LifeCare Chiropractic

The Best Chiropractic Care in Mesa, Arizona

stroke

HOW TO CHECK THE MARKERS OF STRESS – (09-29-05)

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Potential markers of oxidative stress in stroke

This is such an important concept to get a grip on. Sure, we can homogenized our patient’s brains in a blender and directly measure markers of oxidative stress, but patients rarely benefit from this approach.

It does appear from several studies that malondialdehyde (MDA) is turning out to be a good marker. This is nice, because there are already several cheap and easy urine tests to determine qualitatively MDA levels.

Once we get a complete picture of how effective these markers for oxidative stress are in the nervous system, we can begin to take a more aggressive stance on targeted antioxidant therapies to lower risk/progression of neurodegenerative disorders and stroke.

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CHRONIC MIGRAINE INCREASES RISK OF CERVICAL ARTERY DISSECTION – (08-01-05)

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History of migraine and the risk of spontaneous cervical artery dissection

The association of migraine with stroke is becoming stronger and stronger and it is well past the time for physicians to stop treating migraines with pain meds and look at the entire patient.  Just medicating the patient pays no attention to the underlying physiological imbalances that are present and allow them to occur unchecked.

The responsibility is also on the migraine patient — they need to understand that to truly address their headaches that, in most cases, major lifestyle change overhauls are going to be necessary.

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MIGRAINE CAUSES DYSFUNCTIONS IN THE ENTIRE BODY – (07-17-06)

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Prevalence of unexplained upper abdominal symptoms in patients with migraine

Looking at recent literature on migraines, it becomes evident that we are approaching treatment from the completely wrong angle. Migraines are slowly being recognized as manifestions of dysfunction in the entire body. Oxidative stress. Toxin overload. Mitochondrial dysfunction. The medications used to treat migraines in no way address these factors. The best approach to migraines involves lifestyle changes to impact the systemic problem. If uncorrected, migraine patients have a higher risk of stroke and neurodegenerative disorders.

This article supports the systemic links w/ migraine, suggesting that migraineurs have higher likelihood of having digestive complaints.

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TYPE 2 DIABETES MELLITUS AS A RISK FACTOR FOR STROKE – (02-27-06)

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Metabolic Syndrome Compared With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus as a Risk Factor for Stroke

So metabolic syndrome was a greater predictor of stroke that diabetes, not because of the amount of risk it confers, but because metabolic syndrome is so darn prevalent. As high as 30%. 30%. Did I mention that the prevalence was as high as 30%? So why, I beg, is this condition so incredibly, blatently ignored?

There seems to be a never ending supply of bloodwork from patients coming into my office with strong family or personal histories of cardiovascular disease, and yet their bloodwork is limited to fasting glucose, standard lipids, and maybe an HbA1c. No fasting insulin, CRP, PAI-1, homocysteine. I’d pull my hair out in frustration, but I’ve none left…

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DO NOT IGNORE HEADACHES – (06-06-05)

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Headache, cerebrovascular symptoms, and stroke

Headaches, regardless of the type or label, are an indication of something wrong.  Whether physiology is imbalanced, whether the body is toxic and the brain is revolting, whether the headache has a musculoskeletal cause.  There is nothing “normal” about a headache.  Covering up the symptoms with medication without truly addressing the problem should be considered malpractice, but unfortunately it is the standard of care.

This article once again perfectly illustrates this concept.  The patient with migraine w/ aura is put on drugs to stop the migraine, and yet, in the background, the patient’s risk of stroke symptoms goes up 5 and a 1/2 times.  This is NOT good medicine.  It also further illustrates that migraines are a manifestation of a systemic problem and need to be addressed through lifestyle changes that will also lower their risk of strokes.

Read entire article here

 

FACTORS THAT COULD LOWER RISK OF HEART DISEASE AND STROKE – (02-13-06)

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Riboflavin Lowers Homocysteine in individuals Homozygous for the MTHFR 677C to T Polymorphism.

This is a perfect example of a problem with medicine and research today. Awhile back there was some debate over whether checking homocysteine added any predictive value to determining CVD risk and whether the addition of B12 and folic acid could lower risk of heart disease and stroke. Many said the effect was not strong enough to warrant the “hassle.” Now we see that riboflavin also plays a large role in this pathway, and in patients with the MTHFR genotype that had low riboflavin levels to start with, the reduction in homocysteine levels was a high as 40%.

So, any studies that did not find a strong effect of B12 and folic acid for lowering CVD risk now needs to go back to their data and see if the addition of riboflavin would’ve affected the results.

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VITAMIN C CAN PROTECT FROM REPURFUSION INJURY – (05-23-05)

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Hypoxia–reoxygenation-induced mitochondrial damage and apoptosis in human endothelial cells are inhibited by vitamin C

Many people are unaware of this, but with a stroke or heart attack, the area that is initially deprived of oxygen is actually SMALLER than the area that ultimately dies off.  This is because when a cell is starved for oxygen and that oxygen gets rapidly brought back, the cell is not prepared and mitochondrial damage occurs that can result in further cell death.  So, patients in the middle of a heart attack or stroke are frequently given drugs like TPA in the hospital to dissolve out the clot that is blocking blood flow.

We know have much evidence in support of compounds like magnesium, CoQ10 and now vitamin C that can protect from repurfusion injury.  While I do not know personally, I do not believe that giving high doses of these compounds by IV prior to repurfusion is being done on a regular basis.  I’m just not sure if I would be in a position to convey my desire for these compounds prior to repurfusion should I ever end up in this situation.  I would be a nice thing to have tattooed to my forearm, though…

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ASSOCIATION OF DIETARY INTAKE OF SOY, BEANS, AND ISOFLAVONES – (08-04-08)

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Association of Dietary Intake of Soy, Beans, and Isoflavones With Risk of Cerebral and Myocardial Infarctions in Japanese Populations.

As I’ve mentioned before, there is no shortage of “deadly soy” articles all over the internet. Unfortunately, this just does NOT agree with the medical literature. Again, in this study we see some very drastic reductions for women in heart attacks and strokes with higher intakes of soy. With soy intakes greater than 5 times per week, the reduction in stroke risk was 36%, heart attacks 45% and for cardiac death 69%.These are massive reductions.

Compare this to the statin class of drugs, with huge costs and serious side effects, and NO reduction in cardiac mortality. It is also likely that the intake of soy in this study really correlates with the adoption of a more plant-based diet.

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