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Strokes
From our book
Bypassing Bypass, published in 2002 |
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[A stroke is] brain damage
caused by a lack of blood flow to part of the brain. In order to
perform its many functions and direct activities throughout the
body—from walking to seeing to reasoning—the brain requires a
constant supply of energy, provided by the oxygen and nutrients that
are delivered by the flowing blood. If blood flow is restricted or
cut off at any point between the heart and the brain, portions of
the brain relying on blood from the obstructed blood vessel become
deprived of oxygen. Brain cells are extremely sensitive to such
oxygen deprivation. If they are deprived of oxygen and nutrients for
more than several minutes, they, in effect, starve to death. A
stroke results in permanent damage to the brain tissue—and in many
cases, permanent disability for the patient. For example, a patient
who has had a stroke may develop paralysis on one or both sides of
the body; have difficulty with walking, eating, or other daily
activities; or lose the ability to speak or understand speech.
[“Stroke.”Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 2001. © 1993-2000
Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.]
We began this section with a
paragraph from Microsoft’s Encarta®, but must refer you back
to our original discussion on the hypercoagulability of the blood as
being the main cause of most (85%) strokes. We will let you in on a
few more stroke related facts, but keep in mind that care of your
arteries and capillaries through proper nutrition is what will keep
you stroke free and alive longer, not some sort of medicine.
Finally, in our discussion on strokes, we are going to reprint an
article by the famous stroke doctor from California, Dr Steenblock,
whose lectures I’ve had the pleasure to hear and whose help I’ll
never need if I follow his and our other advisors’ advice.
It seems that people who snore
have a higher risk factor of strokes than those who don’t. If you
also have sleep apnea (you stop breathing in your sleep), you are at
an even higher risk for stroke, retinal infarction, and even high
blood pressure and heart disease. Not all snorers have sleep apnea.
[Lancet 89:1(8630):143-146]
Sleep apnea can be diagnosed
best in a sleep laboratory, though a pretty good diagnosis can be
made by one’s sleeping partner keeping track of your sleep habits:
leg jerks during sleep, cessation of breathing, awakening tired or
with a headache, a choking feeling, and needing water. Oftentimes,
an apnea sufferer has trouble staying awake during the day.
Snoring can be prevented. Most
snoring occurs while on one’s back. Sewing a golf ball to one’s
night clothing is one simple measure to keep you off your back.
Or you can have your dentist fit
you with a Snore Guard. The American Review of Respiratory Disorders
reported that 40% of users stopped snoring entirely with Snore
Guard, while 60% significantly decreased their snoring and sleep
apnea episodes were cut more than 50%.
Another device, prescribed only
by a physician after a complete sleep study, is the CPAP (continuous
positive airway pressure) machine. A CPAP machine supplies a steady
flow of air that stops the airway from closing up (which allows the
musculomembranous sac—a big word for pharynx) to vibrate. The air
pressure setting on the CPAP machine is prescribed by your doctor
and set by the therapist. You cannot adjust this up, though you can
lower it for a short time at the start of your bedtime. The newer
machines are very quiet and can be fitted with a cool humidifier if
you find yourself drying out during the night. This little device
will increase your oxygen levels during the night, and you will find
yourself rested and relaxed in the morning. And you’ll cut your risk
of strokes and heart problems at the same time.
Researchers at the Southern
California School of Medicine discovered that one third of a group
of patients who had suffered a stroke had had some form of infection
in a thirty-day period preceding the stroke. (Ah ha! Infections in
the blood again?)
Stroke patients have a higher
than normal level of fibrin in their blood. Fibrin is the protein
that makes blood clot. Vitamin E, 400 to 800 IU per day inhibits
thrombin, the enzyme that converts fibrinogen to fibrin. Do not
forget the systemic enzymes. Wobenzym® (Rutozym® for vegetarians)
has fifty years of research behind it.
A presentation at the annual
meeting of the American Academy of Neurology (2000) revealed that
they had found that taking a minimal amount of vitamin E (typically
just 50 IU) significantly lowered (53%) their chances of a stroke.
Now, always keep in mind that
illness is often a sign of a poor immune system, and at the same
time, illness will stress the immune system even further. In our
culture, we do not worry about disease until symptoms show up.
However, symptoms are seven or eight steps away from the original
start of any problem. We, as Americans, are famous for trying to fix
problems only after they have gotten out of hand. Ben Franklin told
us a stitch in time saves nine. It is true. If you take care of
yourself on a regular basis, feed your immune system as well as your
body, mind, and spirit, you’ll stay healthy rather than fight the
occasional disease.
One final note. Within 30
minutes of a stroke, have the patient drink at least two ounces of
DMSO. We found this piece of advice at a Naturopath’s site on the
web, and less than a month later your author banged his head good. I
lost vision in my left eye and my right eye wasn’t all that clear
either. I drank down two ounces of DMSO (mixed with some juice—it’s
still nasty) and within 5 minutes I got my vision back.
Hyperbaric Oxygen
For years it was thought that
following a stroke, the brain tissues deprived of blood and oxygen
were dead. Today, we’re beginning to think that just maybe, they’re
not dead, but “knocked out” or stunned.
We get this from the people who
are reversing much of the damage caused by strokes using Hyperbaric
Oxygen.
Russia has more than 3000
hyperbaric oxygen chambers and Italian medical schools make it a
part of their curriculum. In America, we have approximately 330
chambers and our medical schools, for the most part, don’t even
mention this therapy. Our medical schools are financed by the
pharmaceutical industry, if you haven’t caught on yet.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy has
successfully established its safety and efficacy for over 200
diverse conditions in more than 30,000 scientific studies conducted
over the past 50 years.
Doctors in America know very
little about hyperbaric oxygen and hospitals limit access, as there
are only 14 Medicare-approved uses, such as skin grafts, gangrene,
peripheral artery disease, carbon monoxide poisoning, skin and bone
infections, and decompression illness in divers often called the
bends.
In strokes, people who receive
hyperbaric oxygen within a year of the stroke get the most benefit
and find improvement in all lost functions. While interviewing
therapists at site in California that uses hyperbaric oxygen for our
second edition, the cancer/immune system edition, we learned that
patients with cancer who’d suffered strokes improved so well that
the site no long treats cancer patients but focuses strictly on
stroke victims.
For more information on
hyperbaric oxygen go to
http://www.hyperbaric-therapy.com/home to find a hyperbaric
therapy near you.
Hennepin County
Medical Center
Hyperbaric Medicine MC #980
701 Park Ave S
Minneapolis, MN 55415
612.337.7420
jim.bell@co.hennepin.mn.us
www.hcmc.org
St. Elizabeth
Hospital, HBO and Wound Care Service
1506 S. Oneida St.
Appleton, WI 54915
920.738.2751
fwkthree@athenet.net
Stroke Rehabilitation
Recently released from the
Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Birmingham,
Alabama are the results of a study in which stroke patients with
unilateral stroke problems (one side of the body is affected) were
going back to normal lives in just two weeks. But they were the most
grueling two weeks of their lives!
The good arm or good leg is
restrained completely and the affected limb is exercised for eight
hours a day for two weeks. The theory is that the brain will re-wire
itself, and sure enough, it works. The brain is an amazing organ.
Those parts of the brain that are damaged are bypassed by all this
activity and new centers of the brain take over.
For more information, write to
the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Service, Department of
Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Birmingham, AL 35223 or go on the
web to http://www.dpo.uab.edu/~exdite.
Meet Dr David Steenblock
We’ve been blessed to get
permission to reprint the following article.
Our research on strokes revealed many of the therapies this
physician, referred to by all as the Stroke Doctor, has been using
in his practice for years. We first ran across him during our
research on cancer and oxygen therapies.
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