Having Blinders Can Lead to Stroke

When I was a teenager I spent a lot of time in the woods with my father. He would cut wood (logs, firewood, cedar) and I would haul it out with the horse (sled, wagon, yarding chains – whatever fit the situation). Sometimes we would put blinders on the horse so that she would not be distracted by things on either side of her. She would only be able to see straight ahead as if in a tunnel.

Today I was discussing the tunnel vision often seen in health care personnel with a Health (sic) Care Manager. I used the horse story in my discussion. The only difference is that the blinders used on the horses were leather. Our blinders are the propaganda fed to us, to the doctors and to the medical staff by the big drug companies.

Doctors know little about health but they know a lot about disease and drugs. Drug companies know a lot about making drugs and making money. Doctors know about the research regarding particular diseases and specific drugs. But most of them don't know much the research on maintaining good health. How many know about the research article shown below?

Have you ever seen a nurse leave the Chemotherapy ward to have a smoke? I have! Have you ever stood at a hospital window watching a doctor smoke outside as 5 other professionals sat in a room waiting for him to begin rounds? I have! Have you ever looked at the greasy and sugar laden lunches some medical staff eat after working the morning with stroke and heart attack patients? I have! And I find it all very hard to swallow. What makes it so difficult for us to learn from our surroundings and our life experiences? What makes it so difficult for us to learn from other people's mistakes? What makes it so difficult for us to accept the secientific and medical research that is not drug related?

Do we think we are invulnerable or do we just buy into the philosophy of “When I get sick I’ll go to the doctor to get drugs and hope I can get better”? We can do a lot to keep our health – but we need to do it. We need to stop being reactive. We need to stop waiting for the disease and then hoping we can get some drugs to take the disease away?

I just read an article on diabetes. Nowhere in that article was the prevention of diabetes discussed – it was all about cures. Why? Does it have anything to do with so called cures (ie medications) being a billion dollar income source for the drug companies? Prevention does not pay in the same fashion.

Maybe we should just be born sick and never know what it means to be healthy. Why is our health not important to us?

Am I cynical? Maybe I have just seen too much? I like my health! Doctors and statisticians (and life insurance companies) talk about lifespan. Maybe we should be talking about health span. How enjoyable is it to have a long life if you do not have your health as well?

If we don’t take the time to protect our health now, we are saving that time for our diseases.

BRITISH STUDY:
SUMMARY:
In a British study of over 20,000 adults, those with the highest plasma vitamin C levels had a significantly lower risk of stroke when compared to adults with lower levels.


Higher plasma vitamin C concentrations predict lower risk of stroke in adults

To date, clinical trials have not shown significant benefit of vitamin C supplementation in reducing stroke risk, but they have not examined the relation between plasma vitamin C concentrations and stroke risk in a general population.

A recent study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition examined the relation between baseline plasma vitamin C concentrations and risk of incident stroke in a British population of over 20,000 adult men and women. The participants completed a health questionnaire and attended a clinic during 1993"1997. After an average follow-up time of 9.5 years, the participants in the top fourth of plasma vitamin C levels had a 42% lower risk of stroke compared to those with the lowest levels. These results were independent of age, sex, smoking, BMI, blood pressure, cholesterol, physical activity, diabetes, social class, alcohol consumption, and any supplement use.

Plasma vitamin C concentrations, therefore, may act as an indicator of lifestyle or other factors associated with reduced stroke risk and may be helpful in determining those at high risk of stroke.

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 87, No. 1, 64-69, January 2008