Medical News

You probably have heard of anti-inflammatory medications. But did you know that there is a relationship that exists between inflammation and diet? Indeed, there is such a thing as an anti-inflammatory diet which consists of foods that prevent onset of inflammations.

What is an inflammation in the first place? Inflammation is simply a localized reaction of the cells and tissues in response to irritation, infection or injury. It is characterized by pain, red coloration and swelling, with serious conditions accompanied by loss of movement or even function. Common inflammation conditions we know include arthritis and gout, but chronic diseases such as heart disease and stroke can also be attributed to some form of inflammation.

Recent research studies today link inflammation to a wide range of chronic diseases. Heart diseases, depression, diabetes, and hay fever seem to be very different in terms of symptoms but they all have one thing in common: inflammation. In order to avoid chronic diseases linked to inflammation, it is then very important to prevent and reverse damage that this systemic inflammation can cause. And yes, you are right – this can be done through a healthy, balanced, anti-inflammatory diet.

The food we eat can affect inflammation in an unpredictably complex manner. The best advice to follow is to avoid “pro-inflammatory foods” or foods that increase inflammation, and take in more of anti-inflammatory food sources. This means taking less of saturated fats found in meats, eggs, and dairy products which are rich in inflammation-promoting arachidonic acid, while taking more or low fat milk, lean meat, fish and vegetables. It is also important to avoid taking in too much sugar as it is not only related to inflammation but to obesity and many other chronic diseases as well.

The benefits of maintaining a healthy diet free of pro-inflammatory compounds do not only free you from the risk of developing inflammation and conditions that go with it, but it also provides long term benefits. You will eventually realize how a good anti-inflammatory diet can make your skin look younger, remove the allergy symptoms, make your joints feel better, and give you an overall healthy feeling.

Omega-3 fatty acids in fish oil are one of the most important aspects in a healthy, anti-inflammatory diet. These essential fatty acids are very potent anti-inflammatory agents that can protect and relieve you from all forms of inflammation. You can get your daily dose of omega 3 fish oils through intake of adequate amounts of fish and seafood, or take a regular dose of fish oil supplements. Make sure to consult with your nutritionist or doctor regarding appropriate dosage.

Aside from the strong relationship between inflammation and diet, research studies also suggest the importance of leading healthy lifestyle habits such as exercising regularly, maintaining an ideal weight, minimizing stress, and avoidance of smoking and alcohol.

In order to protect you against heart disease, a good diet is critical. You already know that a diet high in fat is unhealthy. And you also know that vitamins and minerals are valuable.

The problem is, getting a health diet with today’s fast food lifestyle is hard. We are always eating on the run. And not stopping for the right fruits and vegetables. Not to mention, getting the suggested amount of certain vitamins from your normal diet can be difficult do to processing and cooking.

Health professionals are recognising more and more that supplements are necessary for good heath. We can’t get everything we need from diet alone. And Acai Berry Juice may be one of the healthiest supplements that you will ever find.

Acai berry juice is showing a lot of promise in the promotion of heart health. It is full of ingredients which have proven to be good for your cardiovascular system.

Nutrients like vitamins, minerals, fatty acids and fiber are all present.

First of all, Acai Berry is high in Omega 6 and Omega 9 fatty acids. These nutrients have been shown to have a protective affect on your cardiovascular system. They are also believed to lower cholesterol levels in the blood.

Next are the antioxidants. This is what Acai is best known for. These antioxidants remove free radicals to reduce the oxidization of your cells. This can help to reduce ischemia, which is a lack of oxygen to your organs.

Acai berry is also high in fiber. Fiber helps to clean the build up of bad cholesterol in your blood.

Studies are ongoing about the affect of Acai berry and your heart. Along with other studies on antioxidants, vitamins and other minerals. But, it is known that diet is extremely important.

Acai berry has been described as nature’s perfect food because it is so high in these important ingredients.

Vitamins, antioxidants, fatty acids and fiber have all proven beneficial in maintaining good heart health. The reduce the bad cholesterol and remove free radicals.

As with any change in diet, you should talk to your doctor about adding Acai Berry to your daily routine. There are no known drug interactions with Acai. But, people on Anti-coagulants should use caution since Acai has the opposite affect. Also, it contains potassium which some drugs may interact with.

Acai has been proven a safe and healthy food which has been consumed for hundreds of years in the rain forests of Brazil.

You only have one heart. You owe it to yourself to keep it healthy. Acai Berry Juice can be a big part of that plan.

Cardiovascular diseases are getting very common these days, and one of the main reasons behind them is the change of lifestyle which is getting unhealthy and inactive with every passing day. Mexican pharmacy viagra – large selection of medications online. Still, by making some small efforts and changing our lifestyle, this problem can be avoided to a certain extent.

Here are some tips for a healthy heart.

1. Eat more grains, vegetables, greens, fresh fruits, fish, seeds and yogurt. Avoid fast food altogether and try cooking at home.
2. Eat less of milk, cheese and nuts. Keep a strict look at cholesterol level. Monitor it regularly and consult your doctor immediately in case of anything unusual.
3. Add garlic to your recipes. Its benefits are strongest when raw and crushed or finally chopped. It is advised to use it before breakfast with an empty stomach. Have a whole clove or two, put them in your mouth and gulp it down with water just like a pill. Don’t overdo as it may lead to digestive disorder.
4. Use foods like carrots, cabbage, sweet potatoes and dark leafy greens. They contain beta-carotene which is very good for cardiac health.
5. Reduce sodium in your diet. Try to limit your salt (sodium chloride) intake to no more than 1.25 tablespoons per day.
6. Eat regular meals. Try to have small frequent meals. They are easier to digest and provide constant energy to body.
7. Drink at least 8 glasses a day. Water is not only beneficial to your heart but also to your overall health.
8. Switch to tea from coffee.
9. Exercise regularly. Your muscles are fat burning machines. Use this machine efficiently.
10. If possible, take the stairs instead of elevator or escalator.
11. Do the housework yourself. Think of it as an extra chance to exercise.
12. Try to maintain healthy weight. Find out your ideal body weight with respect to your height and make efforts to stay within in the prescribed limits.
13. Quit smoking.
14. Avoid Alcohol.
15. Sleep adequately, at least 6 to 8 hours per day.
16. Monitor your blood pressure regularly.
17. Keep an eye on your cholesterol levels.
18. Regularize your work schedule to avoid overstressing yourself.
19. Practice stress reduction techniques such as deep breathing, yoga and meditation.
20. Laughter is a good medicine and does not cost a bit.
21. Get medical check ups done regularly.
22. Sugar level is very critical. Control your diabetes.
23. Find your family history of cardiovascular diseases.
24. Love is a blessing. Try spending time with your loved ones.
25. Take the medications as prescribed by your doctor.

Cholesterol is essential for the body to produce healthy cells and some vital hormones. These are fatty deposits present in the blood vessels. But over deposition of fat or high cholesterol also known as Hypercholesterolemia restricts the flow of blood due to narrowing of the space in blood vessels and decreasing the oxygen content of the blood, leading to serious health conditions which can be fatal. Person having high level of cholesterol faces high blood pressure, high risk of heart attacks and stroke. 1 out o 3 persons in modern age have high cholesterol deposits running higher risks of coronary diseases, if not controlled at desired levels.

LDL (termed as bad cholesterol) and HDL (termed as good cholesterol) are the two types under which cholesterol can be categorized. It is desirable to reduce the bad cholesterol and increase the good cholesterol. There are no particular symptoms of high blood cholesterol but often high blood pressure, coronary disease and other heart diseases are the outcome of this high cholesterol level.

Causes

A High cholesterol level in blood is another consequence of modern sedentary life style in tune with faulty and unhealthy eating habits.

Other causes can be:

1. Obesity leading to higher levels of bad cholesterol and triglycerides.

2. Heredity

3. Age and sex, women generally develop high cholesterol levels after menopause surpassing the cholesterol levels of men of the same age.

4. Excessive smoking and drinking.

5. Stress and tension.

6. Some types of medication.

Cures

High blood cholesterol can be brought down within tolerable levels if a person is aware of the disease and follow simple curing steps with religious regularity, except for certain age levels where medical intervention is necessary.

1. Drinking plenty of water at least 8-10 glasses per day cures the person.

2. Avoiding fat rich foods (containing saturated fatty acids), lowering the intake of carbohydrates, processed food, dairy products lowers the cholesterol levels.

3. Increased amount of fiber rich foods, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, cereals in the diet lowers the blood cholesterol levels.

4. Food must be cooked in sunflower oil or rice bran oil.

5. Taking raw onion or onion juice helps in lowering blood cholesterol.

6. Garlic has also been a great natural cure in lowering blood cholesterol.

7. Nuts like almonds and walnuts if taken regularly lower blood cholesterol.

8. Red yeast rice is good natural way to control blood cholesterol levels.

9. Fruits rich in Vitamin C are effective in lowering the blood cholesterol.

High blood cholesterol can pose real threat to the life if undiagnosed and untreated for a long time. Regular blood tests after certain age and some changes in the life style is necessary like avoiding smoking and drinking and adopting some physical regime, for a better heart and a blessed life.

Tips to prevent heart disease is all about finding smart, affordable ways of avoiding becoming another statistic. This is no easy task with heart disease accounting for approximately one out of every four deaths annually in the United States. While these tips to prevent heart disease will provide you with some very good ideas you will have to supply the willpower. After all, change is often times something that doesn’t come naturally to most of us, at least at first.
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Nevertheless, I think you will find these tips to prevent heart disease interesting, affordable, and achievable.

• Bring out the fish oil: Fish oil has been around a long time but it wasn’t until recently that research determined that the oil from cold water fatty fish (salmon, anchovies, herring, sardines, albacore tuna) provides protection against coronary disease. The omega 3 fatty acids found in fish oil help lower triglycerides (fats in the blood), lower blood pressure, reduce the risk of blood clots, improve arterial health, and reduce the amount of arterial plaque (which narrows arteries can lead to a heart attack). According to the American Heart Association a suggested heart health dosage ranges from 700 mg of the omega 3 fatty acids DHA and EPA to 900 mg per day.
• Become more active: The latest studies reveal that 39.5 percent of those who have a heart attack are considered to be inactive. This certainly makes a lot of sense, because as a person grows older they generally tend to be less active. The Surgeon General recommends adults should exercise five or more days a week staying at it for 30 minutes or more.
• Watch your weight: With so many people overweight it is easy to see how this one of our tips to prevent heart disease might be the hardest to master. After all we live in a sea of fattening foods at affordable prices. Excess weight increases the amount of work the heart has to do. It also raises blood pressure and blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels, and lowers artery scrubbing HDL (good) cholesterol levels.
• Don’t smoke: Saying no to cigarettes is not an easy thing to do but quitting is an intricate part of any effective heart disease prevention plan. One recent study found smokers are 4 times more likely to develop heart disease than non smokers.
• Change your eating habits: One of best suggestion here is to eat more fruits, vegetables, and soluble fiber foods (oat bran, apples, pears) and less meat. Additionally, substituting fish twice a week for other meats is a heart healthy idea as well.
• Consider a natural cholesterol reduction supplement: Lowering blood cholesterol is not always an easy thing to accomplish with some finding they need that little extra bit of help to get them to the finish line. Natural cholesterol reduction supplements are a safe and effective compliment to any serious heart disease prevention plan.

In summary, there are no magic bullets in our tips to prevent heart disease. Heart disease prevention is simply about making smart lifestyle choices combined with supplementation.

The heart is a complex organ whose primary function would be to pump blood via the pulmonary and systemic circulations. It is composed of four muscular chambers:

• the main pumping chambers,
• the lead and correct ventricles,
• and the left and right atria, which act like “priming pumps” responsible for the final 20-30% of ventricular filling.

Peripheral venous return in the inferior and superior venae cavae fills the right atrium and ventricle (via the open tricuspid valve). With atrial contraction, additional bloodstream flows through the tricuspid valve and completes the filling of the suitable ventricle. Unoxygenated blood is then pumped to the pulmonary artery and lung by the suitable ventricle via the pulmonary valve.

Oxygenated blood returns in the lung towards the left atrium by way of four pulmonary veins. Sequential left atrial and ventricular contraction pumps blood back towards the peripheral tissues. The mitral valve separates the left atrium and ventricle, and the aortic valve separates the lead ventricle in the aorta. The heart lies free within the pericardial sac, attached to mediastinal structures only at the excellent vessels.

Throughout embryologic development, the heart invaginates to the pericardial sac like a fist pushing into a partially inflated balloon. The pericardial sac is composed of a serous inner layer (visceral pericardium) directly apposed towards the myocardium and a fibrous outer layer known as the parietal pericardium.

Below typical problems, around 40-50 mL of clear fluid, which most likely is an ultrafiltrate of plasma, fills the space in between pericardial sac. The lead primary and correct coronary arteries arise in the root from the aorta and provide the principal bloodstream supply towards the heart.

The big lead primary coronary artery usually branches to the lead anterior descending artery and also the circumflex coronary artery. The left anterior descending coronary artery provides off diagonal and septal branches that provide bloodstream towards the anterior wall and septum from the center, respectively. The circumflex coronary artery continues close to the center within the left atrioventricular groove and gives off large obtuse marginal arteries that provide bloodstream to the lead ventricular free wall.

The right coronary artery travels in the suitable atrioventricular groove and supplies blood to the right ventricle via acute marginal branches. The posterior descending artery, which supplies blood to the posterior and inferior walls of the left ventricle, arises from the right coronary artery in 80% of individuals (right-dominant circulation) and from the circumflex artery within the remainder (left-dominant circulation).

Contraction from the heart chambers is coordinated by a number of regions within the center that are composed of myocytes with specialized automaticity (pacemaker) and conduction properties. Cells within the sinoatrial (SA) node and also the atrioventricular (AV) node have quick pacemaker prices (SA node: 60-100 beats/min).

AV node: 40-70 beats/min), and the His bundle and Purkinje fibers are characterized by rapid rates of conduction. Simply because it has the fastest intrinsic pacemaker rhythm, the SA node is usually the site of initiation of the cardiac electrical impulse during a typical heartbeat. The impulse then quickly depolarizes both the left and correct atria as it travels towards the AV node.

Conduction velocity slows from 1 m/s in atrial tissue to 0.05 m/s in nodal tissue. After the delay within the AV node, the impulse moves quickly down the His bundle (1 m/s) and Purkinje fibers (4 m/s) to concurrently depolarize the suitable and left ventricles. The atria and ventricles are separated by a fibrous framework that is electrically inert, to ensure that below typical conditions the AV node and the contiguous His bundle form the only electrical connection between the atria and ventricles.

This arrangement allows the atria and ventricles to beat in a synchronized fashion and minimizes the chance of electric feedback between the chambers. The electric action of the center can be measured in the body surface at standardized positions by electrocardiography. On the electrocardiogram (ECG), the P wave represents depolarization of atrial tissue; the electrocardiographic wave (QRS) interval, ventricular depolarization; and the T wave, ventricular repolarization.

Simply because typical ventricular depolarization occurs almost simultaneously in the suitable and lead ventricles-usually inside 60-100 ms-the QRS complex is narrow. Even though the electric action of the little specialized conduction tissues can’t be measured directly from the surface, the interval between the P wave and the start from the QRS complicated (PR interval) represents primarily the conduction time from the AV node and His bundle.

In this article was will cover some of the basic guidelines for coronary heart disease, but first why don’t we take a trip back to anatomy class (with the help of the Merck Manual of Medical Information) and refresh our memory about blood flow and the heart. If you already know this stuff, or find it a bit technical feel free to skip over it and go directly to the guidelines for coronary heart disease.

As you know the heart requires a continual supply of oxygen rich blood and depends on a system of arteries and veins called the coronary circulation to accomplish this. The right coronary artery and the left coronary artery branch off the aorta (just after it leaves the heart) to deliver oxygen rich blood to the heart muscle. These two arteries branch into other arteries, including the circumflex artery, that also supply blood to the heart. The cardiac veins collect blood from the heart muscle and empty it into a large vein on the back surface of the heart called the coronary sinus, which returns blood to the right atrium.

Guidelines for coronary heart disease

Your best source of information about establishing guidelines for coronary heart disease is your doctor. Nevertheless, there are a number of lifestyle and diet changes that you can make to decrease your chances of having a heart attack or stroke.

Stay physically active: When you have coronary heart disease your arteries have accumulated plaque causing blood flow to your heart to be diminished, thus you may tend to feel fatigued much of the time. When tired we simply don’t feel like exercising, and if we do fatigued sets in rapidly. But staying active really doesn’t need to be about trying to match the same exercise routine you were able to do in your twenties. It should be about what you can comfortably do now! According to the American Heart Association simply walking 5 or more days a week, for 30 minutes or more minutes, will do the trick. Another couple of good ideas are to start slow and work your way up slowly. You should also look for a place to walk where the air is fresh; such as park or other natural setting.

No more cupcakes: Without diet and weight management we will not be successful in our battle against coronary artery disease. The truth of the matter is that these two cornerstones of heart heath are intertwined and generally a heart healthy diet will melt away a few of those unwanted pounds. The general consensus is that saturated fat is at least partially responsible for arterial blockages, so we must reduce our intake to a seemingly paltry 7 percent of calories. Also, cold water fatty fish should be eaten twice a week, along with a healthy amount of vegetables and soluble fiber sources such as oat bran, oatmeal, and apples.

Additional tips: Say no to cigarettes, moderate alcohol consumption, properly manage diabetes if present, and find ways to deflect stress.

Just recently, the FDA approved a prescription statin drug called Crestor as a preventive measure for healthy people, who have the beginning signs of heart inflammation. Will this work or is this the start of a slippery slope for thousands of trusting consumers down the road to poor health and drug dependency?

What is heart inflammation?

The bodies immune system is a delicate balance of fatty acids. Two of the most important are the omega 3 and omega 6 groups If these two are in a one-to-one relationship then things are probably fine. Unfortunately, our modern diets have resulted in a typical Westerner having 15 times as much omega 6s as omega 3s.

This results in an overactive immune system that causes heart inflammation which leads to hardening of the arteries, strokes and arrhythmia. Arrhythmia is the leading cause of death for people who have had a heart attack. It happens when the hearts electrical system short circuits to the point of chaos.

Back to the main story

Crestor, is the second best-selling statin in the U.S. The manufacturer, AstraZeneca, is now planning a new marketing and advertising campaign for Crestor, based on the new F.D.A.-approved criteria.

Dr. Mark Hlatky, a professor of health research and cardiovascular medicine at the Stanford University medical school, shares my opinion when he says

“It’s a good thing to be skeptical about whether there may be long-term harm from healthy people taking a drug like this.”

What does the drug do?

In this case, it is to be used with healthy people who have elevated levels of C-Reactive Protein (CRP). CRP is a test used to measure the levels of inflammation in the blood. It is a more reliable indicator of heart attacks than cholesterol alone. Tests have also shown that statin drugs will reduce CRPs, but at what cost?

There are several issues. The first is this. You do not need statin drugs to reduce heart inflammation. Remember, it is the lack of omega 3s in the diet that are the chief problem. These are the same omega 3s found in fish oil. This is not new information. Both the American Heart Association and the F.D.A. have recommended them for years. Similar European and Asian agencies have agreed.

Another issue is the price. The study, that the F.D.A. is relying on, suggests that for every 500 at risk people, Crestor might prevent one mild to moderate heart attack. Each pill will cost at least $3.50. An annual prescription for 500 people would run $638,000.

In other words, it would cost $638,000 to possibly prevent one survivable heart attack. Stroke numbers were similar.

Is it worth it?

Even if the drugs cost as little as a quality fish oil supplement, it still would be irrational. Statin drugs have side effects. That is one reason they are issued by prescription. Bayer Aspirin had a statin called Bacol. It was linked to 52 deaths from muscle disorders and removed from the market in 2001.

Crestors side effects are not this severe, but several consumer groups are also trying to get it removed. In addition to the already known side effects, the British medical journal The Lancet reported that statins could raise an individuals risk of developing Type 2 diabetes by 9 percent.

Let us see if I have this right. We should spend $638,000 [per 500 people] to perhaps lower our heart inflammation risk by less than 1%, but increase our diabetes risk by 9%.

Dr. Steven W. Seiden, a cardiologist in Rockville Centre, N.Y stated:

“The benefit is vanishingly small. It just turns a lot of healthy people into patients and commits them to a lifetime of medication.”

Fish oil supplements are food, not drugs. They not only reduce heart inflammation, but inflammation throughout the body – in the joints, eyes and brain. Your next step is to decide which road you wish to travel. Be careful. All supplements are not created equal. Except for the lack of side effects, some are not much more effective than Crestor.

The Predisposition to Cardiovascular and Heart Disease

Over the years, Dr Duncan Jefferson has been a permanent fixture at his local beach, surfing the waves and running miles along the soft sand.

“I exercised six days a week,” says the former GP. “I have a BMI of 22, I don’t smoke, my diet’s excellent, my blood pressure’s kept under control and my cholesterol numbers are so good you wouldn’t believe.”

Such impressive figures would make a man half Dr. Duncan’s 60 years proud. So it came as a profound shock to the robust doctor when just a few months ago, he found himself not fighting fis as he’d thought, but fighting for his life.

“I’d just been to Simon and Garfunkel’s final tour concert with my wife, daughter and her husband and we were running for the bus to head home”, he recalls. “Suddenly I thought, ‘what was that?’ There was a sharp pain in my right shoulder.”

Dr. Duncan had experienced pain in his right shoulder previously but had believed it was arthritic pain.

“I just thought it was due to getting older”, he laughs, “but the pain this day was much greater in intensity and I thought I’d better get it cheeked out as I was due to go on a holiday overseas.”

Who knows what would have happened had there been no holiday plans, because Dr. Duncan’s decision to call his doctor that day just may have saved his life. The doctor ordered an angiogram for that afternoon.

“Afterwards, the bloke who did it said ‘you’re not leaving the hospital, I’m afraid. I found out I had a critical lesion of my left main [coronary artery] and I would need bypass surgery.”

I critical lesion of the left main artery is sometimes referred to as a ‘widow-maker lesion’ – if the artery becomes completely blocked, you have no chance of survival. Dr. Duncan had a 90-95% blockage.

After six days of pacing the coronary care unit, surgery went ahead.

“I didn’t feel too scared at this point. I trusted the surgeon and tried not to think about the fact they were going to take a chainsaw to my chest! I was operated on at the Mount Hospital so I reckon I had the best surgeon and the best care that I could have wished for.”

“Afterwards, I woke up and this voice in my ear says: ‘I’m very sorry, Duncan, but we’re going to have to put you to sleep again.’ Apparently I was bleeding into my lung. When I woke up the second time, I had tubes coming out of everywhere… that was probably the worst part.”

Being on the other side of the medical equation and relinquishing control can be notoriously difficult for doctors but Dr. Duncan says he was the exception to the rule. He recalls that this was because the nurses were so gentle, caring and full of common sense, and because his surgeon was so good.

“The surgeon I had was technically brilliant, but unlike a lot of other surgeons, he was also very empathetic. At one point, he puts his hand on my shoulder and said ‘mate, we’ll look after you’ and that was so simple but so necessary, so helpful.”

Such a lesson in the impact of empathy has had a profound impact on Dr. Duncan and he feels grateful that he may understand people’s suffering more now.

“As a doctor, you think you understand pain and suffering because you’ve seen a lot of it but, until you’ve actually experienced profound illness and how isolating it is, it is impossible to completely understand. I think once you do, there is a magical way to look at someone and just simply say ‘I understand’ and they know that you do.”

Taking Care of your Ticker

• Watch your weight – if you are overweight, you’re 80% more at risk of heart disease
• Get some aerobic exercise – particularly beneficial is the kind of activity that increase your heart rate and gets you breathing more deeply
• Give up smoking – you know the drill: smokers younger than 50 are five times more likely than non-smokers to die of coronary heart disease
• Moderate drinking – regular binge drinking puts you at risk of heart problems. Try to eat when drinking and mix it up with non-alcoholic beverages, too
• Watch your diet – reduce saturated fats and salt if your cholesterol levers are high
• Diabetes put extra strain on the heart, so if you are diabetic it is ever more important to keep cholesterol, blood pressure and glucose levels under control

Following on from his initial treatment, Dr. Duncan undertook extensive rehabilitation with the West Australian Cardiac Rehabilitation Service (WACRS). WACRS includes a low-impact guided fitness program as well as education in its services to help patients rebuilt their strength and stay well in the long term.

“I can’t speak highly enough of the program!” says Dr. Duncan. “It’s a personalised program run by a caring, professional team. Every heart rehab patient should go there to help kick-start the rest of their lives.”

Now on the road to recover, Dr. Duncan still finds that the rehabilitation process requires patience and humility.

“Going from being someone who is pretty fit and feels in charge, to feeling helpless and not able to do anything for yourself is very humbling,” he says, adding that two people in particular have helped him through – “My dear old dad” [who had five bypasses at age 72 but is now going strong at 80] and his wife, who spent each day in the hospital by his side. “I think having someone to travel that journey with you makes an enormous difference.”

In late 2009, Dr. Duncan was able to make another journey – this time on their postponed trip to see family in England, Ireland and America. He decided he was well enough to go when he was back jogging on the soft sand at his local beach.

Dr. Duncan is also planning on taking part in the upcoming HBF Run for a Reason despite his recent health scare. “I would like to take part and, at this stage, there is no reason why I shouldn’t run. It’s all about caring for oneself and caring for the community,” he says.

And how does it feel to be active again?

“It’s a joyous feeling. You give thanks every day for what you can do, because when it’s taken away from you, it’s terrible. I treasure my health because I still have so much I want to do.”

When brain cells die during a stroke, the capacity of the region of the brain are lost. These abilities include speech, movement and memory. How a stroke patient is affected depends on where the stroke occurs in the brain and to what extent the brain is damaged.

What causes a stroke?

The artery blockage in the brain by a blood clot (is called thrombus) is the main cause of stroke. The part of the brain that is full by the clotted blood vessel is then deprived of oxygen and blood. As a result of the deprived oxygen and blood, the cells of that part of the brain die. In general, a clot in small blood vessels of the brain has been reduced by several factors, including:

1. High blood pressure (hypertension),

2. High cholesterol,

3. Diabetes

4. Smoking

What Are the Types of Stroke?

Embolic stroke

Embolic stroke may be occur when a blood clot or a piece of plaque (deposits of cholesterol and calcium in the inner wall of the arteries of the heart or unleashed), travels through open arteries, and present in an artery in the brain. If this happens, the flow of oxygen through blood to the brain is blocked and stroke occurs. This type of attack is called embolism. For example, a blood clot might originally in the abdomen after irregular heart rhythm, form, as in cases of atrial fibrillation. Generally, these clots remain attached to the inner wall of our heart, but sometimes it can break off, travel through the bloodstream, forming a plug (embolism) in an artery in the brain and cause stroke. An embolism can also come from one of the great arteries (eg carotid artery, a major artery of the neck providing blood to the brain), then downstream to clog a small artery in our brain.

Cerebral hemorrhage

A cerebral hemorrhage is another type of stroke, which occurs when a blood vessel in the brain rupture and bleeds into the surrounding tissue of our brain. A cerebral hemorrhage (bleeding inside the brain) can cause stroke by the extraction of blood and oxygen to parts of the brain.

Vasculitis

Another rare cause of stroke is vasculitis, a disease in which inflammation of blood vessels.

Migraine headache:

It seems a very small increase in the incidence of stroke in patients with migraine. The mechanism for the treatment of migraine or vascular headaches includes constriction of blood vessels in the brain. Some episodes of migraine can mimic the same stroke with loss of function on one side or edge of vision or speech problems. In general, the symptoms such as headache disappear.