STROKES In the USA
It is hard to imagine what my life was like before I suffered a series of three strokes in nine weeks. Sure I remember what life was like before stroke. My recovery has been unusual when you consider the damage and the doctors’ prognoses of my future. It was bleak.
There are 800,000 strokes a year in the United States, and there are 7,000,0000 stroke survivors alive today. This is a staggering number when compared to 15,000,000 cancer survivors. The tragedy in this number is that 80% of these strokes are preventable! My strokes cost $962,000 in medical costs and that’s only one person. Add lost earnings for six years and the overall cost to the economy is difficult to comprehend. I can assure you for every stoke there is a large number of people affected, including spouses, children, siblings, friends and co-workers.
When you consider those numbers, it makes you wonder why so little is done in the way of stroke education and prevention. The return on investing in such a cause would have to be significant, when you think about the amount of money spent on political campaigns and half of them have no return.
Strokes affect men, women, old, young, children from every background and culture. About one out every 149 people experience a stroke.
A lot of questions come to mind. First off, why? What’s the cause of these strokes?. I believe it to be lifestyle, specifically, the failure to monitor factors key to stroke prevention: monitoring and controling blood pressure, blood sugar (diabetes), cholesterol and smoking.
I was no saint when it came to these key factors. Through my informal research, one of these factors can and does cause strokes, but the probability skyrockets when you have two or more factors in the abnormal range. I am not a doctor, this is just what I observe when meeting with other stroke survivors. Something I do often, not for research, but to show them that with hard work I regained most functions and so might they.
The best outcome for stroke is prevention. It’s faster, cheaper and infinitely easier. If your not sure of your risk factors see a doctor find out what your risks are. It will be the best investment you have ever made.
REFUSE TO BE HELPLESS