your stroke risk, but it also lowers the likelihood of developing type 2 diabetes.
Too easy, Campese. Let's make a celebration of it!
Winner winner, coffee-&-green-tea dinner!
Above: Making sure to have a few big cuppas to help actively, purposefully and consciously reduce my stroke risk.
Please do join this Kitty Kat for a cuppa tea and a bickie - for your brain's sake!
Fruit (in particular, tomatoes - preferably cooked)Yessss, there's a range of evidence to suggest that high levels of the antioxidant, lycopene, a uniquely protective carotenoid (any of a group of non-nitrogenous yellow, orange and red pigments) chemical found in tomatoes (and their skins), apricot, papaya (aka - pawpaw), pink grapefruit and watermelon, for example, may be associated with a significantly reduced risk of stroke (a general Mediterranean-style diet is encouraged by 'those in the know').
According to reputable British Journal of Nutrition, people with the highest lycopene (potent antioxidant referred to as the chemical, carotenoid) levels were 55% less likely to have a stroke (boom!). Furthermore, your risk of conditions such as cancer, osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease are also said to be decreased.
Below: Time to get eating - allllright, let's feed our healthy brains with a little tomato fight in Spain-o!
Make tomato-love - not war.
Discover more about the magical fruit -
Not sure if wearing watermelons annnd tomatoes also reduce your stroke risk, but we did the experiments nonetheless.
So should you!
So I was just (kindly) helping to reduce his stroke risk at this traditional Spanish tomato fight known as La Tomatina.
Let's be stroke smart & absorb that lycopene - thank me later, Kitty P.A.!
We had all better go back to Spain's La Tomatina quick smart and enjoy a healthy little Mediterranean way of life with plenty of lycopene in our tomatoes, fish, nuts & extra virgin olive oil (as an addition to our stroke-smart diet that includes papaya, watermelon and apricot) - we need it for scared mind power.
The good (great) news?! Drinking a little bit of booze - in particular, red wine - can help reduce your stroke risk. YESSSS - no worries - we'll get on top of that one straight away!
You ought to have a few glasses/bottles/decanters/barrels like us stroke smarties.
Yessss, there's actual hard, cold (<<alcoholic beverage style) scientific evidence to support - and encourage - the notion of a few (obviously not excessive) glasses of wine every day (purely) to help reduce your stroke risk. Through my (overly-enthusiastic) research, the above findings suggest during the fermenting process, the skins of certain red-wine grapes produce an antioxidant(aunty who?! - to all my Aussie contingent who still love 90s TV commercial nostalgia!) called resveratrol, which absorbs the chemicals responsible for blood clots (not only the cause of some strokes, but also the primary cause of heart disease).
Proof is in the wine-pudding. Drink up!
The most pleasing part of such findings is the heavenly grape beverage is also part of a 'healthy diet' (always in moderation), where the research suggests the alcohol content may have compounds which increase 'good' cholesterol and help prevent blood clots, thus reducing your stroke risk. Naturally, this will tie in marvellously well with our Mediterranean diet of tomatoes, olive oil and fish.
Jesso ensuring to reduce the risk of blood clots (that can cause strokes) with a 'little' dose of homemade sangria (bought from the locals' front yards) in the bustling streets of Spain.
Let's all take a leaf out of lovely Jesso's 'stroke-smart' book and 'medicate' ourselves with 'medicinal' red wine.
Oily Fish (Not Fish Oil Supplements), Nuts & Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Including these simple additions in your diet every week will also help further reduce your stroke risk. Furthermore, it'll go splendidly well with the aforementioned stroke-smart red wine & Mediterranean diet!
Undeniable proof that a bad memory helps the world go around - if only squirrels ate all their nuts (before they buried/lost them), they'd have healthier brains to help better recall where they left items (what a nasty cycle for these cuties!).
Avoid Smoking
According to a reliable piece (by Jo Korner of United Kingdom's The Stroke Association), approximately 10% of stroke deaths & 25% of all strokes are linked to smoking. Rather clear findings (with a concerning percentage of all strokes linked to smoking) and quite a simple, yet effective solution - quit such a 20th Century fad.
Long live abnormal Kitty Kat - the one-&-only Chitty Chat!
Charing Cross Hospital, London
July 2012
Just acin' it as a stroke survivor (with my bandaged arm, confronting hospital wristband, laxative-laced 'cocktail' & heart monitor wires proudly on display #bereal) at 'pital during the initial week post Stroke #1.
Thumbs up, with a smile on my dial and basking on a glorious central-London rooftop in the summer time despite almost dying that very week - no worries with this brain-damaged soul because my support network was truly extraordinary in lifting my spirits & also, I thankfully did not perish (yet) from my acquired brain injury (Aussie battler!) which has, as a direct result, encouraged an overly-determined and wholly-passionate stroke-smart survivor who is now more alive than ever.
In the event you are yet to be fully aware of the extent of its delicate finesse, your brain is without a doubt your body's most complex-&-fascinating organ - and it has to be, because it controls all of your actions and abilities, as well as generating every unique thought of yours and, put simply, your consciousness - your entire being! Different parts of your brain engage in various vital tasks, ranging from processing visual information (including non-verbal communication), higher-order thinking & complex reasoning, to your ability to breathe, effectively ride a bike & use appropriate + sophisticated language to communicate thoughts swiftly, appropriately and with precision (as well as understanding, analysing, evaluating and synthesising the language & communication of others - just as important as your own execution). Imagine your world suddenly being without the ability to simply use communication effectively like you had not even given two seconds' thought to previously given how 'normal' such a skill felt to have (especially whilst in your life's prime years when you're trying to make your mark in the world). Not only would this immensely affect your professional life, but also your personal one (and this has indeed been the case for this Special K and other stroke survivors I have been in contact with - check out Stroke a Chord's fascinating website for a more thorough understanding of the language disorder, aphasia, in particular, and be moved by their uplifting attitude to the constant struggle associated with suddenly losing your abilities with sacred language and communication).
Of course, if I had the option (I did not), I most certainly would have avoided experiencing two life-destroying strokes (after thorough testing, my clever neurologist insists the particular strokes I survived were unavoidable - swift detection, medical assistance and thorough investigations would have prevented the extent of brain damage and perhaps even Stroke #2 although most in the know say it too was completely unavoidable). Now, as a 20-something person with two considerable brain injuries to my name (have I won the contest?!) and the range of drastic effects (that I am proud to say, some are slowly - but surely - dwindling - see ya never, post-chocolate-consumption nausea!), I must be stroke smart for the entirety of my life from here on in, at least for the sake of the future people of our world (they need Miss Laird if only for the jokes) - if two ghastly strokes can't kill me, then this Special K will be getting the blokes for a while to come (lucky lads).
Please do come join the party in actively reducing our stroke risk with stroke smarts.
Would you like to see what my number-one wish has been since acquiring brain injury #2 in October 2012? Of course you do!
Miss Laird in a REAL-LIFE classroom for an ENTIRE day
(Considering where we started in October 2012, this is quite the impressive feat)
June 2014
The official, first FULL day in the classroom with lovely flowers of tomorrow/students (it was my older sister's supportive workplace - thank you, Sarah!)
1.5 years post Stroke 2's massive brain damage (& after a year of volunteering *with relish!* twice a week for just a few short hours each session before I was completely pooped at another supportive school) was quite the achievement for a two-time young stroke survivor with considerable brain-damage effects.
You couldn't find a more proud, purring Kitty than this one - I was finally back in my element! When/if stroke survivors do return to the workforce (although I was merely volunteering my services in this above instance - do watch this space for further Miss Laird developments), I have discovered it is often met with a vast range of challenges (& not just because of a stroke survivor's own mind's newfound particular limitations, but also because of the cruel presumptions of some who do not fully understand the complex mind, its savoured abilities post a brain attack and the complicated effects of brain damage, directly and indirectly) and from my own investigations, the average person is rather oblivious of such (especially if the brain damage is not of a physical/superficial nature - we're living in a superficial world after all).
Don't be the average person - do be stroke smart!
If my frank, graphic anecdotes and range of Kitty Hot Tips help raise awareness, understanding & sympathy about strokes and stroke survivors trying to live on (with my youthful generation, in particular), I will be one happy little Vegemite!
Here's hoping my particular stroke-awareness campaign (whilst always entertaining) is educating you all to be more stroke smart as well as kind & considerate to stroke survivors constantly battling to reclaim and carry on.
Let's all be happy little Vegemites
('as bright as bright can be' is pretty convincing) together.
