Saturday News

Contents of This Week Saturday News ▶︎ October 24 / 2015

• Definition: Fish Oil (i.e. Omega-3)

Fish oil is oil derived from the tissues of oily fish. Fish oils contain the omega-3 fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), precursors of certain eicosanoids that are known to reduce inflammation in the body, and have other health benefits. The fish used as sources do not actually produce omega-3 fatty acids, but instead accumulate them by consuming either microalgae or prey fish that have accumulated omega-3 fatty acids, together with a high quantity of antioxidants such as iodide and selenium, from microalgae, where these antioxidants are able to protect the fragile polyunsaturated lipids from peroxidation. A longer definition comes from Wikipedia.

• Video: Fish Oil (i.e. Omega-3)

      - Fish Oil Supplements Do Not Prevent Heart Attack and Stroke: 
                Sounds Fishy To Me
      - Is Fish Oil Just Snake Oil?
      - How to Tell if Your Fish Oil is Real Omega 3
      - Fish Oil and Omega 3's. What Does it Mean
      - Fish Oil Benefits: Fish Oil and Omega 3 Benefits
      - Is Fish Oil Bad For You? 2 Shocking Stories Cause Medical Backlash
      - Fish Oil Benefits - Omega 3 Fish Oil Supplements - Men's Health
      - Fish Oil May Reduce Stroke Damage
      - Using Fish Oil to Heal From Brain Injury

• Headline Blog: Fish Oil (i.e. Omega-3)
• Fish Oil May Help Recovery.
• Hey! Can Fast Foods in Abundance Really Cause a Stroke? No Kidding!
• Fish Consumption and Brain Health
• Reducing Stroke Risk With Diet - What's the Latest?
• The World's Tiniest Hand Splints
• Garlic Salmon Over Spinach....yum!
• Enter Title Here
• Good Habits to Keep

• Eclectic Stuff: Many articles from many Guest Bloggers about Stroke
• An Obsession with People Watching
• It's All or Nothing
• #50shades of Frustration
• A Young Boy Made Me… Talk! Aphasia Speech Therapy
• The State of the Bike

• Weekly Columnists
• Musing: Omega 3 Fatty Acid for the Prevention of Cognitive Decline and Dementia
• Stroke Survival Sunday: Something Fishy
• Caregiver: Second Round of Grief Support
• Jester: Marijuana and Marriage
• TED Talks - Sandrine Thuret: You Can Grow New Brain Cells. Here's How
• Rick Mercer Report: Rick at the Red Bull Soapbox Race
• Laid-Back Admin: Welcome to SSTattler Guest Blogger - Beth Sinfield

• Daily Comics: For Better Or For Worse, Dilbert, Mayes, Doonesbury

• Future Topics in SSTattler

Saturday News | Future Topic
--------------+------------------------------------- 
Nov/21/2015   | Tie Two-End Shoelaces with One-Hand?
Nov/14/2015   | 3D Printing
Nov/07/2015   | Blood Pressure
Oct/31/2015   | Dr. Oliver Wolf Sacks

Definition: Fish Oil (i.e. Omega-3)

Fish Oil From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A typical fish oil softgel

Fish oil is oil derived from the tissues of oily fish. Fish oils contain the omega-3 fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), precursors of certain eicosanoids that are known to reduce inflammation in the body, and have other health benefits.

The fish used as sources do not actually produce omega-3 fatty acids, but instead accumulate them by consuming either microalgae or prey fish that have accumulated omega-3 fatty acids, together with a high quantity of antioxidants such as iodide and selenium, from microalgae, where these antioxidants are able to protect the fragile polyunsaturated lipids from peroxidation.

Fatty predatory fish like sharks, swordfish, tilefish, and albacore tuna may be high in omega-3 fatty acids, but due to their position at the top of the food chain, these species may also accumulate toxic substances through biomagnification. For this reason, the United States Environmental Protection Agency recommends limiting consumption (especially for women of childbearing age) of certain (predatory) fish species (e.g. albacore tuna, shark, king mackerel, tilefish and swordfish) due to high levels of toxic contaminants such as mercury, dioxin, PCBs and chlordane. Fish oil is used as a component in aquaculture feed. More than 50 percent of the world's fish oil used in aquaculture feed is fed to farmed salmon.

Marine and freshwater fish oil vary in contents of arachidonic acid, EPA and DHA. The various species range from lean to fatty and their oil content in the tissues has been shown to vary from 0.7% to 15.5%. They also differ in their effects on organ lipids. Studies have revealed that there is no relation between total fish intake or estimated omega−3 fatty acid intake from all fish, and serum omega−3 fatty acid concentrations. Only fatty fish intake, particularly salmonid, and estimated EPA + DHA intake from fatty fish has been observed to be significantly associated with increase in serum EPA + DHA.

The omega-3 fatty acids in fish oil are thought to be beneficial in treating hypertriglyceridemia, and possibly beneficial in preventing heart disease. Fish oil and omega-3 fatty acids have been studied in a wide variety of other conditions, such as clinical depression, anxiety, cancer, and macular degeneration, yet benefits in these conditions have not been verified.

Uses

Video: Fish Oil (i.e. Omega-3)

Fish Oil Supplements Do Not Prevent Heart Attack and Stroke:
        Sounds Fishy To Me

Published on Oct 13, 2012

SSTattler: +'ve in this YouTube...

Free Download: A Guide to Lowering the Risk of Heart Attack and Strokes.  In this video Dr Meschino challenges recent research suggesting omega-3 fats don't reduce heart attack risk.


Standard YouTube License @ Dr.James Meschino

Headline Blog: Fish Oil (i.e. Omega-3)

Definition: Blog (noun). Add new material to or regularly update to a blog. (≃1990s: blog shortening of weblog)

Fish Oil May Help Recovery.

Peter G. Levine
Stronger After Stroke

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Note: With regard to any supplementation -- Ask your doctor first. Ask your doctor first. Ask your doctor first. Thank you.

Fish oil may help many aspects of recovery from stroke. In my book (now in the second edition available for pre-order, just sayin') I put it this way:


Fish oil may help stroke survivors in two ways:
1. DHA and EPA may help to reduce swelling in the brain after stroke.
2. Fish oil helps overall function of the nervous system and is considered “neuroprotective” (a substance that protects the nervous system).

Fish oil helps promote the neuroplastic process and appears to help the brain recover after stroke. Fish oil helps restore a neurotransmitter after traumatic brain injury. It may do the same after stroke.

Fish oil "treatment is able to facilitate functional recovery after (stroke)." It probably also reduces mortality after stroke.

Great general discussion of fish oil here. It turns out that cheap fish oil is just as good as the expensive stuff.

Remember, always ask your doctor first!

See the original article:

Fish Oil May Help Recovery.

in

Stronger After Stroke

Hey! Can Fast Foods in Abundance Really Cause a Stroke? No Kidding!

Joyce Hoffman
The Tales of a Stroke Patient

Apr 15, 2013

Here's news from across the pond. For all my foreign readers, "across the pond" is a standing idiom, or expression, between the United States and Great Britain. We laugh harder because we won the American Revolutionary War lasting from 1775 to 1783. For Britain, that's a touchy subject--still. But back to the news.

Late last year, the American Academy of Neurology published a study about an increasing number of younger people having strokes. I don't want you to get all nuts, my dear reader. But while the stroke rate has declined among all age groups, the average age of stroke survivors--and non-survivors--is also diminishing. And do you know what that means? The elderly aren't the only ones who could have strokes.

The researchers, Dr. Brett Kissela from the University of Cincinnati and his collaborators, conducted a study of a sample population that examined the number of new stroke cases at three intervals: only 12.9 percent of all new cases of stroke in 1993 were found to be in people under 55, in 1999, using the same under-55 criteria, this percentage elevated to 13.3 percent, and  2005, 18.6 percent of all new stroke cases were found in the under-55 crowd, representing about a 50 percent increase over the first figure.

Fish Consumption and Brain Health

Bill Yates
Brain Posts

Posted 24th February 2014

I have previously examined outcomes for MRI changes known as brain white matter hyper intensities (WMHI).

WMHIs are noted in a minority of adults and are not completely understood. The changes are considered subclinical in nature, meaning  they do not reach a threshold for medical significance.

However, these subclinical WMHI are linked to higher rates of premature cognitive decline. Absence of WMHI is seen by some as one marker of brain health.

Jyrki Virtanen and colleagues from Finland recently examined the relationship between WMHI and other subclinical brain abnormalities in 3660 adults 65 years of age and older. A subset of subjects had a repeat MRI 5 years later.

MRI scans for this cohort were examined for several subclinical brain abnormalites including white matter grade, brain atrophy, ventricular size and sulcal size.

Subjects also completed blood levels of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). Omega-3 PUFAs are markers of dietary intake for fish and fish oils and higher levels have been linked to improved brain health.

Subjects were grouped into quartiles of omega-3 level from highest to lowest.

Reducing Stroke Risk With Diet - What's the Latest?

Jeff Porter
Stroke of Faith

Thursday, February 26, 2015

You are, the old saying says, what you eat.

Several years ago, that line was used to promote a low-fat diet. The reasoning was that if you eat fat, you'll get fat. Then came Dr. Atkins, high-fat, low-carb diets. Then more refined (and often fad) diets - high protein, low fat, low carbs, no sugar, paleo, vegan, etc. Eggs were bad, now are good. Milk was good and now, supposedly, is bad.

I still drink milk, however.

The latest target is sugar. But like fat, will we find out that certain sugars are good for you, while others are bad? When I had my stroke fat was bad. Then fish oil (aka fat) became good for you and now we buy Omega 3 pills. So will experts someday identify a sugar called, say, Ceti Alpha 5, that's good for you while other sugars are bad?

We're getting more sophisticated in our diets, to be sure. So read today how a study shows that a Mediterranean diet is linked to lower stroke risk:

A diet high in vegetables, whole grains, and healthy fats and low in meat, dairy, and sugar was associated with up to 18% lower ischemic stroke risk, Ayesha Sherzai, MD, a stroke neurologist at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City , and colleagues found. The more closely the women followed the diet, the lower their risk of ischemic stroke, even after researchers adjusted for potential confounders like physical activity, smoking status, and cardiovascular risk factors. 

"With stroke being one of the biggest disease burdens in the U.S. and throughout the world, and treatments not being as extensive as we would like them to be, diet is a risk factor that people can control," Sherzai said.

See the original article:

Reducing Stroke Risk With Diet - What's the Latest?

in

Stroke of Faith

The World's Tiniest Hand Splints

Rebecca Dutton
Home After a Stroke

June 26, 2014

Problem #1.  When I drive for 30 or more minutes my paralyzed hand gets tight from the constant vibration.    Solution #1: To keep my hand open I use foam tubing designed to slip over the handle of eating utensils.  It has a 5/8 inch opening that runs down the center of the tube.  The fit is not tight enough to keep my fingers absolutely straight, but the foam traps body heat which relaxes my muscles.  My hand starts out stiff as the photo shows and ends flat on my thigh by the time I arrive at my destination.  The foam also provides traction so my hand does not slip off my thigh.

Problem #2.  Pushing a heavy shopping cart makes my thumb bend severely.    Solution #2.    I slip a piece of foam over my thumb.  The foam keeps my thumbnail from digging into the side of my index finger.

Problem #3.  I have to grip a peanut butter jar tightly which makes my index finger and thumb bend sharply (see black line).

A severely bent thumb means I am strengthening a bully who is already too strong!  I eat a peanut butter sandwich every day because Smart Balance peanut butter has omega-3 oil which lowers my high triglycerides (a bad fat in the blood).

Solution #3: I keep my thumb and index finger straight by donning rubber finger cots used to count money.  The finger cots give me traction that keeps my fingers straight as my sound hand uses a knife to dig peanut butter out of the jar.  I keep the finger cots in a shot glass for measuring liquor.  The shot glass sits on the windowsill in my kitchen.

See the original article:

The World's Tiniest Hand Splints

in

Home After a Stroke

Garlic Salmon Over Spinach....yum!

Gary Grey
PEI Stroke Recovery

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Hi again,

Diet is another very important part of recovering from and prevention of Stroke.

Here is a great web site by Posit Science that promotes Brain Healthy foods... Enjoy!

Brain-Healthy Foods in This Recipe

Salmon is chock-full of DHA, the omega-3 fatty acid with the most evidence for brain benefits. Almost any salmon is a good choice for the brain, not just because of high good-for-you DHA levels but also because of relatively low levels of bad-for-you mercury. Wild salmon is probably a better choice than farmed salmon, due to lower levels of PCBs. Spinach and garlic may add to the brain benefits of this recipe!

Gary

See the original article:

Garlic Salmon Over Spinach....yum!

in

Prince Edward Island Stroke Recovery

Enter Title Here

Diana Smith
Beyond Reality

December 6, 2011

lamposts on the lake

The cold dark rainy day sucked the creativity and motivation out of me today. I can not even think of a title for my post. I am still lacking pictures. This whole blog thing was not well thought out beforehand when I signed up to do a post a day. I initially just had set out to read my daughter’s wordpress blog. While doing so, the prompts for me to set up my own blog just appeared. Before I had time to think it was done. I had wanted to concretely capture this time in my life.  Now that it is getting closer to a new year I plan on continuing, but only if I can make my blog better along with my life.

I walked at the school today, still just 1/2 mile. My left knee was hurting all day. I did two loads of laundry and cleaned my bathroom. I did not finish my Christmas cards, buy stamps or finish my filing. I wish I could just throw all my paperwork in the wood stove and light it. The bills just get more depressing. Thousands of dollars for what? I did not receive bionic parts. The insurance only paid a small portion of my physical therapy. I have resigned myself to be forever in debt.

I made the disastrous mistake of dropping an omega capsule down the heater today. It fell off the table and bounced right in. Unluckily, it melted before I could get the cover off. The grill work is too close inside and too hot to clean, so it is burning off. The whole house smells like putrid stinking fish guts. My mother chokes up and says she is allergic to perfume, hairspray, fresh cut pine, and strawberry scent. Thankfully she can tolerate stinky fish oil.

See the original article:

Enter Title Here

in

Beyond Reality

Good Habits to Keep

Pamela Hsieh
StrokedUP

22 April, 2010

I just got back from the gym after doing my whole-body workout. This workout is part of my ongoing personal therapy, something my physiatrist* told me is more important than going to sessions with an actual therapist. And I thought perhaps I should share some tips on daily habits (if not longer-term; we’ll get to that in a moment) that will help you out a lot in your rehab journey.

But first, I just wanted to get something off my chest and say: To the creepy man doing leg press for far too long at the gym, yes, I notice you staring. Please stop before I drop my dumbbell and point at you in slow motion.

At first I was reluctant to be so negative in such a public post, but then I realized that would be hypocritical of me. Why? Because I prattle on and on about how people with disabilities are just that — people, “warts and all,” and to pretend like I don’t have that cattier, biting side would be to misrepresent myself. How else would you know I was for real? This is a blog, after all, and I think I should be at liberty to share my feelings, which generally tend to be encouraging. So sometimes, that acidic side to me will emerge. I also don’t want you to get the wrong impression that I’m some superhuman who never falls off the wagon and mechanically goes through, daily, all the forms of therapy discussed on this site. No, I absolutely still am flawed and part of my motivating you is just telling you things I need to remind myself of every day, too.

Anyway, so I’m aware that doing wrist supination exercises might appear stareworthy to the occasional creepster hanging out at the gym, but let me tell you what. Part of everyone’s workout regimen is made up of odd exercises that specifically target their problem areas. Can I help it that my problem area at this moment is the pathway within my body that runs from my brain and down my arm? Is that so different from trying to crunch a “spare tire” away?

Eclectic Stuff

Definition: Eclectic (noun). A person who derives ideas, style, or taste from a broad and diverse range of sources

An Obsession with People Watching

Leslie
Living After Stroke

We do our weekly shopping on Saturday afternoon or Sunday mornings. We hit about 5 stores. Yes, you heard that right, 5 friggin stores for one week of groceries. None of them carries everything I want, well at least not for the price I’m willing to pay. We also go to dinner or breakfast, my favorite part of the weekly excursion.

Sometimes I don’t feel like going into all of them so I wait in the car and people watch. Actually, I’ve taken people watching to an entirely new level, I put them under a microscope! I’m obsessed with watching how people move.

An obsession with people watching.

I examine how they walk, turn, use their hands when they talk, load their groceries into their car, return the cart to the store (or not), get in and out of their cars, their posture, foot placement, etc. At the restaurant, I watch the servers carry plates, glasses, write down orders, etc.

The best subjects are women who wear tight-fitting yoga pants; you can really see some of their muscles at work. My apologies to anyone who I’ve dissected. I was never a people watcher before.

If immediately asked, I couldn’t tell you what any one of them looks like. Not because I have poor memory but because I don’t look at their faces.

I also find myself doing this while watching TV. I get lost in the movements and not the show. I think I’m completely focusing on the show but realize I have no idea what’s going on or even what show I’m watching because I was hyper-focusing on the people’s movements.

Even though I still have half a body that works fine, I forget what it’s like to have movement flow.

It's All or Nothing

Beth Sinfield
Beth’s Story

Sunday, 18 October 2015

My first 'wobble' or actually my first complete breakdown came after my first physiotherapy session. We had spent the hour working on my core muscle and head movement. I would sit on the plinth and practice holding my sitting balance. It was pants. I couldn't even manage a whole second. They wheeled a mirror in front of me and I stared at my limp, twisted body. My clothes hung off my skinny frame and my head crooked to the left. I'd never looked so unattractive in my life.

They hoisted me back into my bed and set my duvet over me. And that's when it hit me. Tears streamed down my face. For someone that couldn't speak, I sure as hell howled the gym down. My physios attempted to console me but I couldn't stop. I didn't want to be here. I couldn't do this.

I never really talk about my inspirations/heroes, regarding my recovery. My main motivation really was my family, in particular, my nan and granddad.

My nan passed away when I was four and my granddad when I was twelve. Before my nan's death in 1999, she had battled with breast cancer for 12/13 years. My granddad, who had a stroke when he was 60, pushed himself to the point of physical pain, to regain walking again.

After that awful physiotherapy session I thought of my nan and granddad, 'If they could push themselves and give a good fight, then why can't I?'

My dad joked that 'You're a Sinfield, we never give up! You've got Sinfield blood!' and he was right. Who was I to let down the Sinfield name? I had to do this. Stroke was not about to defeat me.

The next physiotherapy session I snapped out of that depressing mentality and got to work.

See the original article:

It's All or Nothing

in

Beth's Story

#50shades of Frustration

Sas Freeman

October 12, 2015

Something many of us are only too familiar with, are the many reminders of everyday frustration, only today being a typical example. I needed to go somewhere and try as I did I could not get there. I only needed to attend this event for a short time to obtain a few bits of information. Simple you may think, but this is where stroke makes it quite the opposite. The event I needed to go to was only on between the hours of 10 and 1 today and everyone I could usually ask to take me was busy with their daily tasks and interests, however hard I tried I simply could not manage to get there. The information I needed also I ideally needed before next Tuesday, yet another frustration. I have no way of contacting people either, you get the picture. In my mind I feel I could drive and it is a huge horrid reminder that I am not able to. It has actually been a few weeks of rubbing it in emotionally as my son Henry has celebrated his 21st Birthday, and being a mum, I wanted to go and look at cards, present ideas, little extras things mothers do. I do so miss being able to pop into places and have a little browse, this is something I haven’t done since my stroke.

photo

All these negatives and frustrations aside, thanks to a friend I got out and I bought a big 21st balloon, a cake and wrapping paper etc, also thanks to a very kind lady, Caroline, who I did not even know she kindly drove to my home and delivered the gift I had purchased, free of charge. Another friend also helped me go somewhere to buy a couple of other extra things, and everything came together perfectly for both Henry and Beth, his girlfriend, also celebrating her 21st.

I had candles for the cake, some fizz everything, I was so organised, no one would have known at all, how many difficulties I had experienced to bring it all together. Success. Plus the icing on the cake for me of course, not being a driver, I can drink!

A Young Boy Made Me… Talk! Aphasia Speech Therapy

Mark A. Littleman
The Teaching of Talking

October 19th / 2015

As many of you know, we are residing in a motorhome and traveling around the country sharing the Teaching of Talking book while also training University students and caregivers.  We are now in Huntington Beach, California at an RV Resort on the Pacific Highway.

I was on my way to the shower room this morning, minding my own business when a lanky 11 or 12 year old emerged on the scene and started to walk along side of me.  I found it odd that a probable pre-teen would be walking and matching my stride.  As he mirrored my movements, he inquired, “Do you live here, or are you just visiting?”  Again I was surprised that a young man would pose a question like that, since I often remembered being told as a child “Never talk to strangers.”

But I was impressed as we continued our stroll to the Men’s Facility, and he then asked how long we were staying, and I felt obliged to answer.  “Maybe a few months, I replied.”  He then volunteered he was traveling with his family on vacation in an RV and they were just “passing through.”

“Where to next?” I inquired.  “Disneyland.” he replied.  “Where are you from?” was my next question.  “Colorado.” he said.  He then turned into the men’s room, while I took a slight right turn into the shower area.

The State of the Bike

Oct 18 / 2015

Removing bike lanes in Edmonton and the future of Active Transportation

This Wednesday, October 21, 2015 at 7:00pm at La Cité francophone (8627 91 St), please join EBC with City Councillors Ben Henderson, Andrew Knack, Scott McKeen, and Michael Walters, along with MLA David Shepherd, for a discussion about the removal of the bicycle lanes on 95 Ave, 40 Ave, and 106 St and the future of Active Transportation in Edmonton. The evening will be hosted by Peter Chapman and Karly Coleman, who can both be heard weekly on the Full English Breakfast on CJSR.

40 Avenue bike lane removal (Photo: Jenny Hong Meliefste)

We very much appreciate your registering for this free event in advance so we can plan appropriately. Please register online to add your name to the guest list.

Each councillor will offer their impressions of the recent decisions to remove bike lanes.  This will be followed by a panel discussion on the state of, and future of bicycle lanes and bicycle infrastructure in Edmonton. The evening will end with a brief Q&A session taking questions from those in attendance.

If you would like your question considered for inclusion in the panel discussion please submit it. We appreciate all input, however due to time constraints we cannot guarantee that all questions will be included in the panel discussion, at the discretion of the organizer.

Weekly Columnists

Definition: Columnist |ˈkäləmnist| (noun). A blogger or a journalist contributing regularly to a blog or newspaper

Musing: Omega 3 Fatty Acid for the Prevention of Cognitive Decline and Dementia

Dean Reinke
Deans’ Stroke Musing

Monday, February 24, 2014

Your doctor will need to resolve the differences between this one and all the other research.

• Fish Oil Fails to Stave Off Mental Decline 
• Meta-analysis finds no CV benefit of omega-3 fatty acids
• Monkeys That Eat Omega-3 Rich Diet Show More Developed Brain Networks
• Vitamin D, Omega-3 May Help Clear Amyloid Plaques Found in Alzheimer's
• Omega-3 fatty acids and traumatic neurological injury: from neuroprotection to neuroplasticity?
• Protection against brain abnormalities provided by high serum omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid content 

Ask your doctor, whats the downside? I will continue with this because waiting for proven answers is a recipe for disaster. So what if you have a little fish breath?

The abstract to compare these all against;

Omega 3 fatty acid for the prevention of cognitive decline and dementiaSydenham E1,  Dangour AD, Lim WS.

Author information

Abstract

BACKGROUND:
Evidence from observational studies suggests that diets high in omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) may protect people from cognitive decline and dementia. The strength of this potential protective effect has recently been tested in randomised controlled trials.