Over 2,000 Americans die of cardiovascular disease each day with an average of 1 death every 40 seconds – this means that by the time you are done reading this page cardiovascular disease would have claimed the lives of 3 people! The latest stroke and heart disease statistics are quite alarming – more than 1 in 3 U.S. adults have one or more types of cardiovascular disease and there are 795,000 cases of stroke each year.

There are several risk factors for stroke and heart disease and while some of them like age and heredity cannot be controlled, there are others that can be eliminated to reduce the risk of these conditions. Some of the most common controllable risk factors include physical inactivity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and smoking.
The Million Hearts national initiative has a novel method to help people track their risk – keep in mind the ABCS of stroke and heart disease:

Appropriate Aspirin Therapy: Aspirin Therapy helps to decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease but it is associated with an increased risk of gastrointestinal bleeding. In cases where the benefits outweigh the risks, regular aspirin use may be recommended. The risk is higher with a higher dosage and is not as strongly related to the duration of aspirin use.
Blood Pressure Control: High blood pressure or hypertension is one of the most common causes of heart disease and stroke in the United States. It is no coincidence that we have seen a spike in both heart disease and obesity in the last decade as obesity increases the risk of the development of hypertension. Losing as little as 10 to 20 pounds can help to lower blood pressure and in turn the risk of heart disease.

Cholesterol Management: Heart disease and stroke are among the most widespread and the most preventable health problems facing the country today. High Cholesterol levels cause arterial plaque buildup which can induce hypertension and lead to heart disease and stroke. Dietary changes, regular physical activity and maintaining a healthy weight will help to get cholesterol levels under control.

Smoking Cessation: People who quit smoking reduce their risk of a heart disease death by one-third as compared to people who continue smoking. Furthermore, quitting smoking can lower the risk of heart disease by more than common heart disease medicines such as aspirin and statins. According to recent research findings, smokers who quit reduce their risk of a stroke by about 50 percent.

There are several other ways to fight stroke and heart disease and some of these are as simple as getting adequate sleep. Sleeping for less than 7 hours or more than 9 hours on a regular basis can increase your risk of heart disease. A recent study on the effects of drinking water found that women who drank less than two glasses of water every day were twice as likely to die from a heart attack as compared to women who drank 5 glasses of water. Staying hydrated will prevent sluggish blood flow and decrease the risk of clot formation. A high fiber diet can cut your risk by 25 to 35 per cent and so it is advisable to start your day with a high-fiber breakfast cereal.

Depression is a condition that is often ignored and goes undiagnosed, as most people tend to shrug it off as a common problem. If it is not treated, lasting depression can drastically increase your risk of heart disease; in fact, it poses a greater risk than passive smoking. So, while it is important that you improve your physical health, make sure that you do not disregard your mental health. Read more about stroke at www.home-remedies-for-you.com/.

This article was written by Jenny Lora a freelance writer for www.home-remedies-for-you.com.

References:
millionhearts.hhs.gov
www.who.int
www.healthypeople.gov
circ.ahajournals.org

This article was submitted to Aphasia Hope Foundation by Molly Clarke, a writer for the Social Security Disability Help blog hoping to erase some of the confusion surrounding the subject of disability benefits and make the process a bit easier.

Aphasia and Disability Benefits
If you can no longer work or earn a living because you have been diagnosed with aphasia, you may be eligible to receive Social Security Disability benefits. These benefits can help offset lost income and cover the costs of day-to-day life.
Unfortunately, the application process to receive disability benefits can be quite complicated and overwhelming. To make it easier for you, this article will review the different benefit programs and it will prepare you to begin the application process.

Social Security Disability Programs
The Social Security Administration governs two different types of disability benefits. These are the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program and the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program.
SSDI is provided to disabled workers and their qualified family members. Eligibility for SSDI is contingent upon a person’s employment history and the amount of taxes they have paid throughout their careers.
SSI on the other hand is provided to disabled individuals of all ages who earn very little income. To qualify applicants must fall within the financial limits set by the SSA.
To learn more about eligibility for both of these programs, visit the following page: http://www.disability-benefits-help.org/.

Social Security Disability Medical Requirements
In addition to meeting the SSDI or SSI program requirements, applicants will also have to meet certain medical requirements. These requirements can be found in the SSA’s Blue Book—an official manual of disabilities used by the SSA to determine each applicant’s eligibility for disability benefits.
Because aphasia is generally a secondary condition, it can be found in several sections throughout the Blue Book. Therefore, you will be most likely to qualify under a listing associated with the condition causing your aphasia. The following listings may apply:
2.09—Loss of Speech
11.02—Convulsive Epilepsy
11.03—Non-convulsive Epilepsy
11.04—Stroke
11.05—Benign Brain Tumors

Knowing how to recognize the symptoms of stroke can mean the difference between life and death. Lorraine Rapp and Linda Lowen, hosts of WRVO’s health and wellness show Take Care, spoke with Dr. Larry Goldstein, professor of neurology and director of Duke University’s Stroke Center about what you should do if you suspect a loved one has had a stroke.

Read or Listen .

A Guide to Symptoms of Stroke in Women, an article posted to Everyday Health in October 2013 by Diana Rodriguez

Would you recognize these symptoms of stroke in women? From hiccups to weakness, learn the signs.

Having the hiccups isn’t such a big deal — unless your hiccups are accompanied by other strange symptoms, such as the inability to move an entire side of your body or make your mouth form the words you want to say. You may not know that all these symptoms together can signal stroke in women.

More than 425,000 women will suffer a stroke this year, compared to 375,000 men. Twice as many women die each year from strokes compared to breast cancer. So why aren’t more women aware of the signs of stroke? Time to get educated.

Symptoms of Stroke: Women vs. Men

It’s difficult to predict the signs of stroke in women or in men, says Carolyn Brockington, MD, assistant clinical professor of neurology and director of the Stroke Center at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital’s Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery in New York City. More than any differences between the genders, the unpredictability comes from never knowing what part of the brain will be hit, she explains. Stroke occurs when blood supply is cut off to a portion of the brain, either by a blood clot (ischemic stroke) or by sudden bleeding in the brain (hemorrhagic stroke). The symptoms caused by the stroke will depend on where in the brain the stroke occurs.

“Stroke can cause completely different symptoms in everyone,” says Dr. Brockington. So, she adds, you can’t just generalize and say that everybody is going to experience weakness.

Most stroke symptoms aren’t grouped by gender. “It’s not so much that the symptoms are different, it’s that they’re less recognized in women,” Brockington says. Women don’t tend to think a stroke will happen to them — they may brush off weakness or confusion because they think that a stroke only happens to other people — men, older people, or those in poor health. The fact is that stroke can happen to anyone at any age.

Getting Specific: Symptoms of Stroke in Women

Signs of stroke in women can vary widely. The time to be most concerned, says Brockington, is when symptoms come on suddenly and are severe or unusual. For example, headaches are common, but if you get a headache that hits severely and suddenly without a known cause and feels unlike any other headache you’ve ever had, that headache could be a warning sign of stroke.

Other possible symptoms of stroke women may experience include:

Pain that affects the limbs or face
Feeling weak on, or being unable to move, just one side of the body
Feeling confused
Being unable to speak or communicate clearly
Hiccups
Feeling dizzy and losing your balance
Having trouble walking
Problems with vision, including blurry vision or seeing double
It’s also common for a stroke to occur along with a heart attack, says Brockington, which can cause even more symptoms. Symptoms that may signal a heart attack and that may also be more unique to women are:

Feeling short of breath
Feeling nauseated
Having chest pressure or pain
A rapid or irregular heartbeat or palpitations
One reason for some confusion surrounding stroke symptoms is that they are often vague. The takeaway is to be concerned about any symptoms that come on very suddenly, stresses Brockington. “It’s better to be safe than sorry when you’re dealing with the brain because the brain has a tremendous ability to recovery,” she says, as long as treatment happens quickly. If the brain is deprived of blood flow for too long, it “doesn’t regenerate,” she says. “It’s irreversibly injured.”

Read, print and share the original article by clicking on Stroke.

This article was posted by National Stroke Association. November is American Diabetes Month®—a condition affecting nearly 26 million people in the U.S. Another 79 million Americans are estimated to have pre-diabetes and are at a higher risk for developing Type 2 diabetes.

Diabetes is a disease that affects a person’s ability to move blood sugar (glucose) out of the blood and into the cells where it is used as the body’s primary source of fuel. This causes the sugar in the blood to build up. Diabetes is linked to serious health conditions including heart disease, kidney disease and nervous system disease. People who have diabetes are two to four times more likely to have a stroke than people who do not have diabetes.

African-Americans and Hispanics are more likely to develop diabetes than Caucasians, and experience greater disability from diabetes-related complications
Death rates for African-Americans with diabetes are 27 percent higher than for Caucasians
During American Diabetes Month and beyond, National Stroke Association wants you to know the facts and the connection between diabetes and stroke.

Learn more in their new brochure—Diabetes and Stroke.

Stroke Treatment: Stopping Stroke With Medications – Learn about the medications typically given for stroke treatment as well as those used to prevent future strokes. This article is by Diana Rodriguez and Medically reviewed by Cynthia Haines, MD. It was posted to Everyday Health on November 2, 2013.

During a stroke, normal blood flow to the brain is disrupted and brain cells can’t get enough oxygen. Medication is often a first step in stroke treatment, given to break up a blood clot in the case of an ischemic stroke or to stop the bleeding in the brain in the case of a hemorrhagic stroke. Many stroke medications may also be prescribed to help reduce the risk of another stroke.

Stroke Medication: Understanding t-PA

Tissue plasminogen activator, or t-PA, is one of the best weapons when it comes to stroke treatment. Given by injection, t-PA breaks up a clot that is causing an ischemic stroke and allows blood flow to the brain to resume. It can only be given to a person having an ischemic stroke — never a hemorrhagic stroke because t-PA can only worsen bleeding for those patients. Unfortunately, the use of t-PA is restricted. Current recommendations state that t-PA should only be given within three hours of the onset of the stroke, a short window of opportunity that shows the importance of early recognition of symptoms and quick stroke treatment. Ongoing research is providing information that may eventually extend that window, but it will still be only a matter of hours.

Stroke Medication: Other Drug Treatments

A number of other medications are prescribed to help stroke patients recover and to prevent another stroke:

Aspirin. Aspirin helps to thin the blood, to treat a current stroke and reduce the risk of another one. Ischemic stroke patients are almost always given aspirin in the emergency room. However, it is very important that people who already take aspirin each day or take another blood-thinning medication tell doctors so they are aware the blood is already thinned. A person having a hemorrhagic stroke should not take aspirin because it can increase bleeding in the brain.
Anticoagulants. Blood-thinning medications like warfarin (Coumadin) are also called anticoagulants, meaning they prevent blood clots from forming. These medications are sometimes given to help thin the blood of ischemic stroke patients. Anticoagulants can’t treat a clot that has already formed, but can keep another clot from forming. People with atrial fibrillation, a major risk factor for stroke, take an anticoagulant to help prevent blood clots. As with aspirin, be sure to tell doctors if you already take one of these medications. Blood thinners may cause you to bleed too much if you get a cut or bruise easily if you are injured, so be extra careful when taking them.

Antiplatelet medications. These drugs also help prevent blood clots from forming by preventing platelets (cells found in the blood that allow the blood to clot) from sticking together and forming an ischemic stroke-causing blood clot. Clopidogrel bisulfate (Plavix) and ticlopidine hydrochloride (Ticlid) are some common antiplatelet medications. Antiplatelet medications can make you bleed easily — and too much — so take care if you receive a cut or other injury. Always tell doctors if you are taking an antiplatelet medication.

Blood pressure medications. High blood pressure is a major risk factor for stroke, so people who have had a stroke will likely be put on an antihypertensive (blood pressure lowering) medication to reduce their risk of another stroke if they suffer from high blood pressure. There are many different types of blood pressure medications available, including amlodipine besylate (Norvasc), benazepril (Lotensin), metoprolol (Toprol XL), and ramipril (Altace), and they reduce blood pressure in different ways. Some drugs help by widening blood vessels, others lower heart rate, while still others help to remove unnecessary fluids from the body. Antihypertensives are pretty safe medications, but some people may experience side effects including coughing, dizziness, a lowered heart rate, headaches, impotence, and depression.
Anticonvulsant medications. When the brain sustains damage after a stroke, seizures are common. To prevent the risk of seizure in a stroke victim, doctors may prescribe an anti-seizure medication, also known as an anticonvulsant. Lorazepam (Ativan), divalproex sodium (Depakote), and phenytoin (Dilantin) are a few commonly prescribed anticonvulsants. Some may have side effects that include stomachache or nausea, weight gain, and sleepiness.
Stroke Treatment: Treat and Prevent

The immediate goal of stroke medication is to restore blood flow to the brain to prevent any further damage. Because patients who have already had one stroke are likely to have another, doctors may prescribe a number of medications to help prevent that from happening. Taking stroke treatment medication is an important part of getting back to good health — and staying there.

Read, print or share this article by clicking on Stop Stroke.

Andrew Marr: my stroke made me a better artist, an article posted in the guardian.com by Jonathan Jones, October 7, 2013

The broadcaster has had a lifelong love of drawing and once toyed with art college. As he publishes a book of his work, he explains how art sustained him in his recovery.

Drawing, believes Andrew Marr, is much too important to be left to artists. Everyone should do it. The simple act of setting pencil to paper can change your life, maybe even help save it.

“After my stroke,” he says, sitting in his modest but stylishly done-up suburban house in London, “I was lying in bed and just drawing pictures of the covers and the end of the bed: in a sense, nothing. But it starts you thinking, ‘Oh yes, my mind’s still there, I’m still engaging in the same way that I was.’ I might not have the same skill because I can’t move my arm properly, but the desire to do it is still there.”

The morning is so pallid that the only colour seems to come from his collection of rollicking abstract paintings by Gillian Ayres. Marr is nursing his left hand as he explains how his illness, and slow recovery this year, affects his ability to make pictures.

“I can draw again all right, but because I still can’t use this hand very well and it’s not strong, holding the bit of paper or the notebook in one hand and drawing with the other is something I can’t do. So I’ll be drawing and the notebook will slip off my knees and I have to pick it up again. Sharpening pencils takes for ever. I drop things all the time, so I sit on a bench surrounded by pencils I’ve dropped, bits of rubber. It’s a messier and slower business, but I can do it – which is great.”

Then, in a bold thought that says a lot about him, he muses that having a stroke has actually made him a better artist. We talk about late Picasso, late Titian and late Cézanne, how they all got greater in old age; how his friend David Hockney says painting is an old man’s game. He’s not old – he’s 54 – but just as age made his heroes paint more wildly, his temporary loss of function has forced him to be more daring.

“I think that, since the stroke, I’ve loosened up a bit because, to be honest, putting one line on a bit of paper takes me a little bit more effort than it did, so you don’t want to waste the effort. And my big problem as a drawer has always been to be finickity, too dibbity-dabbity as they used to say.”

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There are several articles about people becoming artistic after a stroke Re-wires their brain. Click on Artistic .

The brain is a complex organ that controls many bodily functions. A stroke interrupts or severely reduces the blood supply to a particular area of the brain, depriving it of oxygen and causing brain cells to die. If the region affected controls a particular bodily function, then that part of the body won’t work as it should — and this includes the brain’s language center.

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An article posted to MedPage Today Oct 23, 2013 By Todd Neale, Senior Staff Writer, MedPage Today
Reviewed by Robert Jasmer, MD; Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco

The overall burden of stroke in terms of absolute numbers of people affected around the world is growing, especially in younger age groups and in low-to-middle-income countries, a global study showed.

In 2010, there were 16.9 million people who had a first stroke, 33 million stroke survivors, and 5.9 million people who died from a stroke — increases of 68%, 84%, and 26% respectively since 1990, according to Valery Feigin, MD, of the Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand, and colleagues.

In addition, 102 million disability-adjusted life years DALYs were lost, up 12%, the researchers reported online in The Lancet.

What’s more, there was a 25% (95% CI 13% to 33%) increased incidence of stroke in those ages 20 to 64. At the end of the study period, 31% of first strokes occurred in people younger than 65, up from 25% in 1990.

If those trends continue, there will be an estimated 12 million stroke deaths, 70 million stroke survivors, and more than 200 million DALYs lost globally each year by 2030, with low- and middle-income countries bearing the brunt of the problem, they noted.

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NIH announces 15 Clinical and Translational Science Awards to help translate scientific discoveries to improved health.

Translating basic discoveries into new treatments that tangibly improve human health requires innovative collaborations and resources, as well as a diverse, highly trained workforce. To help meet these needs, the National Institutes of Health today announced more than $79 million in fiscal year 2013 funding to support 15 Institutional Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA).

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