Deans' stroke musings: Sensory Stimulation Not Enough 'Good' Cholesterol Makes It Harder To Recover From Stroke

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.

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Sensory Stimulation Not Enough 'Good' Cholesterol Makes It Harder To Recover From Stroke

So I wonder how soon after the stroke the levels need to be optimized?
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071126162559.htm
People are at an increased risk of memory problems and greater disability after stroke if they have low levels of "good" cholesterol and high levels of homocysteine, an amino acid acquired mostly from eating meat.

"These findings show metabolic stress plays a significant role in stroke recovery," said study author George C. Newman, MD, PhD, with Albert Einstein Healthcare Network in Philadelphia, PA, and member of the American Academy of Neurology.

The study involved 3,680 men and women over age 35 in the United States, Canada, and Scotland who had suffered a mild to moderate stroke within the past three months. The participants underwent cognitive and disability tests and were followed for two years.

Researchers found several factors predicted memory and disability problems after stroke: increased age, non-Caucasian race, recurrent stroke, diabetes, stroke in the left hemisphere of the brain, higher levels of homocysteine and lower levels of high-density lipoproteins (HDL), otherwise known as "good" cholesterol.

"People with low levels of HDL, high levels of homocysteine, and diabetes are twice as likely as those without such problems to have poorer cognitive function and greater disability after stroke," said Newman. "The study also found stroke recovery was the most difficult for people over the age of 57 with high levels of homocysteine, which is a risk factor for heart problems and associated with low levels of vitamin B6, B12, folic acid and kidney disease."

Newman says it's unclear why these factors are contributing to a slower stroke recovery and more research is needed. "We need to focus our attention on identifying and treating these vascular risk factors since they can be modified."

The findings are published in the November 27, 2007, issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke