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What causes
Stroke?
Chinese medicine theory
recognizes four main pathological factors (agents) of
stroke: Wind, Fire, Phlegm, and Stasis. Other contributing
factors that cause stroke to happen are: - (1) prolonged
negative lifestyle such as emotional stress, overwork,
poor diet, and excessive sexual activity. (2) Unhealed
diseases:
Lifestyle factors:
1. Working long hours
under stressful conditions without adequate rest
2. Physical overwork
including excessive, strenuous sports activities
3. Emotional strain;
irregular eating habits
4. Excessive consumption
of fats, dairy products, greasy or fried foods, sugar, or
alcohol
5. Excessive sexual
activity (what constitutes “excessive” sexual activity
depends on the age and general physical condition of the
individual).
Disease factors:
• High blood pressure
— High blood pressure (140/90 mm Hg or higher) is
the most important risk factor for stroke. It usually has
no specific symptoms and no early warning signs. That’s
why everybody should have their blood pressure checked
regularly.
• Tobacco use —
Cigarette smoking is a major, preventable risk factor for
stroke. The nicotine and carbon monoxide in tobacco smoke
reduce the amount of oxygen in your blood. They also
damage the walls of blood vessels, making clots more
likely to form. Using some kinds of birth control pills
combined with smoking cigarettes greatly increases stroke
risk.
• Diabetes mellitus
— Diabetes is defined as fasting plasma glucose (blood
sugar) of 126 mg/dl or more measured on two occasions.
While diabetes is treatable, having it stilt increases a
person’s risk of stroke. Many people with diabetes also
have high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol and are
overweight. This increases their risk even more. If you
have diabetes, work closely with your doctor to manage it.
• Carotid or other
artery disease — The carotid arteries in your neck
supply blood to your brain. A carotid artery narrowed by
fatty deposits from atherosclerosis (plaque buildups in
artery walls) may become blocked by a blood clot. Carotid
artery disease is also called carotid artery stenosis.
• Peripheral artery
disease is the narrowing of blood vessels carrying
blood to leg and arm muscles. It is caused by fatty
buildups of plaque in artery walls.
• Atrial fibrillation
— This heart rhythm disorder raises the risk for stroke.
The heart’s upper chambers quiver instead of beating
effectively, which can let the blood pool and clot. If a
clot breaks off, enters the bloodstream and lodges in an
artery leading to the brain, a stroke results.
• Other heart disease
— People with coronary heart disease or heart failure have
a higher risk of stroke than those with hearts that work
normally. Dilated cardiomyopathy (an enlarged heart),
heart valve disease and some types of congenital heart
defects also raise the risk of stroke.
• Transient ischemic
attacks (TIAs) — TIAs are “warning strokes” that
produce stroke-like symptoms but no lasting damage.
Recognizing and treating TIAs can reduce your risk of a
major stroke. It is very important to recognize the
warning signs of a TIA or stroke.
• Certain blood
disorders — A high red blood cell count
thickens the blood and makes clots more likely. This
raises the risk of stroke. Doctors may treat this problem
by removing blood cells or prescribing “blood thinners”.
• Sickle cell disease
(also called sickle cell anemia) is a genetic disorder
that mainly affects African Americans. “Sickled” red blood
cells are less able to carry oxygen to the body’s tissues
and organs. They also tend to stick to blood vessel walls,
which can block arteries to the brain and cause a stroke.
• High bood cholesterol
— A high level of total cholesterol in the blood (240 mg/dL
or higher) is a major risk factor for heart disease, which
raises your risk of stroke. Recent studies show that high
levels of LDL (“bad”) cholesterol (greater than 100
mg/dL) and triglycerides (blood fats, 150 mg/dL or
higher) increase the risk of stroke in people with
previous coronary heart disease, ischemic stroke or
transient ischemic attack (TIA). Low levels (less than 40
mg/dL) of HDL (“good”) cholesterol also may raise
stroke risk.
• Physical inactivity
and obesity — Being inactive, obese or both can
increase your risk of high blood pressure, high blood
cholesterol, diabetes, heart disease and stroke. So go on
a brisk walk, take the stairs, and do whatever you can to
make your life more active. Try to get a total of at least
30 minutes of activity on most or all days.
• Excessive alcohol
— Drinking an average of more than one alcoholic drink a
day for women or more than two drinks a day for men can
raise blood pressure and may increase risk for stroke.
• Some illegal drugs
— Intravenous drug abuse carries a high risk of stroke.
Cocaine use has been linked to strokes and heart attacks.
Some have been fatal even in first-time users.
The internal organs most
likely to be weakened by these factors are the Kidney and
the Spleen, causing deficiencies of Chi, Blood, and Yin.
Deficiencies of Chi, Blood, or Yin permit the body to be
overwhelmed by the pathological factors of Wind, Phlegm,
Fire, and Stasis, resulting in such stroke-related
patterns as Liver Yang Rising. Stasis of Chi or Blood,
Phlegm combining with Fire, Liver Wind, or Wind in the
Meridians.
What are the symptoms
before and after Stroke?
Most of the symptoms for
Stroke are reflected on prevailing diseases described
under the above Disease Factors. In TCM the Chinese
pattern refers to wind dampness and Qi stagnant as
reflected by the tongue having thick coating. The
after-effects of Stroke are speech-difficulty, speaking
speech-impaired, walking- difficulty, limbs-debility,
limbs-numb, numbness, joints-numbness, joints-pain,
muscle-spasms, headache-dull, dizziness, pain-flank
(stabbing pain), epigastrium-pain, epigastnum-distention,
abdomen-distention, borborygmus, stool-diarrhea, vomiting,
hemiplegia, knees-weak, arm pit-cold (elderly), lower
back-weakness, Beii Palsy, headache, spasms, phlegm,
chest-cold (elderly).
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