Wellness - Stories, Practice, Events - May 2010 :: Yoga Heals Us

Dear Friends,

What a blessing it is to enjoy the clear sky and bright green colors of spring. The smell of lilacs and sounds of peepers, birds and lawn mowers. Today is a very good day.

When I was first planning this newsletter, I intended it as a wellness issue. In part because I'm in the wellness business. And in part because many around me are in the process of healing.

In the moment, my brother is in the process of healing. In January he had, what we now know, a second stroke. He had a stroke last summer which went undetected because his symptoms seemed more like an false heart attack, sometimes associated as an anxiety attack, than a stroke. Then in January, as he was driving to work, he started to have trouble seeing. He went to the emergency room and was treated for acute hypertension - and sent home. Two days later, he was taken from work to the emergency room where it was discovered that he had had a stroke - 2 days before!

Tim is 49. He's in good shape, doesn't smoke, has some risk factors for stroke - high blood pressure and high cholesterol, both controlled with medication. Once it was determined that he had a stroke then came the search for how and why. It was discovered that he had a hole in his heart, from birth. The doctors think that the hole in his heart contributed to the strokes.

The hole was repaired with an amazing minimally invasive devise which closed the hole and will eventually be covered over by the body's own tissue. As it turned out, he had a reaction to the devise which caused him to have something like muscle cramps in the heart. And a bad reaction to medication.

And he learned first hand that even though he was seeing medical experts, he was the one having the experiences. His experiences were atypical in several ways. He had to advocate for his own health care. And because of that, he is now receiving the correct medication. In a few months, the device will be fully integrated with his own body tissue. Last week he was in the hospital and this week he's back at work part-time and feeling better every day.

Finally, it looks like he's really on the mend. He's expected to make a full recovery. Because of where the stroke happened, it did not affect mobility or speech which is what we often think of when we learn that someone has had a stroke.

Why am I telling you this? Because we all have to be our own health care advocates. Because it happened out of the blue to a fairly healthy, 49 year old man who didn't even know that he had a hole in his heart. (We all have an opening in the heart between the right and left atria at birth which closes up, in 80% of us.) And he presented with atypical stroke symptoms so he didn't receive the correct diagnosis or treatment when he first went to the emergency room. (p.s. Tim gave me permission to write about his story.)

Even so, it's important for all of us to recognize the signs of stroke because there are some common or typical signs and we can do something to help.

And the other reason I wanted to tell Tim's story - he has health insurance. I wonder whether he would have gotten anywhere near the same treatment if he didn't. We all know someone who doesn't have health insurance. I hope that we can agree that everyone needs and should have access to affordable health care and so too, health insurance.

Regular practice of yoga is known to have many positive health benefits, which can make some trips to the doctor and some medications unneccessary. Just do it!

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers. Peace and love to you, Karen

p.s. Check out Synergy and MOG

Visit this link to learn more about strokes

This five-part meditation was developed by senior teachers at Kripalu Center. It's a powerful invitation to connect with the present when you're calm, and an amazing aid when you're upset. Source: www.yogajournal.com

Goals