My Stroke Recovery
My Stroke Recovery is something I go after like a man possessed and I will leave no stone unturned to give myself the best chance at getting back to being productive and having great health.
In part two of my discussion with Joe Horton Founder of the positive impact movement we discuss how I have left no stone unturned to make the best possible recovery after stroke
06:02 Neuroplasticity
08:19 The Power Of Visualisation in my stroke recovery
15:00 What Is A Low Carb Diet and its positive impact
25:24 Everybody Has Different Needs
30:12 Exercise And Brain Health After Stroke
37:41 The Signs Of Stroke
42:31 Stroke In The Family
43:45 When Less Is More in my stroke recovery
Transcription:
Joe 0:00
My guest today on the positive impact podcast is Bill Gasiamis.
This is the second of two episodes I conducted with Bill so make sure you check out the first to find out about his remarkable story. In this episode, we’ll find out why minimizing carbohydrate and sugars is essential and helping your brain to recover from a brain injury. How the medical community has never been so split over dietary advice than it is right now. And why some doctors are conceding that the low fat advice of the 80s didn’t eradicate chronic diseases. In fact, it actually made the situation worse. We’re also going to be finding out the fitness and lifestyle changes you can make to promote longevity over having a beach body. In addition to this will run through the F A S T fast steps you should be aware of in case you suspect someone close to you is having a stroke.
Bill 1:06
Right Now is your time, your time to make a difference. Your time to step up and enter the life you’ve always dreamed of, to confront your fears. Make your move and unleash your true potential. The positive impacts podcast with Joe Horton, improve yourself, inspire others.
Joe 1:29
Hello again. I’m Joe Horton and I’m the host of this podcast and the founder of the positive impact movement. positive impacts is a growing movement of people just like you, they want to leave behind a life of negativity and embrace positive change in their lives. Our movement is growing week on week from strength to strength and helping you the listener to fully embrace positivity in all its forms. were beginning to help grow positive people relationships and communities in a world today which has become increasingly negative and polarized.
The episodes we have coming up in the next few weeks will cover topics where we could all improve my guests will present you with some great free resources that you can take away and apply immediately to positively impact areas of your own life. topics like developing yourself as an entrepreneur, learning, meditation, and journaling. I’ll also be speaking with guests about some of the more difficult aspects that life throws at us. In covering these more difficult subjects will uncover how you can use them as opportunities for growth and discovery in your own life.
We show you how to use lifes adversities to grow, learn and inspire the world’s top experts I feature on positive impact I hand picked to deliver maximum impact so you can make some amazing improvements to your own life and inspire others around you to do the same. we’re interviewing psychologists neurosurgeons thought leaders entrepreneurs and best selling authors. pretty much anyone that can help you the listener to be inspired and reach your true potential we will bring onto the podcast. My dream is a positive impact with the number one personal growth podcast in the world. And I invite you to join me on this journey.
My guest today is Bill Gasiamis. Bill Gasiamis is the founder of the recovery after stroke community, which is a resource for stroke survivors and their carers. He also hosts the recovery after stroke podcast. He was inspired to set up the recovery after stroke community because of the lack of support for stroke survivors when they leave hospital, having sustained a stroke.
And also Bill has personal experience of having had three strokes himself. Today he provides personal coaching to stroke survivors and provides resources support, and a community to help those who have suffered a stroke. Bill had his first stroke a 37 years old, a brain hemorrhage with a second brain hemorrhage a few weeks later. On the road to recovery. He then sustained a third stroke three years later, which necessitated surgery. However, in those intervening three years Bill radically changed his lifestyle and life, which meant that when he had to undergo surgery, he was in the best shape he could possibly be.
Not only his Bill story astonishing in itself, but the fact that he recovered from brain surgery in half the time that his doctors predicted is testament to the extensive work Bill did on himself to change his mindset, belief systems and lifestyle. His curious nature, thirst for knowledge around the brain, mind body connection, and lifestyles of stroke victims makes him an excellent advocate for more healthy, balanced and sustainable life.
But they talk about you I do affirmations and visualization in the more in typically when I get up in the morning, and I’ve heard somebody say before that when you work on your subconscious brain, when you give it a command, it goes to work on making that on making the thing happen that you want to happen. So in your case, sounds like you were 100% convinced that you are going to make for recovery come what may and and that happened. Because you’re because you because you’re because you’re carrying your your brain is even in its kind of damaged state, if you like has given a command to your body to write let’s get going we’re going to get this we’re going to get out was fixed a sort of thing.
Neuroplasticity
Bill 6:02
Yeah. So there’s this thing called neuro plasticity. It’s the ability of the brain to rewire itself and create new pathways for pathways that will last. Neuro plasticity is considered a positive thing. But there’s also negative neuro plasticity. And negative neuro plasticity is that thing that we do when a doctor with a bad bedside manner comes and says, You can’t walk, you’re probably not going to walk again. And then that person takes that information to heart and creates negative neural pathways to confirm that walking is never going to happen again. Kills the pathways for positive opportunities to walk, for positivity that you’re going to walk and starts to generate these other ones. It’s a big topic now in the neuroscience community about how we motivate people to change.
One of the people that I’ve interviewed Dr. Michael Merzenich is the leading scientists for neuro plasticity in the world. And he talks about how when we can influence people, with the words that we use, we can influence ourselves with the way that we speak to ourselves, and the types of things that we put in place. And if we happen to be focusing on the negative, that is the result that we’re going to get. So for me, I couldn’t afford not to walk, I don’t want to not walk, I want to drive, I want to do all those things. So since I’ve, since I’m the only one in my way now, because the doctors, you know, they do what they do, they take stuff out, they patch you up, they send your home, they’re not responsible for the other stuff. I’m responsible for that stuff. So since I realized that I’m getting my way with business, and I’ve got in my way with all these other things while I’m definitely not going to get in my way from walking again. So that’s what I did, I implemented the strategies that created those new pathways. Now, you said something really interesting, which was, you visualize, and you do, and you do not mantras did something else. What was it?
Joe 8:19
affirmations is affirmation
The Power Of Visualisation in my stroke recovery
Bill 8:21
affirmations, right. So for the first week and a half, I actually wasn’t able to walk after surgery, and I wasn’t able to go into rehab, they weren’t able to get me on my feet. Because what they do is they assess you assessment takes ages there, they don’t want to risk your, your falling, or anything like that. So what I was doing, I was lying in bed, at the hospital, and I was imagining myself walk. So the same neural pathways that get fired up when you walk, actually getting fired when you’re imagining yourself walking.
So by the time it came for me to walk, I had already done, I don’t know, five days or seven days of walking in my mind so that it was not unfamiliar, when I got on my feet for the first time. And all I was doing by actually walking was and being supported by you know, stirrups, and all this kind of stuff was strengthening those pathways that I had already created. So that costs nothing does nothing, it’s easy to do. And I can do from my bed. And yeah, it has a massive implication on, you know, your long term recovery.
Joe 9:41
And did this doctors teach you that skill? Or was that a skill you develop before you went in?
Bill 9:47
They don’t teach you that. They don’t communicate that they don’t have enough time. So I did a whole bunch of research, I’m a problem solver, as you would be running a property maintenance business you know. So for me, it was like, okay, you know, what do I fix a hole in the wall with? Well, I get this, I get that I get that I get that? Well, what am I gonna fix a hole in a blood vessel? Well, you know, I’ll do this, I’ll do that. I’ll do this. I’ll do that.
So I researched and researched and researched and sought out the most amazing people in the world to learn from and I did that starting with, you know, that book that I mentioned earlier, mBraining and then also all the other books that came from that, you know, Dr. Michael Merzenich. Dr. Norman Doidge. Jill Bolte Taylor, Professor Jill Bolte Taylor, there a few of the well known ones, but then there’s a whole bunch of stuff on the internet about how to support yourself in recovery after a traumatic brain injury and how to overcome things, nutrition was massive, Joe massive, you know, so for somebody recovering from a brain injury, they need to take carbs out of their diet, because carbs are inflammatory to the brain, especially when it’s healing. And when you hit a lot of carbs, it impacts your insulin in your body and insulin spikes cause inflammation in the brain and real problems for the brain and increase fatigue. So, so I had just, I had done, by the time I was out of surgery, I had done three years, you know my degree, pretty much on self healing and overcoming this issue.
Joe 11:29
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One thing one thing I was going to ask you Bill and I’m just going to interject there, because this is something that’s going to be quiet is something that I encountered when my my father as you know had a fa, Well, he had two strokes, which proved to be fatal. After that, I went along to the doctor and kind of said, Well, what does this mean for me? And the doctor and blood test and they said, Oh, your cholesterol is on the high side. And they said just all they said to me was go away and look at your diet. So you go away and look at the research. And so I come I come across half the medical community saying you need to follow a Mediterranean low fat diet.
And then I stumbled by pure chance upon a website called Marks daily Apple, which is I is primal. So it’s a kind of version is a kind of a hybrid of paleo, but essentially, it’s low carb. He doesn’t actually call it high fat because it’s actually low carb more than its high fat. But there seems to be a kind of and we’re probably digressing here. There’s is there seems to be a split occurring in the kind of medical community regarding heart disease, chronic illnesses, and that the kind of conventional wisdom of low fat seems to be being debunked more and more often at the moment.
But it’s leaving everyone in a quandary because is listening to the show with probably listening to this podcast going to be thinking, What do I do? Do eat I? Do I, Mediterranean? Do I eat low fat diet vegan? Do I go pescatarian? And there is so much it’s become so confusing now because so many doctors are kind of saying to patients, you need to you need to follow a low fat diet, when in actual fact, a lot of the how shall I say put actually put this there are so many voices of opinions talk saying against No, you don’t want to do low fat actually, because the kind of the links between fat and heart disease are kind of possibly a bit 10. us I don’t know what you’re, I’d be fascinated to hear what you think on it Bill because clearly you are a man, a man that’s probably researched it more than most.
Bill 14:54
Alright listeners, I’m not a doctor, okay, so you can’t take anything I say seriously, or follow it. That’s
Joe 15:00
fair enough. That’s fair enough. I’d like to know what your thoughts are on it.
What Is A Low Carb Diet and its positive impact?
Bill 15:05
However, so. So women that when they say low carb, in the in the, in our, you know, Facebook world, what low carb actually means, for me is no highly processed, grains, flours, sugars, and in you know sugar and those types of things. So what they do is flour doesn’t have any nutritional benefits. It doesn’t actually have any vitamins or minerals unless they fortify the bread with some junk. It’s not where you go to get vitamin C, it shouldn’t be where you go to get but folate and all this kind of stuff. So what it does, it’s a filler, it feels the gut makes you feel full. But what it does is it spikes your insulin, when it spikes your insulin, that puts you into a stressed state.
Because the body, the heart rate increases, the blood pressure increases, and the body goes into a fight or flight state, which is created artificially by the food that we ate. A fight or flight state is a high cortisol state, it’s a state where you’re having high cortisol in your body. And when you’re doing that constantly, you’re wearing out your adrenal glands quicker. And you’re increasing the the acidity in your body and the negative. And nobody quite me on the terminology, please. And you’re increasing the acidity in your body, and you’re creating a state of inflammation in your blood vessels, you’re creating that in your organs.
And what you’re doing is you’re allowing fat cells to proliferate and grow around those organs, in your, in your muscles, etc. As the blood vessels get irritated by cortisol, by insulin, etc, what happens is cholesterol is sent to them to line the blood vessels on the inside to support them from this attack, because because these things are damaging the collagen in the blood vessels and making them weaker. So that they cannot expand and contract the way they need to as our blood pressure shifts, and increases and decreases.
So carbs essentially are a stimulant. And when you’re stimulating yourself constantly, you get to this point where your body is working too hard all the time to break them down and get rid of the excess sugars that carbs, are turned into out of the bloodstream and into the muscles. Now, if you’re a runner, if you’re a runner, and you carb up before run, that’s okay, because you’re burning all of that energy that you’ve created. Because the insulin is sending it to the muscles and you’re burning it and it’s going away. That’s fine.
But most of us are sedentary, most of us sit down on air, but you know, 16 hours a day, and we don’t burn it off. So avoid carbs. When you’re recovering from a brain injury. That impact on the body is more visible, you notice it because you have these massive energy spikes, and then there’s massive energy drops when the insulin gets rid of all of the excess energy from the bloodstream. So high fat shouldn’t be high fat from your local McDonald’s or KFC, all that kind of stuff, it should be very clean, and very low processed oils, like olive oil, and avocados, and fish oils that come from you know healthily grown fish that are wild caught.
You eat a ton of fish, if you ate a ton of vegetable oil. And you take out the carbs from your diet, and you chuck in a whole bunch of vegetables and a little bit of protein. you’re well on your way to being healthier than you’ve ever been. And take out sodas or soft drinks as we call them in Australia. And drink water because that’s the only thing that God created for us to drink. He didn’t create beer and all that kind of stuff we did well it tastes amazing.
So when you’re going through this healing process, you’ve got to really remove all of the cards out of your diet. And eat carbs that come from fruit in small doses and vegetables. It your lentils, it all the things that you’ve you know, always grown up with and love eating, but dont the things that you have to buy from a shop at a supermarket that comes in a packet that was manufactured in the factory doesn’t work. And the reason why the community is that is because when I first started to investigate this seven years ago, I would say there had been only about five or six years of a lot of, you know, official studies research done.
And the medical community is generally slow to take a path towards, you know, another option. So what happens was, you got the old guard saying, No, we’re sticking to this. You know, studies have shown whether the study the efficacy of the studies is good or bad is not relevant. This is what we’ve done. This is what we’re always going to do, we’re going to continue to do this, that what seems to be the story now is that the low carb message, sorry, the low fat message from the 80s has not seen a decrease in stroke has not in essence, in a decrease in heart disease, has not seen a decrease in any of the chronic diseases that are killing people cancer.
And now, the new guard is saying, All right, we haven’t solved the problem that we had in the 60s and 70s, we’ve actually made it worse. We need to do something different. And this is what they’re finding. Now. The stuff that I’m saying is general I say it without being an expert, but there is a ton of science to back it up. And one of the things that’s really controversial Joe is they’re talking about Stantins that people take a high cholesterol is starting to cause people what they’re calling type three diabetes, which is dementia, which is Alzheimer’s.
And people who have high insulin, and are type two diabetic who are, taking diabetic tablets or insulin to try and control their type two diabetes, which is all related to diet is stage two of the next stage, which is dementia. And what they’re finding is that cholesterol lowering drugs, and a combination with somebody that’s on diabetic tablets, these people are higher risk of having dementia. So what I said about to take you back and to round this off, what I said about cholesterol earlier was the brain actually requires cholesterol to operate properly.
The blood vessels don’t require cholesterol, but it is the body’s defence mechanism. And why cholesterol keeps going up is one of two reasons either the blood either the brains not getting enough to access to us as a source of energy or the inflammation is continuing to occur because we don’t change our diet. So the body sends more and more cholesterol to the blood vessels to protect them more and more and more. And as it does, it’s it’s only defence mechanism and the slowly slowly the blood vessels close over. And people have cholesterol plaques, blocking arteries, causing heart attacks, causing strokes. Yeah, it is, and I my understanding of a very complex.
Joe 23:21
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Yeah, and I’ve heard and I’ve heard a number of cardiologist say that it’s actually cholesterol, like you say cholesterol in and of itself is a natural part of your body, it’s cholesterol plus inflammation, which is the real problem. So in actual fact, a certain amount of cholesterol is quite normal. It’s when you add inflammation to the mix. That’s when the issues happen. And which is like you say, high sugar, high carbs, refined, refined carbohydrate.
And it’s, it’s, it’s those kind of things, but what I’ve what I’ve noticed, you know, when on referring back to Mark Sissons website, there’s a number of people are noticing this not through going to their doctor, what they’re doing is they’re finding out about it, educating themselves. Then I said, Okay, what I’ll do is I’ll try, I’ll try it for three months, or five or six months. And typically what happens, and you see anecdotal stories on Mark Sissons website, Rob, you know, Rob Wolf is another one. But you, you know, there’ll be people there who have been online, they will have Crohn’s disease, or they have diabetes or other chronic diseases, and then over a period of three to six months, you know, they’ve they’ve reduced their medication, in some cases, stop their medication altogether. And, and they go along and have to have their blood work done and the doctor says to them I, what have you done, and they say, Well, this is what we call it. I’ve never seen blood values like this, I don’t understand how you’ve been able to do this. They’re stumped, because they just, it’s not something they would see happening. So
Every Body’s Requirements Are Unique
Bill 25:54
I’ve, I’ve interviewed Joe. And this is the beauty of what I’ve just said now, because now I’ll say the exact opposite. So I’ve interviewed a guy, Clint Paddison, who has reversed rheumatoid arthritis. In his early 30s, he became, in his early 30s, he had rheumatoid arthritis, couldn’t walk, his knees were inflamed. And he reversed the completely got off all his medication on a diet opposite to what I said. It doesn’t do breads and cards and all that kind of stuff.
But he doesn’t do high fat, and it doesn’t do meat. Right, so everyone’s different, everyone needs to consider themselves. So he’s reverse rheumatoid arthritis. I’ve also interviewed a lady who has reversed multiple sclerosis. The damage in her brain from the Multiple Sclerosis is still there, the lesions that caused the damage that hasn’t gone away, but it’s not getting worse. And she’s back to walking, working all the stuff that she couldn’t do all of her medication, and she’s doing something similar to what I described and what Mark Sisson will talk about and what Dr. David Perlmutter will talk about in his book, grain brain.
So
everyone’s slightly different, we all need to pay attention to what works for us specifically, what condition we’re dealing with. And I found that I’m specifically almost allergic to sugar. You might not be but you might be allergic to something else. And you need to pay attention to how your body changes when you remove something out of your diet, and then bring it back in. And for me, I know when I bring it in, bring sugar in. I can feel it entering my blood into my brain, like I can probably feel it mate It’s crazy.
So the medical community is, is divided because the pharmaceutical companies are starting to get concerned that if people don’t need cholesterol tablets, if they don’t need all this stuff that we’ve told they need all this time, like what’s going to happen to our bottom line and our profits? And I might be a bit cynical, but I think there’s a lot a little bit of truth to that. Because all I’m interested in if I’m pharmaceutical companies, increasing my profits from my shareholders, all that kind of stuff. It isn’t a massive stretch for somebody to go, I really don’t give a shit what we’re selling these people just sell them something because we need and tell them that it’s doing something because we need to make money. Somebody at some point might have said that.
Joe 28:29
Yeah,
Bill 28:30
I’ve got no proof of that. And I’m not.
Joe 28:31
Well, there is a there is a case, I think I’ll try to link it up in the show notes if I can find it. But there’s a case I think it was in South Africa, where a leading doctor kind of challenge made that very challenge. And there was enormous backlash from I think it was a South African Medical Council, again, heavily backed by the pharmaceutical companies who really kind of hauled this guy over hot coals. And I think he I think he had a disciplinary or whatever. And he actually won it in the end.
But I’ll link up in the show notes, because that was quite an interesting kind of picture as to as to how that kind of plays out in practice sort of things. But Bill in terms of the other thing that kind of polarizes a little bit is, is the argument between cardio and strength as well. I’m moving kind of swiftly on here. But that is another kind of do I don’t I kind of situation the same as kind of diet seems to be and again, there seems to be a mixed. If you were to follow the kind of content kind of conventional wisdom, it’s kind of low intensity cardio, below kind of 75% of your maximum heart rate. So you’re predominantly burning fat rather than carbs and sugars. So you’re burning kind of clean fuel that seems to be again, some conventional wisdom that’s kind of being channeled rather than going out and doing cardio, which is kind of in that kind of dead zone between very hard and an easy where you’re just, you’re just being a carb burning beast, basically, and a lot of inflammation. Again, so.
Exercise And Stroke Recovery
Bill 30:12
So my exercise routine is no no longer strenuous, or vigorous, or anything like that. Most of the stuff that we hear about with regards to exercise is for, you know, to achieve a goal of weight loss or fitness or these measures that people aspiring to I’m not sure why so for me, I’m not aspiring to do anything other than just have some overall good circulation, some good movement, because my body really needs movement. So I think that the 30 minutes of just quick walking a day is good enough for assisting you to retain your, your fitness to get your lymph, fluid moving, your blood flowing, your muscles working and all that type of thing.
So I don’t think that you need to do vigorous training, unless you have a specific goal that you need to achieve thats related to, you know, exercise and strenuous lifting or anything like that. One of the most important things that I think is so very, very few people understand what the benefit of weight lifting is. And what it is, which is beautiful is that if you do Low, low level weight training, what you’re doing is you’re removing sugars and excess carbs out of your bloodstream into the muscles, and it’s being burnt.
That’s, that’s the whole mechanism of insulin, and serene, being released by the pancreas, to deal with carbs in the blood is to send it to the muscles so that it can be used. And because we’re so so sedentary, and because we are not facing these fight or flight movements, you know, like we did in the old days, we had to run away from something or whatever, we just store this excess energy and it starts to become inflammatory fat.
So by going to the gym and pushing low amounts of weight, you’re actually taking excess carb energy out of your body, and it’s being burned by your muscles. So what I love to do and suggest is light walking 30 minutes a day, if you can, if you can’t, every day, then ramp it up on the weekend, do an hour on the weekend, each day. And and that’s really good. And also go to the gym and push some weights that are not difficult for you to lift over your head, for example, that are on machines that are, you know, structured so that they’re doing the movement for you. But you’re all you’re doing is getting the resistance part. And that’s probably the best way to describe it do some resistance weight training.
Joe 33:18
Yeah.
Bill 33:20
And that is really helpful for body for the rest of it. But for me, I think it’s just only one small part of the whole thing which made the whole thing is the nutritional side, it’s what we put in first. And then the exercise and the and the physical exertion you know second for me. Mm hmm.
Joe 33:39
that builds that that builds a whole picture picture kind of together. And in terms of kind of, we touched upon kind of dietary advice, diet, this kind of dietary ideas that there are going around and also x is exercise. What about the soul lifestyle kind of changes did you have to did you find that you had to kind of make some sort of lifestyle changes and actually put yourself first so to speak, rather than kind of putting yourself at the mercy of your business? in some respect.
Bill 34:14
Yeah.
And that’s really important, right? So one of the things I did was decrease the number of people that I worked for and the kind of clients that have worked for if they didn’t pay the amount of money that I wanted to earn per day, I wouldn’t work for them. And it was ridiculous, I had to be competitive. But basically, I sacked a lot of my clients, the ones that were hard work, and not a lot of reward. Which meant that I now get paid more to do less. And then that averages out to be similar to what I was doing what I was doing beforehand.
So that that works. Well, now I’m working on that tools, and doing all that kind of stuff is not for me, I don’t enjoy it anymore. connected to my heart, I realize, okay, you know, it was good for the time it achieved its goal. So now my, my new my new focus and my evolution is to find a way to make a living without having to actually go to work every day. And now I’m trying to do that via the podcast that I have you know recoveryafterstroke.com. And we are we need to be more flexible, similar to the doctors who are sticking to these routines that happened in the past about how to treat a certain illness and now resisting, you know, what new science, new research is showing.
I don’t want to be that same kind of guy in my own world. So yeah, one way of making money is going to work in a painting people’s homes, fixing walls and all that kind of stuff. Well, another way is to potentially do that online and find a way to minimize my, hour travel every morning and my hour travel every every every night home. So I’m learning now about you know how to create times in a day where I can rest, sleep if I have to meditate, which is really important to help, you know, decrease the stress levels and to balance and to calm, go to yoga, you know, grow some veggies in a garden, and when and when I get home from work actually get to see that they are there.
Because right now, you know, if I get home at work from work in the winter, by the time I get home and start I can’t spend time in my garden. You know, so there’s definitely been a shift now focus on okay, how do I be more efficient with my time so that I can squeeze in more things that I love. And, and if you think you can’t do if you’re listening and you think you can’t do it, it’s too hard. That’s not true, because there is somebody already on a planet doing it. And if there is somebody already on the planet, working from home and being on the internet, selling stuff, talking about podcasts, whatever, then there’s no reason why you can’t do it, you just getting in your own way. So I don’t want to get in my own way. And this is what I’m starting to do now is starting to create a new version of not only myself, but also what’s happening around me and one that’s more supportive and suited to, you know, my lifestyle
Joe 37:31
and the life you want to ultimately lead and the life you want for your family as well. So,
Bill 37:36
yeah, well, if if I got sick of doing what I was doing in the past, I cant keep doing that. It’s not going to end well,
The Signs Of Stroke
Joe 37:41
no, no, no, because it becomes a means to an end. Quite literally then doesn’t it? So? Yeah, yeah. Cycling back to the actual the actual stroke. A lot of the listeners, some of the people that are listening will have had experience of a stroke themselves, or they will have a relative or friend or someone close to them that may have suffered from a stroke. Some of the listeners will be in a position where they’ve yet to encounter a relative or themselves having a stroke. And so if you suspect someone is having a stroke, what are you, I know there is some kind of there is a different codes depending on where you are in the world. I think its face, arms. I should know this.
Bill 38:36
speech
Joe 38:37
speech.
Bill 38:39
Time
Joe 38:40
Time.
Is it fast? Isn’t it fast? It’s the same? It’s the same acronym in in Australia is in the in the UK? I guess it is it so okay.
Bill 38:48
Yeah, it’s it’s the worldwide acronym. It’s one that was developed in conjunction with the world stroke organization, okay, they face their F stands for face to face basically me that sometimes people having a stroke, you’ll notice a droop on one side of their face. But also, their or their eye or their lip could be subttle, the symmetry might go out a little bit. Another way to test thats related to the face is to ask them to poke their tongue out. If they can’t poke their tongue out, or when they do, if it goes to one side, something’s not right neurologically. Definitely face then is you ask them to raise your raise their arm, bring it to their nose, squeeze your arm. And compared to the other side. And if they can lift their arm and bring it to their nose, but one of the arms is squeezing a lot harder than the other one or one of them can’t grasp or squeeze on to anything, it could be something wrong.
Speech often changes for some people who have stroke caring, they might be able to finish words, they might be able to talk but slur their words, they might not be able to make a sentence, they may start talking in gibberish or something that we don’t understand. And they may not also understand what you’re saying, they might not actually be able to work out what you’ve said to them, rather than they might be able to respond but not process speech,
Joe 40:30
okay.
Bill 40:31
And
time is stroke kills something like about like, some strokes can kill up to like, the size of a pea pod, a part of the brain the size of a pea every 10 minutes or something like that. So time is of the is the most important thing, get that person to an emergency room immediately. Don’t let them convince you that there’s nothing wrong that they’ll be right, Call an ambulance, and do whatever you have to do to get them checked out.
And the quicker they get to a hospital, the good thing about that is, is that if it’s a clot, or caused by a blockage, which is an ischemic stroke, that can actually help that blockage, to clear with some amazing drugs these days, a lot of people will have this, they’ll remove the clot. And they’ll suffer very little symptoms, and very little neurological challenges. So time is of the essence with regards to a hemorrhage, which you know, you won’t know they can, they can support that person with either releasing the pressure in the brain, or they can support that person with decreasing their blood pressure, etc. So people should know their blood pressure, if they have high blood pressure get it checked out, stay on top of it. And people should just pay attention to the subtle differences and trust their gut instinct, if they feel something’s not right and probably know is correct.
Joe 42:13
So let’s try again, trust the trust the gut, and if your husband or wife is saying, I’m okay, I’m be you don’t need to go to the doctor, then you do what you have to do to get them in that car and down to the hospital as soon as possible. Okay,
Bill 42:29
yeah, or ring or ring the ambulance. Yeah. In terms of,
Is Stroke Hereditary?
Joe 42:31
you know, I touched upon her, you know, the hereditary aspect of it. And in my family, three of my grandparents had strokes. Two of them, succumbed quite quickly after their strokes in their, you know, in their later years sort of thing. And if you have a family history is there certain steps that you should, you should probably be taking are certainly certain things that you should be looking at or be mindful of, in terms of you move obviously touched upon lifestyle, diet and fitness. But whether whether it’s a good idea to get any kind of blood test on or anything like that along, just to kind of see where you’re at, so to speak, because one of the frustrating things I found is that kind of when you’re when a relative passes away, they don’t, you don’t really get much medical history from your parents or your grandparents side. And it seems to be a kind of flaw really in the system, as far as I would say, because, you know, I don’t want to see my parents for medical history in terms of what everything they went to the doctor to ever have treated. But it would be useful in terms of kind of chronic disease, I think, to have at least have an idea as to what went wrong with grandparents and parents so to speak. And
Bill 43:57
it’s interesting, you know, the privacy laws probably prevent doctors from giving.
Joe 44:01
Yeah,
Bill 44:02
that medical history to next of kin. So that’s a really interesting conversation that you could probably have with your doctor worth asking. And I get asked this question a lot about, you know, stroke hereditary and all that kind of stuff. So I have this really dramatic answer. And I don’t mean to be rude. But stupidity is hereditary. And 85% of strokes are preventable. And that’s why my comment of stupidity is, is hereditary makes sense in context, and the reason being is because if your dad, your granddad, you know, your uncle, your great uncle all had a stroke. And let’s say they were all smoked. And they all work themselves, you know, to the ground, and they all did all this stuff, and you’re doing the same thing? Well, it’s likely that your body type is going to respond to to all those types of stresses in the same way.
And what you want to do is you want to pay attention to more, more. So what they were like as human beings, how they went about their day, which habits they had, and you want to do the opposite of what they did. And you want to find a way to support your body and your brain for longevity, because what they did, obviously, wasn’t for longevity, especially if they passed young. And that’s the message that I’m trying to now pass on to my kids who are 18 and 22. And it’s like, it took me only 40 years only 37 years to get my body to the point where it almost had enough. And, and if it wasn’t for modern medicine, I’d be dead 50 years ago.
So if it only takes 40 years, and you’re 20, what you need to do is you need to start shifting away from the habits and behaviors that we all did as teens and kids, etc. But then forgot to let go of when we went into adulthood and became you know, 35 and 40. And you need to start noticing how cigarettes impact you negatively because I was a smoker, how, you know, drinking excessively impacts you negatively, how eating, you know, sugars and all that kind of stuff impacts, you know, when you still need to start noticing that in your body.
And you need to take steps now because food is medicine and medicine is food, what we eat can support us better, and what we can not support us. So if you’re considering you know what you’re going to do going forward, I would seriously start the process of blood tests and all that kind of stuff regularly. So what once every three months or every six months, so you can notice changes. So you can pay attention to if you’re done something different, how your blood have changed, the blood pressures changed, and all that stuff change.
So you can monitor so you can have a picture of, Okay, how I am actually physically impacting my body for the better, or for the worse. And then you can make a decision Do you want to be around to grow old with your wife, your partner, your kids, see your kids, your grandkids, all that kind of stuff? Well, do what you can all the rest is up to the gods. And I have no idea what’s around the corner for me, but in case I live to 90, I want that 90 to be a very good 90 one where I’m still going out, you know, with my friends and still attending shows and still enjoying my life. Not a 90 that’s where I’m incapacitated. And you know, can’t walk and can’t move. And it’s, you know, not worth being around.
Joe 48:01
Yeah.
Yeah. And I think the thing is, is there is that element of us, right? We always did it that way. We always are, we always like all that stuff. So right, until you kind of drill down onto it. And you kinda I’m noticing more and more. I mean, I’m 40 in a few days time. And what I’m noticing more and more is I think that our kind of generation, if you like, Where are the children of what I would call the baby boomer generation, you know, after the kind of after the Second World War, where, you know, there was a period of quiet affluence affluence. And a lot of the baby boomers kind of they lived it up, it was a good times, smoking, drinking, eating whatever they wanted, leading very sedentary lifestyles and stuff like that. And I think the thing is, is that our, when I speak to my friends, a lot of us have grown up without we’ve grown up with not saying that we’ve seen our parents drunk all the time, But there’s I’m not in any way shape, or form condemning that. But what I’m saying is, I think a lot of us have grown ups in health habits and ways of living living, which aren’t that great. But the problem is, is is it set an example to us and trying to break that kind of break that chain, so to speak. is kind of easier said than it is easier said than done until you have a situation like you’ve had or like other people have, actually, they are forced to look very closely at themselves and think, actually, is what I’ve been told. That ah yes it’s okay to do this. It’s okay to do that. Whatever. That’s just a myth. You don’t I mean?
When Less Is More in my stroke recovery
Bill 49:45
Yeah, absolutely. It’s a myth, when I was researching very early on, and I never kept this link or this particular study, I came across a study about the Great Depression. And the First World War. The the Great Depression, saw a massive spike in the the age that people lived to. Now massive. I think it was around 10% increase in the age, people were living to back then the average age was around 50 to 55 for males and females. So you’re in the Great Depression. You’ve got no money to buy tobacco, alcohol, party too hard, excess foods, this that and whatever.
So very loosely, you can potentially associate you know, this lack of affluence to greater well being. Because affluence is stuff that we don’t need. It’s stuff that we acquire, or we use, or we take because we can, because we think that’s a good idea at the time or somebody selling it to us. But this idea of affluence, being a great thing for you to aspire to is actually not necessarily, in my opinion, in that I would rather use that affluence for experiences rather than for having the best caviar or the best. This all the best. the phone rang.
Joe 51:38
That’s okay.
Bill 51:41
All right. Sorry. I’m back. I can
Joe 51:43
I can hear you now. Okay, that’s right. That’s right.
Bill 51:45
Yeah, the phone rang.
Joe 51:48
I can I can edit that out. Oh,
Bill 51:51
yeah. Cool. And the other thing about and the other. And then the other thing that I found when I was researching was that there was a increase in the lifespan of cows, when their farmers fed them less. Around the same time, so I look at all these things. And I think about how much I eat now compared to how much I ate before. And I still might eat three or four or five times a day, but the portions are a lot smaller. You know, they’re less stodgy and filling types of foods. They’re just really lovely food that I enjoy eating a little bit of meat, bit of veggies, bit of this bit of cheese, a bit of tomatoes, whatever. And I just feel leaner, healthier. What have you. I’m kind of eating like not a peasant diet, but more of a portion that would be feeding somebody who wasn’t affluent, so to speak, or wasn’t gorging or wasn’t going all out to get volume.
Joe 52:58
Yeah.
Bill 52:59
They were just going out to quality. Yeah, you know?
Joe 53:01
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It’s interesting. It’s interesting the journey that people go on, once you kind of delve into it, and you sort of began to begin to change your sort of perceived notion of what is what is gospel and what isn’t. So yeah, Bill, I think we’ve covered an enormous amount of mileage here this evening. I’ve, like I said to you a little bit earlier on, I may, we’ll split this our discussion into a do as a two parter. So which will be a first to me, but I didn’t want to, it’s a subject that I didn’t want to cut short and not kind of do it justice, so to speak, because there is an enormous amount to go through, but an enormous amount of value to be had, from the information for people that are listening to this, you know, whatever.
Whatever stage of life or, and whatever kind of chronic illness, they may be concerned about be it stroke, or diabetes, or we’ve touched upon our there’s not cranes and stuff during this during this interview and stuff and that, so I really appreciate you coming on the show today. And I really appreciate you sharing your story with me. It’s, it’s a remarkable story. And I think you’re very inspirational character that you are, what you’ve gone through and been able to give back to the world and give back to the stroke community and the way you have, because it’s people like you that the world needs in order to, you know, in order to educate, and in order to inspire because not only you educating you also, you know, very inspirational character as well. So,
Bill 54:33
Joe, I really appreciate it, man, I really appreciate that you are embarking on this journey as well. And you’re making it possible for me to share my story, because that makes me feel good. And I know, it does positively impact other people, because they tell me that it does. And when I hear from them, it positively impacts me. So for you to reach out, and I just makes it all worth it, man, I really do appreciate it as well and keep doing what you’re doing. Because, you know, we, we now have this opportunity from our homes to impact people like we never did before, you know, and people need to hear all versions of stories, not just the ones that are edited, and produced, you know, to the nth degree that are available via our radio stations, or our TV channels, man. So you know what, I love what you’re doing, keep doing what you’re doing. Thank you.
Joe 55:24
Thank you. Thank you. I’m going to ask you one more question, which asked all of the guests on my show. And that question is, who is the person or persons that is had the greatest impact on you, throughout your life? And why?
Bill 55:44
While there’s some so many, but more recently, I’m gonna have to probably answer a little bit differently than most people, me. I am the biggest influence on my life in the last seven years than anybody else. Sure, I have been. I’ve sought out and support and requested the support of many, many people. But actually, I’ve grown up and I’ve, and I’ve created, you know, the environment around me to help me recover. For the first time ever. I am my biggest ally, and my biggest supporter, so you know what? 100% It’s me.
Joe 56:31
Excellent.
That is the first time I’ve ever heard someone, someone say that. But what I love is the way you say it was such an element of grace, and humility, and journey them from the journey you’ve been on, is fantastic. I appreciate you Bill, thank you very much for joining me today. And well as I as you are from the land down on, there’s only one thing I can say to you. And that is G’day.
Bill 57:01
G’day mate.
Joe 57:02
take care
Bill 57:04
see ya,
Joe 57:05
I really wanted to ask you about diet. And the reason is this. So much low carb and healthy eating is dismissed as fad and trendy. But not for Bill and many others. Diet is very much more than that. Not just from a recovery perspective. But for longevity. over the long haul. Bill painted a clear picture of what goes on under the bonnet of the human body, and why the medical community is hanging on so tightly to the low fat advice of the 80s. Despite soaring rates of chronic disease in 2019. lifestyle and health advice that we discussed really does give a great blueprint to those with a history of heart disease in their family, like me.
And while looking back your ground, parents and parents will give you some clues in how you should be living your life. Bill statement. The stupidity is hereditary. With 85% of strokes being preventable, really hits home, and comes back to the same old thing. We all know, deep deep down what we should be doing. And the changes we should be making. We just don’t make those changes, until it can be tragically far to late. my conversation with Bill was both inspiration, inspirational and fascinating, he is a very positive character. What shines through is the fact that he has become such a student of the human body. And sort out experts at the cutting edge of this field of research to back up his claims and help put him on the road to recovery himself.
I hope you enjoy my conversation with Bill and make sure you connect with me and Bill you can contact him via his website, www.recoveryafterstroke.com. And you can also link up with him on Instagram and Facebook. I want to say a big thank you for supporting positive impact listening to the show. And being part of this movement. We’re now 11 episodes in actually 12 episodes. If you include this being a two parter, and I’m uplifted by the sport. I’ve had from all of you that listen each week. Conversation such as this one really do have the potential to change lives as they tackle such difficult subjects that are often not discussed elsewhere.
I’m genuinely motivated and fired up by you to do what I’m doing here. What I do here it gives me so much meaning knowing that if one of you just takes one piece of information away that changes your life, I would have made a difference. If you like what I’m doing, please go and share my message, share this podcast, leave a rating and review and reach out to me on Facebook or Instagram using the hashtag improve yourself inspire others. It’s so important that you leave a rating and review if you like what I’m doing here, as it means more people find our podcast and benefit from the information we uncover with guests.
As we discovered during this particular episode, some of the information really could be life saving. I want to shout out to my listeners in USA, UK, Canada, Singapore, India, Australia, Italy, and Israel. Thank you for listening from all over the world. Most of all, please subscribe to the show, as it means those good people over iTunes push the show up the rankings. I love to hear from my listeners wherever you are in the world. So ping me an email if you like [email protected] and rest assured or respond to all the emails I get from listeners. Until next time, go out into the world. make a positive impact on yourself and others and most of all, improve yourself. inspire others.
Unknown Speaker 1:01:12
Thanks for listening to the positive impact podcast. improve yourself. inspire others to get involved. Check us out at www.positive-impact-movement.com
