Changing stroke rehab and research worldwide now.Time is Brain! trillions and trillions of neurons that DIE each day because there are NO effective hyperacute therapies besides tPA(only 12% effective). I have 523 posts on hyperacute therapy, enough for researchers to spend decades proving them out. These are my personal ideas and blog on stroke rehabilitation and stroke research. Do not attempt any of these without checking with your medical provider. Unless you join me in agitating, when you need these therapies they won't be there.

What this blog is for:

My blog is not to help survivors recover, it is to have the 10 million yearly stroke survivors light fires underneath their doctors, stroke hospitals and stroke researchers to get stroke solved. 100% recovery. The stroke medical world is completely failing at that goal, they don't even have it as a goal. Shortly after getting out of the hospital and getting NO information on the process or protocols of stroke rehabilitation and recovery I started searching on the internet and found that no other survivor received useful information. This is an attempt to cover all stroke rehabilitation information that should be readily available to survivors so they can talk with informed knowledge to their medical staff. It lays out what needs to be done to get stroke survivors closer to 100% recovery. It's quite disgusting that this information is not available from every stroke association and doctors group.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Why do stroke survivors believe in stem cells?

Practically every stroke forum I go to has persons commenting that stem cells are the only thing that will provide recovery for them. So far the only stem cell trials for the brain are in the safety stage, that is just to test that the stem cells do not cause problems. I see numerous problems that have to be considered and fixed before they can be considered successful.
1. If the cells are injected into the dead area they would need a blood supply and the cerebral spinal fluid would have to be moved out/absorbed.
2. Nothing would directly have the new cells take on the functions that used to exist in the dead area.
3. Injections next to the infarct but within a still working area would probably take on the functions that surround them. Neuroplasticity at work.
I know magical stroke recovery is the holy grail of stroke recovery but I don't think this is the solution. It may be helpful especially for smaller infarcts.
I won't make any comments on these except to say, read and ask your doctor.
World's first stem cell trial for stroke patients
Doctors have injected stem cells into the brain of a British stroke patient in the world's first trial of its kind.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8137163/Worlds-first-stem-cell-trial-for-stroke-patients.html
ReNeuron gives update on stroke clinical trial
http://www.drugs.com/clinical_trials/reneuron-gives-update-stroke-clinical-trial-11261.html
 Information on Stem Cell Research from NINDS
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/research/stem_cell/index.htm
 Can Stem Cells Block Stroke Damage? Yes, but in a Surprising Way
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=can-stem-cells-block-stroke-damage
Ischemic stroke treatment with stem cells
Recruiting patients April 2011
http://mynewtherapy.com/ischemic-stroke-treatment-with-stem-cells/
But this does make a powerful placebo, probably the same reason these nostroms worked in the 1800s.
http://oc1dean.blogspot.com/2011/03/nostrums-for-apoplexy-rehab.html

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  1. MareeJune 11, 2022 at 8:43 AM

    The answer to your question is: Desperation. Nobody wants to exist like this forever, and something that suggests even a slim glimmer of hope will be greatly desired. I spent a long time trying to get into stem cell trials in the US and UK( yes I heard later of Germany and China) as I live in Australia, and innovative stroke treatment there is non-existent. I was refused in 2 US trials because of my location and the opinion was that I would not return to the testing country for follow up (probably right if I got no improvement), and in desperation I asked if I could pay for my participation, but was still refused. Probably 10 years later, I found a US doctor, doing treatment in Peru. His method was not to directly inject the stem cells into the damaged area of the brain (which sounds the most efficacious to me) but into the spinal fluid (which sounded less dangerous, and also more likely to reach the brain than injecting the cells into a vein in the patient's arm as was being done in other treatments. I paid US$25000 (which he told me he was discounting for me as a special favour) and the procedure was performed in Lima. I never got to Machu Picchu, and spent maybe 7-10 days in Lima. I believe it did help the function of my dud arm a little, but I still cannot make a strong handshake movement. I still do believe stem cell therapy is the only thing that offers any hope AT THIS MOMENT IN TIME, and I need treatment soon as I am 62 already, no hope of going back to work, not a lot of hope in finding a husband, so whether or not I get a real cure, the future is looking pretty grim.

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