Why did I get a stroke? – By Harold Gunatillake

Script:
This is a question that comes to one’s mind when you become a victim.
It is totally a preventable disease like heart disease. One could say that these are “Life-Style” diseases that people create for themselves.
Risk factors can be reduced by making lifestyle changes.
Age is a factor. People tend to have a stroke over the age 65. But younger people also can get.
You should be extremely careful if any close relatives like your parents had a stroke, then your risk is likely to be higher.
Strokes are common among men more than women, obviously, heavy drinking and eating the wrong foods are the main reasons. If you are pot bellied and overweight- sure you are a candidate for a stroke, or a heart attack.
I am here to give you good advice and please listen to me. I am a party goer too, and I could see how our people indulge in the type of food they get to eat at these social events and the volumes of alcohol they drink.

Most of our so called youthful healthy adults are ‘pot-bellied’ and they have no shame to go about with such an unhealthy profile.
These pot bellies are due to visceral fat that give out toxins to harm your heart and cause stroke.
They are also referred to as “sugar bellies”, because eating too much of food containing carbs, deserts and beverages with added sugar are stored as fat in your belly.

Fried foods
Avoid those deep-fried tasty foods that also gives you the flavours and desire to eat more.
A stroke belt has been identified in the Atlantic coastal plain countries of North and South Carolina, and Georgia in the US. where it has been observed that consumption of high fried foods by the black Americans and consequently, the death rate seems to be high.
Eat more foods cooked with water like our mothers did. All curries were cooked with water with added spices to get the flavour.
Today, most Asian foods are deep fried even before they are made into curries.

Look after your blood vessels.

Eating fatty food with added sugar, calorie dense foods can increase your fat in your blood vessel lining. These are roads or pathways in your body to transport digested food to provide energy for the survival of each cell in your body.Just imagine a truck carrying loads of rubbish for disposal, drops the rubbish on the roadside on the way,We refer to these dropped rubbish as ‘plaques’ that get deposited and grows in your main arteries.

This causes reduced blood supply to organs.
In this discussion, it is the part of the brain that is prevented from getting oxygen and
nutrients. Brain cells begin to die.
Such loss of blood supply to the brain due to a blockage of an artery is referred to as an ‘Ischaemic stroke’.
Some people may have a temporary disruption of blood flow to the brain, and that would be referred to as a transient ischaemic attack (TIA), that does not cause permanent damage to brain cells, provided immediate medical intervention is given in hospital.
In such a situation, a small piece of the plaque in your carotid arteries in the neck can get dislodged and cause a temporary blockage to the blood supply and cause a stroke.
Or, a blood clot can be released from the plaque that can travel to the brain and cause the temporary episode.
These TIA’s are warning signs for a bigger attack, unless immediate steps are taken to dissolve the clot through clot dissolving regimes.

The other type of major episode is called haemorrhagic stroke in contrast to the ischaemic stroke already briefed.
In this condition, the bleeding occurs in the brain vessel due to bursting of a vessel. The main cause for such episode is high blood pressure, the commonest cause in old people when the blood pressure has not been checked regularly.

In some situations, you are born with minute bulges in the brain vessels called berry aneurysms.

As said earlier, stroke is preventable. It is a lifestyle disease. By reversing to a healthy lifestyle is the solution.
Eat home cooked foods cooked with water and use very little oil in the process.
Limit your alcohol consumption, only a social drink or two weeklies.
Exercise daily- 25,000 steps brisk walk be ideal for older people.
Keep your weight within the normal range.
If you are a diabetic, enjoy a low carb diet and tight control of blood sugar with medication. Check your blood pressure regularly. Reduce your stress factors. Maintain a good lovable relationship with your immediate family and socialise with friends at least once a week.
See your family doctor for regular medical check-ups. Conclusions:
Hope this talk was useful. Please be health conscious daily to improve your life to give your health and happiness. What more can we expect?