Alcohol and Stroke Recovery: Will Schmierer’s Inspiring Path

Alcohol and Stroke: Understanding the Risks and the Road to Recovery

Alcohol consumption is woven into social customs around the world, but it comes with potential health risks that can significantly impact one’s well-being. Among these, the connection between excessive alcohol use and stroke is one of the most crucial yet often overlooked. Whether you are evaluating your current drinking habits or seeking guidance after a stroke, understanding the relationship between alcohol and stroke, as well as the possibilities when one chooses to give up alcohol, is essential.

The Link Between Alcohol and Stroke

High alcohol consumption is a well-documented risk factor for stroke. Excessive drinking can lead to high blood pressure, an irregular heartbeat (such as atrial fibrillation), and other cardiovascular issues—all of which increase the likelihood of stroke. Chronic alcohol use can weaken blood vessels and impair the body’s ability to regulate blood pressure effectively, setting the stage for potential hemorrhagic or ischemic strokes.

The Turning Point: Giving Up Alcohol

Choosing to quit alcohol—whether before or after a stroke—can be transformative. For those at risk, reducing or eliminating alcohol can help lower blood pressure, improve cardiovascular health, and decrease the chance of stroke. For stroke survivors, quitting alcohol can play a significant role in recovery and long-term rehabilitation. It can enhance the body’s ability to heal, support brain health, and improve overall physical and emotional well-being.

The positive impact of quitting alcohol extends beyond just physical health. Alcohol dependency often masks or exacerbates emotional struggles, such as stress and anxiety, which can hinder recovery. By quitting, individuals may find themselves better equipped to manage their emotional state, make healthier lifestyle choices, and cultivate the resilience needed for recovery.

What Changes After Quitting Alcohol?

1. Improved Brain Function and Cognitive Recovery: Post-stroke recovery often focuses on regaining cognitive and motor functions. Alcohol, known to impair cognitive abilities, can delay this process. When individuals stop drinking, they may experience improved focus, better memory retention, and enhanced overall brain function, supporting faster and more effective rehabilitation.
2. Enhanced Physical Health: Stopping alcohol consumption helps the body regain balance. This includes better liver function, improved sleep quality, and more stable blood sugar levels—all of which contribute to overall energy and resilience. Increased energy can translate to more productive physical therapy sessions and a quicker return to daily activities.
3. Emotional Stability and Mental Health: Alcohol is often used as a coping mechanism but can lead to greater anxiety and depression, especially in stroke survivors facing significant life changes. Quitting alcohol can foster more stable emotions, help build mental resilience, and support a positive outlook—critical components of successful recovery.
4. Better Lifestyle Choices: Many stroke survivors find that quitting alcohol opens the door to other beneficial lifestyle changes. This can include adopting a healthier diet, engaging in regular exercise, and participating in activities that support mental and physical health, such as meditation or mindfulness practices. Together, these changes can reinforce the body’s healing processes and build a stronger foundation for long-term recovery.

Steps to Take When Quitting Alcohol

For those considering giving up alcohol as part of stroke prevention or recovery, it’s important to approach this transition mindfully:

• Seek Support: Whether from family, friends, or professional resources, having a strong support system can make the process more manageable.
• Develop New Coping Strategies: Replace drinking habits with healthier alternatives, such as exercise, hobbies, or support groups.
• Consult Healthcare Professionals: Speak with doctors or therapists who specialize in addiction and recovery to ensure you’re getting the guidance needed for a safe and effective transition.

A Path Forward

While quitting alcohol may seem daunting, the benefits—especially in the context of stroke prevention and recovery—are substantial. Stroke survivors who take this step often report improvements in energy, emotional stability, and the ability to engage more fully in their rehabilitation journeys. Ultimately, prioritizing sobriety and healthier lifestyle choices can create a ripple effect, fostering resilience and paving the way for a richer, more fulfilling life after a stroke.

Whether you’re considering quitting alcohol to lower your risk or to support your post-stroke recovery, the path forward is filled with potential. Each day without alcohol is a step toward better health, resilience, and a stronger future.

Alcohol and Stroke: Will Schmierer’s Inspiring Recovery Journey

Discover Will Schmierer’s journey from alcohol and stroke to resilience. An inspiring story of recovery, motivation, and lifestyle transformation.

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Highlights:

00:00 Will Schmierer’s Introduction and Background
01:37 The Impact of Weight and Alcohol on Health
10:38 The Role of Mindset and Self-Discovery in Recovery
21:27 The Challenges of Managing Multiple Health Conditions
33:51 The Importance of Diet and Exercise in Recovery
54:58 The Role of Podcasting in Sharing Recovery Stories
1:09:26 The Impact of Breathing Exercises on Recovery
1:16:21 The Importance of Self-Care and Balance
1:26:47 The Role of Community and Support in Recovery
1:29:11 Final Reflections and Future Goals

Transcript:

Introduction – Alcohol and Stroke

Bill Gasiamis 0:00
I use stroke survivor with a story to share, now’s the perfect time to join me on the show. The interviews are unscripted, and you don’t require any planning, just be yourself and share your experience to help others in similar situations. If you have a commercial product that supports stroke survivors in their recovery, you can join me on a sponsored episode of the show, just visit recoveryafterstroke.com/contact, fill out the form and I’ll get back to you with details on how we can connect via zoom.

Bill Gasiamis 0:31
Welcome to episode 327, of the recovery after stroke Podcast. Today, I have the privilege of sharing an extraordinary story of resilience, transformation and post traumatic growth with you. My guest Will Schmierer is not only a stroke survivor, but someone who has overcome monumental challenges, including battling alcoholism and facing a diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis.

Bill Gasiamis 0:57
Will’s journey is one of relentless determination major lifestyle changes and the pursuit of recovery, embodying the essence of post traumatic growth in this episode, will talks openly about how his life changed after a devastating ischemic stroke at the age of 37 the choices that led to the pivotal moment and how he navigated the difficult path to sobriety and rehabilitation, from weighing over 530 pounds to becoming an active runner and embracing a healthier lifestyle will story demonstrates the recovery and personal growth can emerge from even the most difficult experiences.

The Impact of Weight and Alcohol on Health

Bill Gasiamis 1:37
His journey highlights how mindset discipline and self discovery are essential to overcoming life’s greatest challenges. Before we dive into Will’s inspiring journey, I want to take a moment to thank all of you who have supported the podcast, your comments, stories and feedback helped build a community that uplifts and empowers others on their recovery paths.

Bill Gasiamis 2:01
A special shout out to everyone who has left the five star review on Spotify on iTunes, your support helps others discover this valuable content, if you haven’t already, please consider leaving a review or a comment on the YouTube channel.

Bill Gasiamis 2:18
Will Schmierer, welcome to the podcast.

Will Schmierer 2:21
Thanks for having me Bill.

Bill Gasiamis 2:23
Tell me a little bit about what happened to you.

Will Schmierer 2:26
Yeah, so it’s kind of a long story, but to give a summary, December 2019, I wound up going into the hospital. Wasn’t feeling well, had been I had moved that year from Virginia back to Florida with my family here, coming back to Florida, got settled in, moved into our new, brand new house back in September of 2019, wasn’t really feeling well. Was a really big guy at that time, was about 530 pounds, give or take, depending on what scale, what day. You know when you’re that big, it depends on what hour you’re weighing yourself.

Will Schmierer 3:03
But, yeah, wasn’t feeling well once at the doctor’s middle of December 2019, the first time I went, they sent me back home, gave me, I don’t even think they gave me anything, to be honest, they just kind of said ‘No, you’re okay. And then wasn’t feeling well. A week later, went to not a hospital, but I went to an urgent care here. Woman there is like ‘Your heart is going to explode, your blood pressure is through the roof. I mean, it was a resting heart rate of like 90 plus, which is not good.

Will Schmierer 3:37
When I’m going back to the hospital, they put a bunch of monitors up to me, hooked me up with all sorts of things. Luckily, they figured out I had afib, so at that point they admitted me to the hospital about a couple days before Christmas that year, and I mean, I was supposed to get my heart shocked back into rhythm, I think it was Monday, December 23 I might be off with these dates by a day or two, but it was like two days before Christmas, and I thought ‘Okay, cool, we’ll shock my heart back into the rhythm.

Will Schmierer 4:11
I’ll get well, I’ll get in shape, and we’ll figure this out, and somewhere between the time they admitted me, which was that Saturday prior, somewhere in that Sunday, I must have had a stroke in my sleep at the hospital, or at least that’s what I think, or can remember. But my family had gone out for the day, kind of just to get out of the hospital and get some lunch and yeah. So it’s really weird, because you could imagine, I’m six foot eight, and at that point I was 530 pounds, managed to somehow get out of the bed, go to the restroom, use the restroom.

Will Schmierer 4:52
I knew something was wrong, but I just kind of thought my legs were asleep, because I never really like lay down or sit down in the hospital, you know that position that long? Long story short, they missed the diagnosis, they thought pinched nerve they’re like ‘Oh, you’re too you know, it’s not a stroke. My wife, who is deaf, was like ‘No, I think you had a stroke. And I just was like ‘No, there’s no way. And even the doctors and the like, the staff there, again, this was right before the holidays, so like, you know, it was probably people covering, people not really aware of the signs, I guess.

Will Schmierer 5:26
And unfortunately for me, went into surgery that morning, and they did, in fact, confirm that I had had a stroke that previous day, and I was already, at that point, I was a little bit, you know, can’t do much after, after a certain amount of hours, of course, later, I learned about TPA and signs of stroke, probably should have known the signs stroke, but, you know, if I didn’t know them, the doctors should have known the main I know they were thinking.

Bill Gasiamis 5:56
They should have known them. But also, you’re at that weight, 530 pounds, which is 240 kilograms. You are the perfect candidate for a stroke like it’s should have been a massive Red Flag.

Will Schmierer 6:18
I mean, to be honest, though, yeah, a little strange, but again, I was in bed, so they probably weren’t calculating six foot eight, you know, and I’m at six foot eight, 530 pounds. It’s still 530 pounds, but I don’t think, honestly, anybody in my life really realized how big that was. I mean, I was just a big kind of like, literally, I filled the doorway, anywhere we went, and that was kind of the way it was, because I grew up, like I was always a bigger guy.

Will Schmierer 6:48
I always played sports, you know, if we had rugby here in the States, I would have played rugby, probably, but I played a lot of football and then just kind of gained weight over the years in my 30s, and like, it’s just gradually got put on, and I was always wearing good clothes anyway. So I think, to my detriment, I was kind of hiding it from myself, but really people just didn’t know how big I had gotten.

Bill Gasiamis 7:12
Yeah, you kind of might be able to hide it a little bit, I imagine, just because of your height, when I look at that photo that you’ve posted on your Instagram, survivor science, yeah, and it’s you how it started, 2019 on the left, and how it’s going 2024 it’s going great, by the way.

Will Schmierer 7:33
Thank you.

Bill Gasiamis 7:34
But you can see that just in your face, just by sitting down the chin, the chin is huge. In the chin, there’d be just an amount of weight there that would almost, sort of add another two or three kilos just there.

Will Schmierer 7:52
Yeah, and then there’s the beard that was covering things, and I wear hoodies, and I was wearing like, big shorts, because, you know, I used to play basketball, so I was kind of in the 90s basketball always wearing big shorts that are way too big.

Bill Gasiamis 8:05
Was that a strategy to hide it?

Will Schmierer 8:09
No, not intentionally, I mean, I’ve always been like a guy that wears basketball shirts and oddies and basketball shoes like, that’s just how I grew up in the 90s. So it’s like, it wasn’t really intentional, it was just kind of my style. And the other problem is, you know, I talk about this a lot, but I used to be a former alcoholic, and I don’t want to glorify being an alcoholic, but, like, I really hid that, even for myself, to it to my drug detriment, and my wife knew I was drinking a lot, and I was always big drinker back my 20s and into my 30s, and I just like, I held down my job.

Will Schmierer 8:48
Like, I wasn’t like, so I was an alcoholic, let’s be clear, but I wasn’t like, I guess the term for lack of a better one is,functional alcoholics. So like, I would do all my duties, I would work, get up, do things, you know, and then the hours of, like, 9 to 12, I would just pound beers, and you can imagine Bill at six, eight and 530 pounds, that starts to add on the weight.

Will Schmierer 9:15
And it also, it wasn’t like one or two it, you know, it started probably in my 20s as like a six pack, and then it probably get a little more because I went to school at Miami, so I was just a big partier, kind of, not even like, I just never thought about it, and I just kept going and going, and, yeah, I mean, even now, I drink like, two gallons of water a day just because I’m a big dude.

Bill Gasiamis 9:41
Just require more than other another person standard, which you kind of let that kind of go to, well, I’m bigger guy. I’ve got to drink more, and then that, though, more alcohol is not necessarily achieving anything other than getting you more calories, more calories and more plastered, perhaps more disassociated, all sorts of things.

Bill Gasiamis 10:07
Let’s pause here for a moment. If you’re finding inspiration and valuable insights into Will’s story, I encourage you to check out my book ‘The unexpected way that a stroke became the best thing that happened. It’s a deep dive into Post Traumatic Growth, packed with practical advice and real stories from stroke survivors who turned their hardships into powerful opportunities for transformation. You can find it on Amazon or at recoveryafterstroke.com/book.

The Role of Mindset and Self-Discovery in Alcohol and Stroke Recovery

Will Schmierer 10:38
Yeah, I mean, probably was a lot of stress. It was, there’s a lot more to the backstory, but yeah, as you know, I had kids in my 30s, I already had a daughter with my wife from her previous marriage, you know, my daughter. I adopted my daughter, and then we had two more kids. And just stress of being a developer in agency, life is very stressful, I let it get to me, and I didn’t have coping mechanism, and the drinking just probably, like a lot of alcohol, because it just becomes natural.

Will Schmierer 11:06
It’s funny now, I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I don’t do any of that stuff, and it’s like, I don’t even miss it, it’s I hate it, like, I met Linda, I’m literally now that guy that like, if I smell cigarette smoke, I don’t mind if people drink, but I’m just like ‘Why would you waste the calories? Like, but yeah, and because I was so big, it didn’t really affect me the same way.

Will Schmierer 11:29
Like I could drink a 12 pack and not even blink, and like, you wouldn’t even be able to tell I drank a 12 pack, whereas most people would drink a 12 pack and they’d probably be dead. Again, not to glorify it, but it’s kind of how it happened.

Bill Gasiamis 11:43
I hear you, it’s not glorifying at all, it’s just giving an insight into what it looks like for a bigger guy to go down that path. You know, if somebody who is my height, you know, which is just under six foot and about, 80 kilos, which is like a third of your your heaviest, then you, you would have been able to kind of see it more dramatically. So would you say that drinking was also a part of dealing with stuff that was kind of helping that and sort of numb it? Or keep it at bay or not deal with it?

Will Schmierer 12:32
Yeah, I think it was a bit of both, I think it was I can handle stress, and even now, obviously I maintain a different level of stress, but I think combination of kind of that kid from Jersey on the East Coast, like, I’m a very east coast USA guy, like, if you’ve ever met other people from around the US, that’s very different on the East Coast than other time zones in the States, and so a mix of Jersey, New York, Miami, you know, part of the lifestyle just kind of never gave it a thought, and it was a way to it’s a culture, and it’s part of it was.

Will Schmierer 13:09
I mean, I guess it was definitely a coping mechanism, but I just thought it was under control too, because it was like ‘Okay, well, I’ll drink from like 9pm after the kids go down to midnight. But that already rips into your sleep, I mean, there’s a lot of factors, I had a lot of things, and still have some things that I, unfortunately, won’t be able to shake.

Will Schmierer 13:31
But, that out of all combination Perfect Storm, everything that could go wrong could go wrong. That’s, you know, to have an ischemic stroke at 37 you have to do, I mean, again, it could happen to anybody at any time, at any age, in any shape, but, you know, to have an ischemic stroke, really, you have to do a significant amount of work and damage to your body to really put that much level of, that bigger stress level on it.

Bill Gasiamis 13:58
You put a lot of effort in for sure.

Will Schmierer 14:00
Yeah, a lot of effort into the wrong things, really.

Bill Gasiamis 14:04
What people don’t realize, a lot of people don’t realize that when, when somebody’s overweight, in fact, they’re doing all the things that somebody would do who’s not overweight, they’re doing the same repetitive tasks all the time, and the tasks that the person who’s overweight has chosen are just make are the ones that make you gain weight, and the task the person who’s not overweight has chosen are the ones that make you not gain weight.

Bill Gasiamis 14:31
It’s the same amount of effort and energy, and some of it might be unconscious, some of it is conscious, but a lot of it is just where you put your time, and if you put your time in a different place, you get a different outcome. Now, I know it’s not that simple, right, but right. Let’s just take it up a little bit to a high level discussion so that we can kind of just talk about all it is, is what you focus on, is what you get, what you repeat is what you get.

Will Schmierer 15:01
Yeah for sure, I mean, and you know, what’s amazing too, is that I I’m a guy that likes to have hobbies, I’m curious, I’m constantly curious. Like, I mean, maybe that was part of it, really the the alcohol was really the only way I was able to cope in my 30s, to shut my brain down in order to go to sleep, because I didn’t have the right tools, the right mechanisms like you said, I mean, I’ve refocused that energy into my recovery, into running now, which is amazing considering, not only did I have a stroke, I think I diagnosed with MS, no family history.

Will Schmierer 15:36
Like, nothing, it just MS out of the blue, and you know, if I had put my health first, the way I’m putting it now, I wouldn’t be in this spot, and for better or worse I think I’m able to handle it, but I certainly would be loving, you know, I’d be remiss to say I not having a stroke certainly would make things a lot easier. It’s like, I like doing difficult things, which is great, but that’s why, like ‘Could I make it a little less difficult? I told the MS, but I could have certainly done some things to really not have the stroke, for sure.

Bill Gasiamis 16:14
What I like about this situation is the massive change, obviously, but also the fact that what happened to you didn’t kill you. Because let’s face it, people at your weight at that time often have a stroke or a heart attack, and that’s it.

Will Schmierer 16:29
That’s it, yeah, that was a real eye burner, honestly. I mean, I know it sounds corny when people say it, but I am lucky to be alive, and I think I channeled that in in the right way. I’m lucky to be able to do that, some people aren’t. It’s a lot of work, and it’s a fun challenge, I guess, given the circumstances and the fact that there’s no magic pill for curing stroke, but yeah, just, I’m kind of grateful for it.

Will Schmierer 16:58
Actually, because I kind of get so I always talk about second chance at life, because it’s really like ‘Okay, well, you know, not ideal, but now I get this opportunity to really, like, kind of a do over, you know, it’s again, not the path I would have chosen, not the path I enjoyed, necessarily, but it’s, you know, gotta make the best of it.

Bill Gasiamis 17:18
So as you reflect back, right, because that before and after photo, that’s a great thing to remind yourself about where you were and how far you’ve come. Do you look back and how do you reflect on that and all the things that you’ve achieved? What’s the internal conversation like about that now?

Will Schmierer 17:41
Well, the internal conversation is always dynamic and eventful, I mean, it’s easy to see and say now, and I know I’m going to keep growing and getting better, It’s very motivating. It wasn’t easy in the beginning, it’s not right, it’s hard, you’re just figuring out what to do, how to do it, how much help you need, how to push yourself.

Will Schmierer 18:05
But I think, you know, coming up on the five year anniversary, now it’s like, alright, the work that I’ve been putting in, even though it’s small, changes each and every day, and it’s hard to really see that it’s, apparent that I put in the work. Again, I would rather had an easier path to that I would rather corrected it before the mistake.

Will Schmierer 18:25
Even, you know, mistakes probably not the right word, but you know, rather than not having the stroke and not be, you know, paralyzed half my body, although I will say, I have kids, and I was not opposed to the rehab inpatient here in the States, because it was like, alright, well, I guess this is a vacation. But you know, I do try to look at the positive side of things, and sure, that was stressful and tax on my wife and attacks on my family, but all in all, I think that’s part of it too is that I’m self motivated.

Will Schmierer 18:59
But the fact that I have three kids and a wife, that just fuels the motivation and so many people, I’m sure, like yourself, kind of brushed me aside after my stroke, and I’m not a vindictive person, but like if you brush me aside, you know that East Coast New York guy comes out swinging, you don’t want 628 swinging, trust me, it’s not going to end well.

Will Schmierer 19:28
The MS is interesting, because I, again, I had that stroke in December 2019, so I was in the kind of the regular hospital during the holidays, because they didn’t want to transfer me into the new year, over to the rehab facility here in Jacksonville, Florida. And I learned a lot there in the the early days, but then the MS, really kind of was not only surprising, but it it then affected the so I came out of inpatient rehab at the end of January 2020. Was home for about a week, watched the Super Bowl, woke up the next morning talking funny, which was strange.

Will Schmierer 20:09
Because I hadn’t been talking funny for my original stroke, I mean, I had some speech issues, but not like major in the beginning, and then went back to the hospital, same place that I had this stroke because it didn’t know where else to go, because we were so new to this area at the time, and it’s fine. They ran, they made sure I didn’t have a second stroke this this time, they made sure, and after a bunch of tests, it could have been cancer, they thought maybe it was brain cancer, then thought it was a brain tumor.

Will Schmierer 20:09
And I know you’ve had kind of a similar experience, a lot of different things with doctors. But thankfully, after the Spinal Tap, they were able to tone in on what it was and it was MS, and it messed up the entire left side of my body. So I was a real treat to be around.

Will Schmierer 20:55
And so you’re talking February 2020, both, you know, both sides, one side physically debilitated the right side, and then the left side was thankfully mostly temporary, because I think that was kind of corrected for the in large part, or at least enough, to be functional on the left hand side of my body by the time I came out, right before the pandemic to come back home. So it’s a that’s a interesting twist to add to the journey. Is that, I never know, is it stroke? Is it a mess? Like, yeah.

Bill Gasiamis 21:27
I can relate to that in a way.

Will Schmierer 21:27
Fun is a word.

Alcohol and Stroke: The Challenges of Managing Multiple Health Conditions

Bill Gasiamis 21:27
Fun, fun is a word, yeah. I can relate to that in a way, because I had a thyroid surgery about 18 months, 16 months after my brain surgery, and the fatigue was debilitating from the brain stuff, right? The stuff that happened with the stroke, trying to get out of that fatigue situation was really complicated, and then I had this reoccurrence of the fatigue got really bad at one point, and what it was is thyroid. Had a goiter, which is a large growth on one side of the thyroid, and that was impacting in the way that it was working.

Bill Gasiamis 22:09
And the thyroid gland is one of the main glands that has a massive role to play with the brain and how your brain functions, amongst other things, like, it’s the main gland anyway, but it has a massive impact on the way that your brain works, and it cause when it’s not running well, it causes brain fog and fatigue.

Bill Gasiamis 22:31
And I remember going to doctors after both of them, after the two diagnosis, and sort of going, okay, so what am I deal with, which one are we dealing with? Which is the one that I have to work on? How do I know if it’s brain fog from and fatigue from the thyroid, or is it brain fog and fatigue from the stroke? Give me some guidance. Of course, they’ve got no idea, they know how to say it’s that causing it or it’s this causing it, and then I had thyroid surgery, and they removed half the thyroid.

Bill Gasiamis 23:04
And when they do that, there is a quite a bit of time before the body gets comfortable with the half, the other half of the thyroid gland, sort of stepping up to the plate and doing the job. But in that time, I’ve got to adjust everything, I’ve got to adjust my diet, I’ve got to reduce, I’ve got to completely reduce, gluten, sugar, dairy, all that kind of stuff, because they’re inflammatory and the thyroid overworks.

Bill Gasiamis 23:34
So when you got half a thyroid and you’re chucking in all this stuff, it doesn’t operate as well, and you kind of notice it with weight gain, and you also notice it with energy levels the brain and all that kind of stuff. So I know now, because it’s been such a long time post, and they’ve technically removed that issue from the brain, that the blood vessel that bled that some of my I kind of know that the fatigue that I experienced is around the stroke is the one which is kind of like, my brain’s fried, I can’t get any more computer work done, I can’t send emails, that type of stuff.

Bill Gasiamis 24:15
But then the other fatigue that comes from the thyroid is one where, like, my body’s completely spent where I can’t actually do anything physical, and all I can do is lie down on the couch and just recover and hope to get to bedtime and then have a sleep and that’s about it. It’s a real bizarre experience to navigate the two and with MS on one side and the ischemic stroke that happened on the other side. I can only imagine, I’m still figuring out. Yeah, so does your does your right side feel differently at all because of the MS?

Will Schmierer 25:02
Good question, I think I’m still figuring out the exact thing and feelings constantly because now I think I said this earlier, but now I’m starting to run quite a bit, and have been for the last couple years. So it’s always hard to tell, is it stroke necessarily, is it because I ran a ridiculous amount of miles? I mean, I do anywhere from 10-15, to upwards, almost a marathon some days, depending on the day or how I’m feeling. Because sometimes I’ll just keep going if I feel good, which, of course, always comes back to bite me in the mud, because the next day is brutal.

Will Schmierer 25:39
But kind of similar to you, I kind of work beyond the computer a good amount I do a lot of getting up, and lot more flexibility and getting up, you know, I really try never to be at the desk for more than three hours without getting up, and that probably is. Honestly, it’s probably never more than an hour, hour and a half without getting up and just moving, but it happens.

Will Schmierer 26:10
Same thing, it’s like, I can kind of tell brain fog at the end of the day is definitely stroke MS. Could just be, like, some days, things just, I was saying this to somebody else I was talking to today, where it’s like, just takes me a bit more to get going in the morning, like I go to bed early. Now, I focus on my sleep, I focus on recovery, I used to love working behind the computer all day, then taking breaks and hanging out with my kids in the evenings.

Will Schmierer 26:40
Then I would kind of sit on the couch, or sit on and share and do computer work while watching TV to kind of wind down. But lately, I’ve been finding that, like, I’m just, you know, it’s like, I’d rather just wake up early, I think, and kind of spend an hour to, kind of, it sounds so silly, but just to take a shower in the morning, brush my teeth, do those basic things in the morning. It’s like, I really need good, solid hour, hour and a half most days, you know, but that’s some days, it’s not luxury I have. So, yeah, yeah, it’s a constant struggle.

Will Schmierer 27:15
I’m always working on things, I’m still doing things that is again, to talk about somebody else about this today, kind of recently started breaking out some of the old tools from the early days that, when you have the stroke and you have these events and you buy different tools or therapy things, and it’s like, it’s funny, because I’m about to hit the five year mark here in a couple months, and it’s like, I just broke out the putty to kind of work on my hands.

Will Schmierer 27:41
Because I was like, this is feeling stiff, why is this feeling stiff? And I can’t tell if it’s Jim or the MS, because I think more than I realize, and this is my own fault, kind of like, I’m so focused on the stroke sometimes that I forget that the MS is maybe the thing, and it doesn’t really matter, because it’s like I got both, I got to deal with it. Does it really matter? It’s always interesting, I guess, never a dull moment.

Bill Gasiamis 28:11
Yeah. What’s the path forward with the MS? How do they treat it? What do they do with it?

Will Schmierer 28:16
Yeah, so I’m on a pretty aggressive treatment here. My neurologist, and I definitely decided early on to try to get I was able to get grandfathered into a treatment that a lot of insurances here in the states weren’t covering, I don’t have to do a daily or a weekly thing. it’s a two time a year infusion, it’s at a cancer center. They kind of do it very much like that, and it’s twice a year, and I kind of love it. It’s a nice day off, it doesn’t I mean, it’s cool, because they give you these, the stuff, and you feel great coming out of it, and then, like, the next day, it’s like, you hit a wall again.

Will Schmierer 28:56
But, it’s good, I like that, I know there’s other treatments, it works for me. I think because I can imagine jabbing myself every week or every day, that just seems tiresome. To be honest, I got enough going on, by the time I get warmed up for the day and all that running and all the work that I do, like it works for me. It’s called localist, it’s a pretty I think it works with my type of MS. So there’s obviously many types of ms, but mine’s kind of, it’s called tumor active, which, you know, makes sense, right? Because they thought I had a brain tumor.

Will Schmierer 29:34
They thought I might have brain cancer. Thankfully, honestly, thankfully, it was MS. That’s what I always said, it’s like ‘You know what? And that sounds like the best of those three options. So, you know, again, I wouldn’t wish it upon my worst enemy, especially not in the succession that I had things so quickly. I always say this, it’s like getting hit with a baseball bat in your stomach, having the stroke. I got up, I started doing work, and then somebody’s.

The Importance of Diet and Exercise in Alcohol and Stroke Recovery

Will Schmierer 33:51
While during the pandemic, but I’m a talker, I’m from Jersey, New York, and for me, actually, it was the swallowing thing was a big issue in the beginning, after the MS, because, like ‘Oh well, you can’t eat anything. But, like, they only gave me food through a straw initially, and I was like ‘Well, we’re gonna figure this out because I was still pretty big, and I’m even now, I work out a ton. I do a lot running, but like, you’re not going to stop me from eating, I’m going to swallow it a hole and choke kill myself, or I’m gonna.

Will Schmierer 40:34
Yeah, you got to wrestle that food out of my hand, at least when I want it, because I’ve kind of changed my diet, I kind of unintentionally do a lot of fast things, so I eat kind of irregularly compared to most people.

Bill Gasiamis 40:52
Did the alcohol obviously stopped immediately after all this experience and your eating habits were they also not the best eating habits while you were drinking the amount that you were drinking.

Will Schmierer 41:10
Yes, correct, I was eating absolute garbage, that’s entirely fair. I think I fell into the pattern that probably a lot of 30 year old dads, I know plenty that do this, right? Like your dad, you’re working, you’re putting food on the table. If your kids are a little younger, it’s like ‘Well, I don’t want to waste this food. I was like, I hated when we would go out to eat, I wouldn’t have ought people to waste food, I’m not sure why. I didn’t just pack it up and eat it later. But like, yeah, the drinking often led to a very late night snack.

Will Schmierer 41:41
And it wasn’t like ‘Let me have one of something. It was like ‘You know, think about. I don’t know if you went to university or college, but even when you’re a kid, right? You go out, you party, and you usually end with eating of some kind, right? But that’s, I think the human body is kind of built for college. The problem is, once you get out of college or university or whatever, it’s like ‘Okay, well, the body has to go, yeah. You have to be a normal person at this point, you can do it for a couple years, but that’s, that’s the window, right?

Will Schmierer 42:12
And if you keep doing that for a couple, like, a decade plus, that’s where you run into problems. So, yeah, I am a very efficient, I really try to make things easier on my wife the last couple years. I sort of do my own thing, but we sleep as family, and I, my kids obviously don’t want to eat the stuff I eat. I eat pretty healthy now, like, I’m really cognizant, there’s snacks that get in here, here and there, but I really try not to eat super ultra processed food. I mean, I really try to, you know, it’s a process, but I’m always eating steak, chicken, really focusing on meat.

Will Schmierer 42:51
I’ve tried keto that worked pretty well, actually, especially in the early days of running, I was surprised how well it worked, because, again, I’m still a big guy, right? Like, you don’t think necessarily keto is an interesting diet, right? Because it’s predominantly meat, no carbs, and I was like running a ton, but I seem to keep going, I mean, I’m like, Forrest Gump, like, the only person I know really well, at least, is myself, who can go keto and run 20 miles a day. I mean, that’s not, I don’t think typical.

Bill Gasiamis 43:24
It’s not typical, but you kind of become fat adapted, you become adapted to taking the energy from the food that you’re consuming and burning that for fuel, and once you kind of adapt, and your body kind of understands the difference, then it doesn’t require as much carbs to get the same job done, to get the same outcome, and I probably did, maybe not a strict keto diet, but I did that for probably the best part of about four years after the first incident that I had, and I lost a ton of weight, I wasn’t exercising or doing any of that, but I was sharp, my brain was sharp.

Bill Gasiamis 44:06
And then I kind of fell into a little bit of a slump, where I was back on the carbs and all that kind of stuff, and then recently, I tried the carnivore diet, which is nothing but meat ‘My God, what a difference that makes to you. In a my brain just completely came alive, I needed to sleep less, I was so much more productive, I lost a ton of weight, I was feeling amazing all the time.

Bill Gasiamis 44:35
My testosterone went through the roof, everything changed and and I know there’s a little bit of evidence, there’s a lot of evidence now about keto, ketogenic diets, and yeah, for brain health, and for and for neurological health. And there’s just a lot of stigma around, it is just massive stigma.

Will Schmierer 45:02
Yeah, because it gets popular, and at least here in the States, I’m sure you’ve heard of Joe Rogan and people like that to do keto and carnivore and like, why wouldn’t you want to follow what Joe Rogan’s doing? I mean, you don’t have to like him or love him, or you can hate him. But the guy is 57 and obviously he’s a much physically smaller person than me, but that’s the shape I want to be in at 57, don’t you? like, I mean.

Bill Gasiamis 45:28
it’s a machine.

Will Schmierer 45:29
Yeah, It’s just strange to me, I think people you know guilty of this too, right? I’ll have a preconception or a misconception, and then like, I’ll kind of like, you know, I wasn’t always the biggest Joe Rogan fan, I used to watch UFC back in the early 2000s when I came out of college, and I used to do MMA trained down in Miami before I met my wife, and kind of moved around up and down the East Coast, but a lot of my friends did it back in Jersey, and I just think, maybe you feel this way too because of the stroke, probably because I’m getting a little older now.

Will Schmierer 46:05
I’m in my 40s, I’m like things I used to believe. Obviously I don’t believe, and it’s like, I don’t know, you know, I’m just, I’m really more educated, and I try to pay close attention to things. I think it’s the thing for me as a stroke survivor, or even with the MS, it’s more about just I’m all about trial and error, right? Like, there’s no harm in trying something like keto. And I was surprised too, I mean, I’m not strict keto all the time, because that’s tough. I think, sometimes you need a car.

Bill Gasiamis 46:05
And you can’t get you can’t be involved in in everyday life with other people and, right? And always go ‘Oh, look, I’m not eating this, or I’m not going to do that. It’s really difficult.

Will Schmierer 46:50
Well, it’s not even fun. Like, who wants to live life like that? Like, are you really going to be so dogmatic that you can’t have, like, I don’t know, I came to think of what I would want, but, like, that’s Halloween coming up here in the States. What am I going to not have? Like, a recent have, like, a Reese being Buttercup or, speak something for my kids, like, if I’m cutting out sugar, 99% of the time, I could have sugar once in a while, I mean, I’m big on sugar, obviously, because it’s that’s a whole thing too now, but it’s terrible.

Bill Gasiamis 47:16
Sugar is terrible, and the thing about what you’re saying is, you know the Joe rogans of the world, who tend to polarize society. You know you either hate him or love him, just get curious about what he’s doing that’s working. Don’t worry about the rest of this stuff, if you if you come across somebody who you would not associate with, but is doing something that is seeming to be good for their health and helping them overcome a condition or whatever.

Bill Gasiamis 47:44
Get curious about why they’re doing it, how they’re doing it, and if it might be something that’s applicable to you, and don’t worry about their politics or what they believe in, or any of that stuff. Forget that I reck, I remember, like way back in episode 6, before it was the recovery after stroke podcast, and I was just interviewing people who had overcome different health challenges. For about the first 20 episodes, I interviewed people from all over the world about different things.

Bill Gasiamis 48:11
One of the people who I interviewed was a lady called Natalie Schultz, and she was recovering from multiple sclerosis, and we’re talking about 2015 and she had completely changed her diet, and she had discovered the work of Dr. David Perlmutter and a few other doctors who were early on writing books and texts and putting content out about removing sugar, gluten, dairy, from alcohol from the diet. And she basically said that the multiple sclerosis was that bad that she had.

Bill Gasiamis 48:50
She was not able to walk anymore, and even though she still has the scars of multiple sclerosis that have occurred in her head. The Sclerosis is damaged the brain, right? She has been able to recover quite well, and her physical therapy has got her in a state where she’s very active, and now she’s able to do a whole bunch of different things that she couldn’t do and that she was on a really terrible trajectory, and that’s literally all she did was change her diet.

Bill Gasiamis 49:22
She stopped taking sugar and gluten and dairy, and she started to introduce things that she hadn’t before, which was salad, protein, dairy, sorry, protein like meat, chicken, fish. She just increased protein rich foods, a little bit of fiber through her vegetables and her salads, and she stopped having seed oils and all that kind of stuff, and she just started notice a messing, a massive difference.

Will Schmierer 49:51
Yeah, it’s wild, how all the things I’m sure you kind of grew up this way too, right? Low fat, no fat that you know, I think there was margarine, butter, and it’s like ‘Well, everything we heard, so both kind of coming, yeah. I mean, not all of it, but probably close to 95% of it, at least, which is wild, you know, eggs, it’s amazing.

Bill Gasiamis 50:16
Eggs was a big thing, that it’s gonna cause heart attacks, cholesterol, all that kind of stuff. I mean, it’s nothing healthier than eating a really good egg.

Will Schmierer 50:26
Yeah, the one thing I’m still, like, uncertain about, and because I had the ischemic stroke and the MS, and I did actually have heart issues, didn’t have a hole in my heart, but I just because of the smoking and the drinking and all the whatever, I don’t even know what caused what at this point, like it’s just, I am always a little hesitant with too much hurt me, but I love steak, and I think I’ve seen the benefits of steak, but I do sort of still always worry about that, a little bit like they always say you can’t overeat steak, but they also aren’t me, you know what I mean.

Will Schmierer 50:59
You can’t overeat steak if you’re, like, five foot two, 110, pounds, or, you know, 50 kilos. But if you’re six foot eight and eating steak the way I used to drink, that’s probably not a healthy amount of steak, you know what I mean. So they start to always be careful and times, and I’m trying to always get better at that.

Bill Gasiamis 51:17
Yeah, everything in moderation. Is that your moderation, though, looks like my overeating, though, like your plate of steak would be too much for me.

Will Schmierer 51:27
Yeah probably even still now, and I’m paying attention to it right, like, I’m not weighing things, but I’m definitely looking at the package like ‘Okay, well, you don’t need two pounds of steak for a Thursday night dinner. You need, yeah, maybe more than six ounces, but maybe not a pound and a half, that’s interesting to me.

Bill Gasiamis 51:49
Everything kind of in moderation and in line with your particular version of your body, your structure, etc. And there’s some people that can’t do red meat at all. Like, I know, I get it, there’s some. A mate of mine ran 100 kilometer marathon two weeks ago. He doesn’t eat red meat, he just can’t do it, and it’s not because he’s a vegan or anything like that, he eats fish and other other meats, just can’t eat it, and it just doesn’t go down.

Will Schmierer 52:17
I mean, actually, I wanted to say that because you were saying it’s one of the great things about the very about the various diets and different things, and I think that’s always a big thing I’m talking about it too. Is like it? You know, consider the professionals advice, like, generally speaking, as they’re speaking to a whole group, right? But you gotta, sort of, I think I probably didn’t pay attention to this until my stroke, but I really, obviously now pay attention to my body, I listen to my body.

Will Schmierer 52:45
I do all the things that I think, you know, I think I’m doing a lot of the right things. But even if I’m not, like, I’m gonna be aware of that pretty quickly. So like, if keto wasn’t working, it stopped keto, and I would go back to, like, honestly, I want to try carnivore, but I haven’t committed to, like, a full month of carnivore, because I just feel like I’m buying so much meat that it might be counterproductive, like it, but it’s defining a balance, right? It is, I’m sure I could do it.

Bill Gasiamis 53:12
It is something you definitely have to plan, gotta tell the family as well, so that there’s no possibility that you’re going to get through, you know, three days where you’re not doing it, and then five days where you are and three, can you just actually want to do a once, try it and understand it, and then kind of get it out of your system, which is what I did, without planning it, I haven’t been able to get back to a full month of just carnivore like I haven’t been able to get back to it now.

Bill Gasiamis 53:48
I’ve researched it a lot and saying that there’s a lot of people responding about it, talking about having done it for a year or two years or three, and some people don’t do well after a certain period of time, it takes several months, and they start noticing things that they’re it’s not ideal for them. And then they introduce some additional items into their diet, and things settle down again. So it is hardcore, it’s not for everybody, I’m not right. We are not recommending anything.

Will Schmierer 54:18
Yeah, for sure.

Bill Gasiamis 54:20
We’re just talking about our own experience, right? And it just, I’m a curious guy, like you saw, I’ll give that a go. Like, I’ve gone a month without eating meat, you know, I’ve done all of that stuff.

Will Schmierer 54:32
Yeah, I even got into before I figured out how bad it was for me. But like, some of the non-meat, meat, you know, I was trying that early on during the pandemic, and obviously it turns up that’s garbage, but like at least for me again, it’s highly processed.

Bill Gasiamis 54:48
It’s highly processed, it’s probably something that most people should keep away from.

Will Schmierer 54:52
Oh, yeah.

Bill Gasiamis 54:53
Tell me about your podcast, tell me about the work that you do and why you’re doing that now.

The Role of Podcasting in Sharing Alcohol and Stroke Recovery Stories

Will Schmierer 54:58
So the podcast I kind of just started. So I did, I started a podcast after my stroke, I think by December of 2020, I was just starting getting back to walking, and a lot of people would always tell me ‘Oh, Will you should have podcast. Blah, blah, blah. Started a podcast, it was literally called ‘The loveable idiot, back then, and it was just kind of like you, but I wasn’t interviewing people, I was just kind of like talking, and it was kind of actually, it was a way for me to work on speech, talk to all my friends family.

Will Schmierer 55:32
I mean, there were plenty of listeners, actually more listeners than my current podcast, because it was just kind of would never compare myself to Joe Rogan, but it was that kind of style and format, right where you’re just talking about what’s going on in the world, and kind of a commentary. It was just for fun, you know, but I knew I was pretty good at it, because I used to do a little bit of stand up, and I definitely did improv back my Miami days, and just always been a guy that’s curious and loves having fun, and kind of, a better term, shooting shit.

Will Schmierer 56:03
And I love doing podcasts, but sometimes, I mean, with lovable survivor, I do a lot of single person episodes. I do so, yeah, so that shifted. I stopped doing ‘Lovable idiot, and changed ‘The lovable survivor. Because I felt like, at that point I was ready to, sort of, you know, in this different for everybody, right? Some people never want to share their journey or their story, some people share through writing, if they can write, some people, you know, there’s plenty of mediums, some people are all over Tiktok like, it just depends what works for you.

Will Schmierer 56:36
But I had a little bit of broadcast background, and just always loved radio and Howard Stern, Joe Rogan every all the podcasters, honestly, I mean, I can’t think, I mean, there’s a few that I’m not a fan of, especially nowadays, because I thought it was a while West back in the day. Now there’s like, some people, they start a podcast, say, a business, and they think they’re going to be great at it.

Will Schmierer 57:00
And it’s just like, I mean, I don’t know if I’m great, but I got a lot more attitude and pizzazz and showmanship than some of these people. They’re like ‘I have a podcast on collecting nickels. Like, who? Who’s listening to that?

Bill Gasiamis 57:18
Yeah, you just surprised me.

Will Schmierer 57:20
Yeah because they put it on YouTube, and then all of a sudden it’s like ‘Oh yeah. Turns out 50 million people collect nickels all over the world, like, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. I mean, I used to be a woodworker, and I say used to, because obviously, after stroke and MS, I did a lot of work on myself and my body.

Will Schmierer 57:39
But I’m not, haven’t fully got back to woodworking as a hobby, just because trying to keep the fingers intact and, like, I just, I don’t need a slip on a table saw, or really any saw. So, yeah, it’s a great hobby, and, you know, I could listen to woodworking podcasts, but probably most people couldn’t, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.

Will Schmierer 57:39
But with ‘Loveable survivor, I decided in 2022 to really start sharing my story, because I thought I had it. You know, like anybody that’s stroke survivor, or especially a stroke survivor with, like, an additional fun thing, like you with thyroid, or me with the MS, it’s like ‘Okay, I think I can teach people some valuable stuff. I can share my story. And like you said, it’s not really about me being dogmatic or never want to tell people what they should or shouldn’t do, but here’s kind of, here’s what I’ve been through.

Will Schmierer 58:34
And you know, I like it more than a book, right? Because a lot of stroke survivors, I mean, I know you’ve written a book, and, no, please don’t take this the wrong way. But like, there are plenty, like, I think you know what I’m talking about, right? There’s some survivors of, like, I wrote a book, and it’s like ‘Okay, good, and that’s great. And, yeah, like, I haven’t read your book, but I probably should, and I will actually after this, but I like conversation.

Will Schmierer 59:01
I like hearing kind of the podcast and the full story, even if you’re interviewing somebody else, I don’t know if you do solo episodes, but I mean, I think that probably be interesting, right? Because you’re able to share your journey in a different way, and I think it’s good to do both personally, because I love the interview style, and I need to do more of those. But I like doing the solo ones, because it’s like ‘Oh, I can just record for an hour, you know, and turn that into a podcast. Because some people prefer learning on a podcast.

Will Schmierer 59:29
Some people prefer a blog, which is why I have survivor science, because I kind of, you know, I’m trying to get everything more streamlined in a way that I dig, kind of where I can take sort of a broad perspective on the week. Here’s what I’m thinking about this week, and like, I can do the podcast episode on that, I can release a blog post or newsletter for people who prefer reading versus listening. And it’s been an interesting journey, starting to do some collabs with some different people.

Will Schmierer 1:00:00
Here over in the states, and I know you’re in Australia, right? Are you in the Gold Coast? sorry I don’t know to say these things, I only know mostly Tasmania side.

Bill Gasiamis 1:00:11
I’m in the south, I’m in Melbourne in Victoria, which is on the east coast.

Will Schmierer 1:00:18
So Sydney side, not Tasmania side. It’s embarassing, I didn’t finished that sentence, I have my uncle is an ex-pat he moved in Tasmania with his wife and my cousins when they we’re kids and now they’re older, so they’re kind of like far coast, most side of Sydney’s side. I don’t know enough about that, I travel a lot over Europe. Sorry I really don’t know terminology for Australia, no offense, for me Australia is Australia.

Bill Gasiamis 1:01:05
It’s all good man no worries, I’m east coaster, all good no worries.

Will Schmierer 1:01:23
Yeah sorry I got little distracted there, but yeah the podcast is fun, I like doing it, not trying to make millions out of it, obviously. I’m kind of evolving things coz right now I have this podcast which came obviously out of original podcast which is ‘Lovable idiot.Which is great, I think I’m gonna later I think after this video will morph that into survivor science, under survivor science umbrella, you know, big things but here in the States.

Will Schmierer 1:01:59
And I think Australia does more better job than this, and Europe in general seems do a better job in connecting stroke survivors. The healthcare system here seems to be a little bit less.

Bill Gasiamis 1:02:20
The healthcare system is good, in that, you get free healthcare, nobody gets to turned away, it’s not perfect, but my surgery it was all done under the free system, recovery and everything, costs me nothing, zero, I did’nt paid any dollar for any of my 4 years of saga.

Will Schmierer 1:02:56
That’s amazing.

Bill Gasiamis 1:03:01
Yeah, but connecting people, we’re getting better. The stroke foundation was doing a different kind of job, their job was to prevent stroke and raise awareness, and that kind of stuff, but they recently shifted to support stroke surivors as well, that added that to mandate and that they do as well. And that’s a very different feeling, because now they’re including strokes in compensates, they’re including now in all the things, in research, etc.

Bill Gasiamis 1:03:38
So there’s a whole bunch that wasn’t happening and that’s happening now, and now they’re trying to connect people, that what I wasn’t getting, I wasn’t getting a connection, that’s why this podcast exist. And I find my biggest audience is in the United States not in the Australia, which is bizzare and strange but I get it like a massive numbers in United States. 20 million, 300 million, numbers really make a big difference, like a number in Manhattan.

Will Schmierer 1:04:15
Literally, we’re I grow up there’s like 7 million people density population, let’s say half of the Australia.

Bill Gasiamis 1:04:32
That’s why my podcast exist, like 12 years ago there was nothing, it was just you’re on your own. And its improved a lot, and there’s more to go. It’s really good to see that lots of people doing stroke podcast. I think it will benifit if you bring under one of your umbrella.

Bill Gasiamis 1:04:59
It is more streamlined, for me, I record a podcast episode. This episode then becomes the audio. This audio then becomes a blog post and a transcription. And then from there, we take some clips, and those clips end up on YouTube. I’ve done some solo episodes, some of them have answered questions to stroke survivors who have asked me on Instagram, I’ll reach out and say to them, you know, what do you guys want to ask? Is there anything I can answer? And then I might do an hour video on that, but I struggle with one hour ones.

Bill Gasiamis 1:05:36
So recently, I’ve started to do, I’m going to do a series I’ve got about about 10 scripts ready? I’m going to do a series. I’ve already put out two of them, and I’m just going to put out another one next week, 6 min. videos. I talk about one particular topic.

Will Schmierer 1:05:54
Yeah, that’s a good idea. Actually, I like that, I think it’s important, right? Because there’s not a lot of stroke survivors who are like yourself, like, willing to talk about things, willing to have the different difficult conversations. Like, you know, some things about stroke are embarrassing, right? Like, I’ll say it because I don’t care, but like, I was paralyzed on the right hand side of my body in the beginning. Well, guess what? I’m right handed. Guess what’s hard to do? Certain things, wipe your butt. Yeah, and you gotta ask for help, right? Because your wife or spouse can’t always be there.

Will Schmierer 1:06:29
My wife is an angel and a sweetheart, and I love her, but she had other things, right? And like, she was very willing to help. And I thank God because, but eventually the day comes and you gotta have a nurse help you, and it’s embarrassing, humbling, all the things you think it is exactly what it is, that certainly opens up your eyes quickly, right? You’re like, All right, well, I guess we’re gonna ask for help, and I guess this is gonna happen, so let’s just get it all right.

Bill Gasiamis 1:07:06
That’s the aim for me as well. It’s just to talk about stuff that hasn’t been spoken about and to share stories. You know, I aim for it to be the biggest database of podcast of stroke survivor stories, so that anyone else who ever has one stumbles across it somewhere and goes ‘Ah, all right, I’m not alone. Okay, there’s going to be wisdom in these episodes. I’ll listen to them, and maybe that’ll help me in my recovery, that’s the whole idea.

Will Schmierer 1:07:32
I mean, that’s obviously the goal, but even if there isn’t, sometimes it’s like, you know, I’m sure somebody can glean something from something I’m saying, even if I have a random episode where I go off on the tangent, and stroke brain to us is kind of thing, a thing that happens sometimes. I mean, I’m not great at staying on script because, well, I don’t really like saying on scripts, and, you know, the improv days and the stand up and things like that. It’s but I enjoy speaking, and I enjoy having a conversation like we’re doing on this podcast.

Will Schmierer 1:08:01
Because I think that’s really where you get the best information. Like, I try not to overly edit my podcasts and episodes, and, you know, I need to do better about getting those things up on YouTube. I was in a good hoof then I got like, 25 episodes ahead and recording, and I just didn’t do the 25 videos, because, again, I got to streamline that process, that’s a bad on me.

Will Schmierer 1:08:01
But, you know, I think that’s part of being a stroke survivor too, is like ‘Hey, if you’re a stroke survivor, if you’re solo, like, you’re, what, 12 years into this now. So you, you know, I don’t want to say you you’re further or less further, but I, you know, you certainly have been a structure for longer than I have, so I imagine it he doesn’t matter about the amount of work it takes. It’s like, you know, it takes time to get get these things.

Bill Gasiamis 1:08:49
It does, it takes ages. I started in 2015 and it took me years before I started to get into the groove of one episode a week, and sometimes, bugs the hell out of me to have to do it, sometimes I enjoy it, sometimes I don’t. And at the beginning, I wasn’t committed to anything, so I’d put out an episode, nothing for a month, put out two episodes, nothing for a week, and it would just be all over the place, because I had to look after myself first. I’m most important, if I can’t be well and healthy, there’s no way I’m putting out a podcast episode, I don’t worry about it.

The Impact of Breathing Exercises on Alcohol and Stroke Recovery

Will Schmierer 1:09:26
Yeah, and I’m not putting out a podcast if my kids are starving, or my wife needs help, like, as much as I want to commit to being, you know, kind of, I don’t want to. I hate the word creator, but yeah, I mean, that’s kind of what we’re doing, right? We’re creating content, and it’s honestly, I’m sure you feel the same way. It’s like I’ve spent, you know that every day for like so I did work after my stroke for about a year and a half, but after that, it just became obvious that I need to spend more time on my recovery and less time focus on work that mattered.

Will Schmierer 1:10:00
But like, in the grand scheme of things, like, again, I was developer. I was a engineering manager for a team at a web agency, and I love the team, I love working with the team, I love leading a team, but it’s like, you know, like you said, if I’m not taking care of myself first, how am I going to set an example for my kids? How am I going to help my wife works? Important? Do I really amazing job. I got to work with some of the biggest companies in the world doing agency work. But it’s like at some point it’s like, nobody cared.

Will Schmierer 1:10:32
I love writing code, I love to being a developer, but like, at the end of the day, like, I think there’s more important things. Like you said, it’s like ‘Let me save somebody else the years of struggle. Or, you know, it feels silly to say it comparison to you, because you obviously have been around this game for over a decade now, but yeah, like, if I can help aid somebody, even if it’s not all one on one, but it’s through a podcast.

Will Schmierer 1:10:59
I didn’t found out about breath work bill until 2022, and I hate the term breath work, because it sounds corny, right? I don’t know if you’re interested or not.

Bill Gasiamis 1:11:10
I have been, it’s overused, because nobody else knows what to say right, right?

Will Schmierer 1:11:15
Right, but breathing exercises, if somebody just said to me ‘Hey, will you were big and fat? Like, do you want to run? Do you want to figure out how to run now that you’re not a smoker and drinker? It’s like, Yeah, I do breathing exercises like that. That alone, that little tweak from breath work to breathing exercises, would have made all the difference in the world. I would have paid attention somewhere along the line of 39 years. And I’ll tell you real quick, you know, I’m sure you heard of the book breath by James Nestor.

Bill Gasiamis 1:11:46
No, I haven’t.

Will Schmierer 1:11:47
Oh check it out, so he, I think he used to be, I don’t know if New York Times, but he was kind of like a investigative journalist here in the States, and he wrote the book called breath, and that’s the book that I read. It was a recommendation for my sister, It came out in 2020 but I didn’t read it, of course, until I always joke about this, because my sister’s 18 months younger than me, but she always gives me good advice, but then I don’t actually listen to that advice till 18 months after.

Will Schmierer 1:12:16
So, I read it probably, I literally think it was June of 2022. Started reading it, I was ‘Oh, my God, this is what I need. Like, I learned that you could unblock your nose, and again, I was a former smoker, so like, I just thought I would have a perpetually stuffy nose forever. Well, it turns out, if you can unblock your nose, well from there, then you can breathe through your nose. Also what helps having a stroke and not being able to run fast. So I was already humbled in that area, so I was like ‘All right, let me try running.

Will Schmierer 1:12:49
And again, it was ugly and slow in the beginning, and most people would probably consider it walking, but it got me moving, and slowly but surely, it went from like, it’s embarrassing to say, but the running was just probably, like three miles an hour. I mean, I used to be able to walk five miles an hour before my stroke, without even thinking, like, that’s how big and long my legs are.

Will Schmierer 1:13:08
But because I was forced to go slow, I was able to breathe through my nose that whole time, right? And over time, I developed the endurance and it’s, it sounds so silly, but I literally felt like Forrest Gump, and I would literally laugh to myself every day, I was like, I’m fucking running, and I’m a stroke survivor with MS and all these other people who aren’t runners, who are supposedly in great shape because they go to the gym, they can’t run down the block, and of course, they could beat me because I wasn’t going fast, but like, I could go, that’s not the all damn day if I wanted to.

Will Schmierer 1:13:44
And some days I have, like, some days I started running, and I literally won’t even stop for like, four or five hours, like, if feeling good. So it’s those big eye opener for me, I think when I look back, there are certain moments thus far throughout my recovery where I was doing well and better the first couple years, but you know, it takes that first year to really, like, wrap your head around everything, plus the pandemic.

Will Schmierer 1:14:14
For me, just bad timing, right? Because I just had my all my stuff right before the pandemic, but in a way, I didn’t feel like I was losing out on the world, because everything was closed here in the States, even Florida. So I kind of got an advantage, if you want to call it that, but a slight advantage at the beginning of my stroke, because everybody was confined to the home, so I was able to do these things, but when I read that book breath, I was like this, not only did I need to know about this my own entire life, nobody ever mentioned it.

Will Schmierer 1:14:46
It was something I could have done that first year in a wheelchair, I could have started to improve my breathing and in circulation, because there’s so many benefits of breath breathing, I keep seeing breath work, and I hate it, but I always sorry. Comes out sometimes, but you’d be amazed how much it can help, and like, I had circulation issues, probably because the stroke, probably because I was 530 pounds. Like, you know, my legs looked like two baby walruses on a baby walrus, so, you know, and now they don’t.

Will Schmierer 1:15:18
Now, you could look at me now if I stood up, and you’re like, there’s no way you ever weighed 530 pounds. And it’s like, yeah, I know that’s it’s unfortunate that I let myself go to that point, because I should never have been that big. The breathing stuff, it really kind of like I said that circulation issues, some heart things, and it’s really calm my anxiety down. Because as a strokes are, you get a little bit of you take a little bit of a a little bit of a ding, I think at least initially, the first couple years, your self confidence goes down.

Will Schmierer 1:15:52
You get, at least me, I got, I would get a little anxious because I couldn’t talk the way I used to be able to talk, but like, so there’s some anxiety mixed with this. And anxiety is normal, right? And we don’t need a we don’t always need a pill for the anxiety, it’s just like, and I’m not saying this works forever, but, you know, if you just kind of take some deep breaths and you really get into this breath work. And again, I read the book by James nester, I just went way down the rabbit hole like you. I’m sure you do the same thing.

Will Schmierer 1:16:21
You find something like these diets or whatever’s working, and you find it, and you try it, you’re like ‘Oh my God. And it’s weird how many people kind of aren’t like us in that way, it’s like, I don’t know, but you I still go to, like, local stroke groups and stuff. Like, somebody last week, they’re like ‘Oh, well, I still love eating cake. And I’m like, I mean, listen, have a piece of cake.

The Importance of Self-Care and Balance

Will Schmierer 1:16:21
But like, if you’re talking about trying to get better, and cake is the first word out of your mouth, I don’t think you’re disciplined or being, you know, it does take a discipline and obsession, good or bad, you really have to, like, you know, I thin.

Bill Gasiamis 1:17:03
I think you owe it to yourself, Man, you have to. I mean, I the one that makes me cringe the most is when you hear people say that they’re still drinking after stroke, alcohol, and sodas that just makes me cringe. I can’t come.

Will Schmierer 1:17:19
I mean if you have one soda once in a balloon, and you’re going out to a nice dinner, you know, I wouldn’t, because I’m just like, why? Like, yeah, but it’s okay, but I also drank first shit, way too cutting out sodas.

Bill Gasiamis 1:17:34
I agree, and I have one alcohol I’ll have one alcoholic drink every four months or six months, or whatever, and I’ll barely get through it, but I’ll have it, you know, because everyone else is having it, and the weather’s right, or whatever, you know it’s but yeah, when you hear people say that they still regularly drink, and people who drink sodas and smoke after stroke.

Will Schmierer 1:18:02
A very lovely woman who is, I think, she’s not the accountant at my accounting firm, but she’s somebody she has a higher position than Secretary, but she’s sort of the person that always answers the phone, her husband had a stroke around the same time as me, and she’s like ‘Oh yeah, my husband’s still smoking. I’m like, I mean, I just cringe. And it’s like, I know not everybody wants to save themselves, but like, I don’t know.

Bill Gasiamis 1:18:31
And it’s true, I’ve had that conversation with somebody that we know who had a stroke a little while after me, her husband had passed away. She’s in a 70s, right? And she had a stroke, and then she was quite unwell, and we were at a party together, and she was drinking, and I don’t it got somehow got onto drinking, and I think she might have said, you should have, she might have said, I should, maybe I shouldn’t be drinking, or maybe I’ll just have one, something like that.

Bill Gasiamis 1:18:57
Anyway, I didn’t bring it out. I didn’t start the conversation, but then when the conversation’s going, then I can’t resist and then she sort of said to me ‘Well, my husband’s there now. Like, I don’t really care about me. I don’t care what happens to me. And I’m like ‘That’s cool, so you don’t mind if you die? She goes ‘No, I don’t mind if I go. ‘Oh, that’s fair, what if you have another stroke and you live and then somebody else has to wipe your butt.

Will Schmierer 1:19:23
Yeah, I mean, that’s that.

Bill Gasiamis 1:19:26
That was it, that was the question, and that question, like, really triggered this person. It didn’t make her change anything, I only said it because the context allowed me to say it, I only said it because I’m a stroke survivor, and so was that person. So it was the right time to say it, but that’s that’s the way I see it.

Bill Gasiamis 1:19:44
That the way I see it is, if I do something to myself that causes another thing, and somebody has to wipe my butt forever, and now I caused that, then that’s not on. I don’t have a problem with people who are unwell and they’ve got to go through that transition, between being independent, losing independence, and then regaining your independence. And you need support and help.

Bill Gasiamis 1:20:06
No issue with that, and I don’t, and I’m not talking about other people, but me, I couldn’t live with myself if I did it again, because before my because I had a I had a congenital issue, a blood vessel that was faulty, but I created the perfect storm as well. I was drinking, I was smoking, I wasn’t sleeping well, I wasn’t eating, right? I was stressed. I was working too many hours, so I created the perfect storm to make it pop as well. Yeah, I’m not going to do that again.

Bill Gasiamis 1:20:35
That’s Those days are over. I went It’s too hard. It’s too hard on everybody to put them through that again and again and again from my stupidity, if life brings it on, well ‘That’s life I’ve I’ll accept that part, but I’m not going to do it to myself.

Will Schmierer 1:20:51
Yeah, it’s even like, with the MS sometimes, like, it’s not quite the same, but it’s like, you know, I’m very careful about when I walk and I run like, I when I run on the treadmill, like, sometimes I’ll hold on to the side, because what am I? I’m not gonna hurt myself on the treadmill trying to get better and then accidentally slip like it’s okay. I could hold on if I need to, you know, it’s or just anything, as you’re crazy.

Bill Gasiamis 1:21:16
Yeah, as we go to because we get to the end of this episode, and we kind of start to wrap up. I want I wondered if you can answer some questions that I ask everybody, which the first question is, is, usually it’s, what has stroke taught you, but you’ve had stroke and MS, so the question is, what has stroke taught you? What has MS taught you? Or what have they both taught you together?

Will Schmierer 1:21:40
They have both taught me together that I need to pay attention to my body, I need to take care of myself first. I know this is a cliche I answer, but I’m a father of three. My wife is deaf, I lost my parents a few years ago, so I’m sort of the oldest child. I have two sisters. Like, I don’t, you know they don’t need me, but like, I feel a sense of responsibility. It’s taught me to really be a little more calm, I mean, that’s always a work in progress, but live a more balanced, healthy life.

Will Schmierer 1:22:17
Explore myself, explore what works, I’ve learned I was always pretty, like I said, always pretty curious. So it’s not terribly shocking. Half I’ve kind of taken with going down rabbit holes, with the stroke and the MS, but just being much more intentional about a lot of things. It’s, again, it’s diet, it’s nutrition, it’s figuring things out, it’s working out, it’s finding that work life balance. I mean, now I consider myself a runner, which I never would have thought was the thing.

Will Schmierer 1:22:54
I love sports playing as a kid, but then, you know, I stopped sports, obviously, after college kind of and I just, I think I’ve learned not to not not to believe what other people say, but don’t let certain things. Don’t get into a mindset where you think you can’t do something because, yeah, you might not be able to do it yet. You might not be able to do it tomorrow, but just keep going and pushing. I mean, I’m 41 I have three kids, 21, 10 and nine, a wife who’s deaf and like I’m back in school going for a master’s degree, because I just I have this weird drive, it really is obsession.

Will Schmierer 1:23:39
And drive like nobody’s going to tell me no until, until my body tells me no. You know, I just yeah, just learn. I learned a ton, honestly, and I think I always knew these things deep down. Unfortunately for me, the stroke is more of a blip in the road, I think it’s like I was trying to do so much, so fast, for so long, that I really did learn to figure out how to do the same things I’ve always wanted to do, just do them at a more what I would call normal pace, like here, like life really is kind of a marathon.

Will Schmierer 1:24:17
If you’re doing the best you can and you can.you know, lay your head on the pillow every night and fall asleep and feel like you’ve given the day the best you can and keep going, I don’t know it’s I know that’s not a great answer, but I just feel like I’ve learned a lot about myself over the last five years, and I really hate to say fortunate for having this stroke, but in those way I was because I was 530 pounds in an alcoholic and the cigarette smoker and things I’m not anymore.

Will Schmierer 1:24:47
So again, I think I would have preferred to learn it a different way, but I feel good about where I’ve come from, where I’m going and where I’m headed.

Bill Gasiamis 1:25:00
What’s been the hardest thing about this journey for you?

Will Schmierer 1:25:06
Truthfully, asking for help and realizing that I once operated at a speed with which was, by all accounts, pretty insane in terms of being mentally sharp, quick witted, just even behind a computer, typing 100 words minute back in the day, 8monitors, like, none of it’s necessary, and like, who was I impressing? Like, you know, there’s a level of speed at which a person should operate, and there’s just be honest fucking insanity, and it’s like, you can’t maintain that speed for that amount of time. Like, I’m not Elon Musk.

Will Schmierer 1:25:58
I’m not trying to be Elon Musk, or, or any of those people like, you know, I just want to be a fairly normal guy, and I was trying to operate at a speed with which was just not sustainable, to be honest, and that’s probably what led to some of the smoking and the drinking and the not being able to sleep and the constant mind chatter, and it’s just, I learned it the wrong way, not the way I wouldn’t like to learn it, but now I know better.

Bill Gasiamis 1:26:26
And that part was that not asking for help, kind of what makes you do more things? Because if, if you ask for help, then somebody else is doing that task or or it’s being outsourced or something, you know what I mean, whereas when you’re not asking for help, then everything is on your shoulders. You got to do it all anyway.

The Role of Community and Support in Alcohol and Stroke Recovery

Will Schmierer 1:26:47
Yeah, so that that’s a real struggle. So again, I operate, and always have operated at a very different speed. My wife, I love dearly, and she is a certain way, and her speed. She’s South American, Chilean, Miami, you know, that’s where we met, where we were. We met before we got married. And She has a more laissez faire attitude towards things in life. She’s much more about enjoying life. But for me, I don’t enjoy life unless we’re doing things or getting things done, or, like, you know, I can’t, like a lot of people, I can’t really enjoy the enjoyment time.

Will Schmierer 1:27:29
If I haven’t gotten a bunch of stuff done right. Like, with that work comes reward, and that’s kind of separate from having a stroke, but I just my mindset and like, I want to earn that downtime, that free time. I crush it all day, right then I can do some recovery stuff while I’m sitting and watching TV in the evening.

Will Schmierer 1:27:29
There’s no guilt around sitting down and doing nothing.

Will Schmierer 1:27:34
Yeah, and asking for help is just it’s tough because I want people to help at the speed with which I want to move. And I’ve had to really learn that that’s not how the rest of the world operates. So that’s what makes asking for help so tough for me, it’s not the actual asking for help, it’s like ‘Could I get your help, and could you also please do it as quickly and fast as I would like to do it, or we used to do it please. Now that’s really the issue with asking for help.

Bill Gasiamis 1:28:25
Wow, man, that’s crazy. Well, last question is, what would you like to say to the people that are listening and watching?

Will Schmierer 1:28:37
To the people listening and you know, whether you’re a survivor, caregiver, friend, family member, it it’s annoying as hell to hear that. It takes time, but it takes time and learning what’s best for you as a survivor, a caregiver, it doesn’t matter what role you play, they’re all important, and you know, realizing things are going to change, it’s not an easy path. There’s no magic pill for any part of the equation, it’s just, it’s really just continuously learning.

Final Reflections and Future Goals

Will Schmierer 1:29:11
Be visual, be curious, ask questions, you know, support one another, support yourself. Again, whatever role you play if you’re not taking care of yourself, corny, cliche stuff, but true, if you don’t take care of yourself, you’re not going to be able to help yourself or anybody else who’s part of the equation. So, you know, just kind of do your best each and every day.

Will Schmierer 1:29:34
Be proud of what you do ‘Down day doesn’t mean it’s down week, down week doesn’t mean it’s down month. Like, just keep stay disciplined. Maybe not for everybody, but for the survivors out there, be obsessive about your recovery.

Will Schmierer 1:29:50
Be disciplined and keep working at it. I know seems so cliche and terrible, but I thought the same thing. Even probably three years ago, I was like ‘Ah, things aren’t going as fast as I want, but you’d be surprised. I fully believe you put in the work you’re you’re eventually going to see the results, it may not happen at the speed with which you want, but yeah, I just, I think that’s important.

Bill Gasiamis 1:30:17
Yeah, brilliant man, Will thank you so much for joining me on the podcast man.

Will Schmierer 1:30:21
Thanks.

Bill Gasiamis 1:30:21
I appreciate. Before we do go, just give us the links. Where can people find you? We’ll have the links on the show notes anyway, but where can people find you?

Will Schmierer 1:30:30
Yeah, you can find me, usually my handles, I’m all over social media. It’s either ‘Survivor Science or Survivor Side, depending on how many characters you’re allowed. You can also check out, I thhink Instagram, Facebook, X Twitter. They’re the same thing, Tiktok. Think lovable, kind of getting everything under one umbrella still.

Will Schmierer 1:30:52
So yeah, it’s a bit of a hodgepodge, but you go to survivorscience.com where you go to the podcast show, it has all the links and it’s not hard to find me, I kind of built the internet for most of the 2000s so you can google my name, if you could spell it, and you’ll find me pretty quickly.

Bill Gasiamis 1:31:09
Awesome, man. Thank you so much for being on the podcast.

Will Schmierer 1:31:12
Awesome, thank you Bill. Thanks for having me, I appreciate it.

Bill Gasiamis 1:31:15
That brings us to the end of episode, 327 I hope will story of resilience post traumatic, growth and transformation moved and inspired you as much as it did me. His journey from battling severe health issues including alcoholism and multiple sclerosis to become a dedicated runner and embracing a new lifestyle is a testament to the incredible capacity for change and growth after trauma, a heartfelt thank you to everyone who leaves comments on the YouTube channel and to those who have given five star reviews on Spotify and iTunes.

Bill Gasiamis 1:31:51
Your support helps other stroke survivors find hope and guidance through this podcast. If you haven’t already, please consider subscribing, liking and sharing this episode so that more people can discover these stories of post traumatic growth. For those who’d like to support the podcast further, visit patreon.com/recoveryafterstroke, every contribution helps share more stories like wills offering hope and insights to those navigating their recovery journeys. Thank you for joining me today, and I’ll see you on the next episode.

Intro 1:32:27
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Intro 1:32:57
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Intro 1:33:21
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Intro 1:33:48
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