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I Had a Stroke at 33

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Re: I Had a Stroke at 33

#121

Post by ozy23378 »

sergiosgc wrote: post #120
ozy23378 wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My first draft was actually more harsh, mostly because I do not consider this essay well written in several aspects. I did not insult the author; I just did not sugarcoat my criticism, as US American culture of insincere friendliness may demand.

I'm not North American. Your post has a high insult/information ratio in any culture.

You still have not pointed out my alleged insult (as in personal attack). The only insult I see here is your passive-aggressive one: "Humanity never ceases to amaze me, on both ends of the spectrum." As for your questioning why I did not reference external sources, the invalidity of this popular myth is far from arcane knowledge, especially on the Internet where it is just one web search away, and I do not reward lazy ignorance.

Re: I Had a Stroke at 33

#123

Post by [deleted] »

Retric wrote: post #51
magicalist wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure about strokes, but it used to be believed that a person with a concussion must be kept awake, but it turns out not to make a difference. It's still a fairly common trope in movies and on tv, though. One source on that: http://www.uamshealth.com/?id=10724

It's useful to detect problems not prevent them. One of the symptoms of interracial pressure, a significant risk with head injury, is drowsiness. But, other symptoms are also fairly easy to detect in a responsive patent. However, in cases of significant head injury this can be directly monitored allowing the patent to sleep. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000793.htm PS: From you link "If the person w…

[deleted]

Re: I Had a Stroke at 33

#124

Post by 300bps »

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.

Thanks for writing the article - it was well written. One item to point out to any fellow migraine w/ aura sufferers that are worried right now they're going to have a stroke...

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/patent-foramen...

Generally, a patent foramen ovale doesn't cause complications. But, some studies have found the disorder is more common in individuals with certain conditions, such as unexplained stroke and migraine with aura. In most cases, there are other reasons for these conditions, and it's just a coincidence the person also has a patent foramen ovale...The possible link between patent foramen ovale and stroke or migraine is controversial and research studies are ongoing.

I'm 42 and have had migraines with aura (mostly blindness) since I was 15. My father is 72, my oldest sister is 51 and my youngest sister is 45 and they have all had migraine with aura since a young age with no strokes reported yet.

Re: I Had a Stroke at 33

#125

Post by shekhar101 »

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.

This is extraordinary writing! Gripping to the end. I'm very _very_ curious to know how you are doing now? I hope you've recovered well.

Re: I Had a Stroke at 33

#126

Post by kirsebaer »

silencio wrote: post #79
ZeroCoin wrote: post #68

>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…

> ...was scolded like I was some drug addict just looking for a fix... It's tough dealing with drugs and potential abuse. You know if you're really in need or not, but they deal with people wanting them for any reason just because, and so the skepticism starts to show. There's the default assumption at hospitals/pharmacies of just locking everything down so the healthcare providers themselves can't abuse them too. My…

This is another reason for drug legalization. The paranoia around opiates has to end. Lack of access to pain medication is a huge problem globally. Every time there is a natural disaster doctors are arrested for carrying pain meds without waiting for formal permissions. After the Haitian earthquake many people had limbs amputated without pain medication.

Re: I Had a Stroke at 33

#127

Post by phkahler »

silencio wrote: post #97
omegaworks wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Had he not paid attention to the way things were being billed (i.e., between primary and secondary insurance), some costs may have been pushed onto her family. How does one pay attention to this in a time of crisis? Is there a good guide to navigating it somewhere? Last summer I woke up with a monster headache and suddenly stopped being able to put words to thoughts. Tried calling a taxi, couldn't say where I wanted…

Did you get a bill after the fact? You could call them up and negotiate. If you have two insurance plans, then it's mostly talking with a particular office/section that deals with coordination of benefits. Until my family members and I individually ended up switching to insurance with nice low flat rates for services, I used to negotiate everything from office visits to ER bills. Before service if you can (especially…

>> Did you get a bill after the fact? You could call them up and negotiate.

IMHO negotiation is one of the problems causing high health care costs. Prices are crazy high by default, but insurance companies are able to negotiate lower prices from providers. This means the uninsured are billed higher by default. It turns out that individuals can negotiate lower prices too - sometimes. I advocate that a given service provider should be forced to charge the same price for the same service to all patients. This might result in competition and lower prices, but in the mean time it should lower costs for the uninsured.

Re: I Had a Stroke at 33

#128

Post by Pxtl »

ricardobeat wrote: post #39
alukima wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The author points out that she didn't display any of those symptoms.

Though she says her speech wasn't slurred, you can tell from the story she had speech and comprehension difficulties. Regarding face drooping and arm drift, it could be that she just doesn't remember/didn't notice, again she says herself her memory was failing. I'm sure a doctor would have recognised the symptoms immediately.

She was sitting with her husband and friends for hours and they obviously felt extreme guilt about not realizing she was having a stroke. I'm sure they've all played that party back and forth in their minds for days wondering if there was something they should have noticed. That day would have been analyzed in agonizing detail by all of them. And it sounds like the writer had this conversation, as she had to re-piece so much together.

Re: I Had a Stroke at 33

#129

Post by modsrm »

ozy23378 wrote: post #112

> As a result, my left brain, the expert at numbers and language and logic and reasoning, a part of it suffocated and died. My right brain, the specialist with regard to color, music, creativity, intuition, and emotions, therefore could not talk to my left brain. This popular myth of broad specialization of the hemispheres needs to die. The author lost credibility there.

After you read it, is this all you have to say?

Lost credibility? The author is telling her story, she is not writing a scientific paper.

Re: I Had a Stroke at 33

#130

Post by Pxtl »

> Each night, I took the box of Lovenox syringes and carried it to my husband, sobbing. “It’s time for my shot,” I said, tears streaming down my face.

> Each night, he pinched skin on my belly as I screamed like a toddler and he injected the medicine.

Her husband sounds like an awesome guy - taking care of her in that state sounds incredibly difficult.

> My husband and I decided to get a divorce.

> “I think in hindsight, it was your stroke that changed everything for me,” he said.

> I thought it was the affair he’d had. But maybe he had a point. “Maybe that was the year,” I said.

Dang.

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