They always say time changes things

But you have to change them yourself

Andy Warhol

I am taking the action to change my mind, I have a choice, it is my body…. I am the one in control,  I can regain function. There is no magic pill that can transport me back to how things were before my stroke happened.

Before my stroke movement was  not something I really paid much heed to, oh sure I exercised and worked on my fitness but, for example, I could lift my arm without much  thought,  because well it just happened didn’t it?  Just like babies and toddlers do, I can relearn the basics of movement, all over again, and retrain my body/brain connection. Thanks to neuroplasticity I have an opportunity  to alter the neuro – circuitry of my brain. 

One of the most important components of recovery is patience.  I wish I  could in all honesty espouse this virtue in spades, but  I am human and have  melt down days. Days when frustration trumps triumph. 

Its been  one of those times. The past few days have been a struggle. I started NeuroMovement® for Healthy Necks and Shoulders with enthusiasm, only to struggle with lesson 4. The pain in my shoulder is my brain overwhelmed, too preoccupied to  be able to move through sequences, and it  is  same with lesson 5 . I practise the visualization, but feel ultimately a sense of disappointment.. I get very excited when I start something new. Eager for immediate results….. and now I realize   I am missing a vital point of this program.  Go slow . Its not a rush.  Time to regroup.

Those who know me well  are aware that prior to my stroke a big part of my fitness regime was The Tracy Anderson Method. Over  the past 5 years patrons of my local gym got used to my daily workout which incorporated 30 minutes of dance  cardio…. Crazy old bird dancing! Ha ha! Today I would like to share this Ted Talk video by Dr. Jaquin Farias, after watching this talk today, I am thinking its time to re-introduce dance to my exercise regime TAMily  🙂

* I want to caution anyone reading my account, that I am no medical expert, I am writing this as a personal account of how stroke has affected me, and it’s my journey of recovery.

People who are depressed after a stroke may have a tripled risk of dying early and four times the risk of death from stroke than people who have not experienced a stroke or depression.

“Up to one in three people who have a stroke develop depression,” says study author Amytis Towfighi, assistant professor of neurology at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California (USC). “This is something family members can help watch for that could potentially save their loved one.”

Similar associations have been found regarding depression and heart attack, but less is known about the association between stroke, depression, and death, says Towfighi.

The research included 10,550 people between the ages of 25 and 74 followed for 21 years. Of those, 73 had a stroke but did not develop depression; 48 had stroke and depression; 8,138 did not have a stroke or depression and 2,291 did not have a stroke but had depression.

After considering factors such as age, gender, race, education, income level, and marital status, the risk of dying from any cause was three times higher in individuals who had stroke and depression compared to those who had not had a stroke and were not depressed.

The risk of dying from stroke was four times higher among those who had a stroke and were depressed compared to people who had not had a stroke and were not depressed.

“Our research highlights the importance of screening for and treating depression in people who have experienced a stroke,” says Towfighi. “Given how common depression is after stroke, and the potential consequences of having depression, looking for signs and symptoms and addressing them may be key.”

The findings will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 65th Annual Meeting in San Diego, March 16 to 23.

ᔥUSC
 

Image: istockphoto

Several weeks after mild brain ischemia, mice display a depressive-like syndrome characterized by increased anxiety, inactivity and “cheerlessness”. These symptoms of depression following a stroke are associated with the delayed loss of nerve cells in the brain’s reward regions. This is the major finding of a study published in the current issue of Biological Psychiatry.

Scientists at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin collaborating with researchers from Bochum, Magdeburg and Boston were able to show that delayed treatment of laboratory mice with cipramil, an antidepressant of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) family, not only prevented the development of depression, but also attenuated the subacute degeneration of nerve cells in the brain’s reward system after stroke. At the same time, the area in the brain directly affected by the stroke turned out to be smaller in those mice which had received the antidepressant. “These results indicate that antidepressants from the SSRI group protect nerve cells. This effect can also be harnessed even when medication is started days after the stroke,” explains psychiatrist Prof. Golo Kronenberg, who works on the subject of “Depression after Stroke” at the Center for Stroke Research Berlin (CSB) at Charité. [continue reading…]