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I Had a Stroke at 33

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Re: I Had a Stroke at 33

#61

Post by prawn »

tdicola wrote: post #35
GuiA wrote: post #32

Will smartwatches with heart rate/other health sensors be able to detect strokes right when they happen? Or maybe even slightly before they do?

I don't see how a clot in the brain would be detectable through heart rate at all.

I had a couple of ECGs recently. I'm not sure if they could get anything approaching the same graph through a watch some distance from the heart (the ECG has 8 or so contact points around the chest) but I did notice that a good portion of the cardiologists judgement came from inspecting the graph rather than anything more complex.

Re: I Had a Stroke at 33

#62

Post by morgante »

ryanSrich wrote: post #55
offbrand wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is health insurance not an option?

I do have health insurance but it only covers around 47% of my medical costs (at least when I go for a primary care visit, I suspect they might even cover less for a more expensive procedure). I understand that my coverage is not all that common, although most providers do an 80/20 split. So for a procedure costing $100k (an ambulance ride and a few nights in the hospital would easily run this high) you'd have to pay…

> I do have health insurance but it only covers around 47% of my medical costs (at least when I go for a primary care visit, I suspect they might even cover less for a more expensive procedure).

Actually, it's the opposite. For the vast majority of insurance plans, there's an annual limit to your copay.

To be honest, if there weren't that limit there would be no purpose to insurance at all.

Re: I Had a Stroke at 33

#63

Post by cell303 »

I was terrified after reading this. Reminded me that I should live a bit healthier, not drink more coffee then water, got to sleep earlier, wake up earlier, maybe even exercise. But more important, it got me thinking. The non-routine kind of thinking. Read some old diary entries. Wrote a new one, after almost a year.

Re: I Had a Stroke at 33

#64

Post by prawn »

meritt wrote: post #16
sergiotapia wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why, people enjoy the other types of articles - why should they not cater to them as well?

Because we associate BuzzFeed with bullshit clickbait spam. It makes it difficult for an article to reach the right audience when you have such a large amount of negative association with a particular brand. It'd be like if the supermarket tabloids starting include well-written and legitimate content. It's going to take a substantial amount of work to win over the millions of people who view them exclusively as a tab…

There are countless efforts to reach people with this sort of information. Official medical sources, highbrow papers, trashy sites. What's to say that this isn't the best option to reach a certain segment and that, as a bonus, it reached beyond that?

Buzzfeed may well be a Trojan to get better content to those typically reading vapid junk? Or, more likely, a way of building a financially-secure publication from trashy beginnings.

Re: I Had a Stroke at 33

#65

Post by xtinehlee »

ohquu wrote: post #6

What a beautiful article. My girlfriend had three strokes, in succession, two years ago (when she was 22). The night before these strokes occurred, she had a transient ischemic attack (TIA). She began speaking gibberish to her friends. She texted me later that night explaining what happened. Her friends had laughed about it because they thought she was just acting like a goofball. I had no idea these were signs of a…

I'm the writer of the story--thank you so much for reading. I'm glad to know that my experience helps people gain further understanding of strokes/brain injuries. I hope your girlfriend is in a better place, now.

Re: I Had a Stroke at 33

#66

Post by ryanSrich »

morgante wrote: post #62
ryanSrich wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do have health insurance but it only covers around 47% of my medical costs (at least when I go for a primary care visit, I suspect they might even cover less for a more expensive procedure). I understand that my coverage is not all that common, although most providers do an 80/20 split. So for a procedure costing $100k (an ambulance ride and a few nights in the hospital would easily run this high) you'd have to pay…

> I do have health insurance but it only covers around 47% of my medical costs (at least when I go for a primary care visit, I suspect they might even cover less for a more expensive procedure). Actually, it's the opposite. For the vast majority of insurance plans, there's an annual limit to your copay. To be honest, if there weren't that limit there would be no purpose to insurance at all.

Do you mean the insurance company has a limit for what they pay? [1]? I can't find a source for the limited co-pay that I think you're suggesting.

1.http://www.hhs.gov/healthcare/rights/limits/

Re: I Had a Stroke at 33

#67

Post by Gatsky »

huhtenberg wrote: post #2

Remember this - You have FOUR HOURS to get a person with a stroke to the emergency. If you do, their chances of survival are dramatically higher.

My understanding is that early presentation to hospital with ischaemic stroke does not improve survival [1]. The reason for early presentation is that if thrombolysis with clot busting drugs is administered early then long term neurological outcome is better. Survival alone is not improved however.

As discussed in another comment, the earlier the better. The idea is for as little time as possible to have elapsed between blocking off the blood supply and opening it up again. The reason for this is that when part of the brain becomes ischaemic, a central core dies instantly but around this there is a halo or penumbra that is not dead but at risk. This penumbra of tissue dies off over time, and can be saved if the blood supply is reconstituted. The penumbra can be visualised using quite clever MRI [2]. Having said that, trials that have tried implementing this kind of imaging to guide thrombolysis have not been positive, as compared to just thrombolysing everyone.

[1] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23791822 [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfusion_scanning#MR_Perfusion

Re: I Had a Stroke at 33

#68

Post by ZeroCoin »

>I wandered outside the boundaries of telemetry. They lost my heartbeat. When I returned, they scolded me.

The audacity of health care industry workers (those who should know what a certain disease entails) who place blame on their patients for acting normally is infuriating.

I had kidney stones once at a young age. I remember barely walking into the emergency room one night after they became too painful.

As soon as I arrived, white as a sheet of paper, they asked me a few questions... doped me up on morphine... and managed to "lose" me on a gurney in a hallway somewhere for a few hours until my girlfriend at the time came and found me.

They took xrays I believe and I was free to go with some more painkillers in hand.

Apparently the hospital told me that I was supposed to call them by X date if I wanted any more painkillers.

I called them back about a week after that date had passed, asked for a refill, and was scolded like I was some drug addict just looking for a fix. I think they even hung up on me. How could I be so stupid as to have forgotten a date they told me when I was high as a kite by their own doing? Right.

I ended up passing them without any painkillers which as many of you have probably heard is unbelievably painful.

I understand that it can get monotonous working in a hospital, but with the amount of money they're paid to work there you would hope that they would be required to operate with a little compassion. Considering the fact that many people in a hospital are leaving this world.

What if the author's last memory was that of a person she didn't know berating her for something she wasn't sure she even did?

Re: I Had a Stroke at 33

#69

Post by skierscott »

xtinehlee wrote: post #65
ohquu wrote: post #6

What a beautiful article. My girlfriend had three strokes, in succession, two years ago (when she was 22). The night before these strokes occurred, she had a transient ischemic attack (TIA). She began speaking gibberish to her friends. She texted me later that night explaining what happened. Her friends had laughed about it because they thought she was just acting like a goofball. I had no idea these were signs of a…

I'm the writer of the story--thank you so much for reading. I'm glad to know that my experience helps people gain further understanding of strokes/brain injuries. I hope your girlfriend is in a better place, now.

> I'm glad to know that my experience helps people gain further understanding of strokes/brain injuries.

After my severe traumatic brain injury, I'm trying to do the same thing. Brain injuries are so broad and so complex and dangerously invisible. I would guess this is the one unifying thread between us.

This is a solid A-level piece. Good job on both the writing and content.

Re: I Had a Stroke at 33

#70

Post by zrail »

ryanSrich wrote: post #66
morgante wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I do have health insurance but it only covers around 47% of my medical costs (at least when I go for a primary care visit, I suspect they might even cover less for a more expensive procedure). Actually, it's the opposite. For the vast majority of insurance plans, there's an annual limit to your copay. To be honest, if there weren't that limit there would be no purpose to insurance at all.

Do you mean the insurance company has a limit for what they pay? [1]? I can't find a source for the limited co-pay that I think you're suggesting. 1. http://www.hhs.gov/healthcare/rights/limits/

It's called "out of pocket limit". After you meet your deductible the insurance company will pay for every covered cost except for the copay and coinsurance. Once you've met your out of pocket max they will pay for every dollar of every covered cost.
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