Strokes on the rise in youths
(AND....What is causing obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure? Too many video games (the normal slam against today's youth)? Or GMO foods and the relentless assault from aluminum, barium, manganese and iron micro-particulates and ELF waves, all flooding our atmosphere from the chemtrail / HAARP operations? -- MC)
Laurie Skrivan, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
March 02,
2010
Obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure are among the reasons
Blythe
Bernhard
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services
ST. LOUIS (Mar 2, 2010)
Of all the things parents worry about
happening to their children, strokes usually aren't one of them.
That's why Christina Lovett of Mattoon, Ill.,
and the family pediatrician thought her 10-year-old son, Josh, had the flu when
he was vomiting and complaining of a severe headache in late January.
Five days later, Josh was having trouble
walking. Brain scans revealed a series of strokes.
"I'm thinking all this time 'it's a
virus,'" Lovett said last week in the therapy gym at St. Louis Children's
Hospital, where Josh is recovering. "I thought (strokes) were just in
adults."
Advanced age is still the most common risk
factor for stroke, which occurs when the brain doesn't get enough oxygen
because a blood vessel is blocked or ruptured. But doctors here and elsewhere
report seeing younger stroke patients.
The average age of stroke patients -- 68 --
declined by three years between 1995 and 2005.
More than 7 per cent of all first-time stroke
patients are now younger than 45, according to data presented last week at the
International Stroke Conference in San Antonio, Texas.
The rate of strokes among people in their 20s,
30s and 40s has nearly doubled in recent years. The exact cause of the increase
is unknown, but doctors speculate that rises in obesity, diabetes and high
blood pressure could be to blame.
"This is just the beginning of this
alarming trend," said Dr. Jin Moo Lee, director of the stroke section of
neurology at Washington University.
"Normally it takes on the order of
decades for diabetes to wreak havoc on the blood vessels."
There isn't any evidence of a similar increase
in pediatric strokes, which are rare and usually have different causes, such as
congenital heart defects or drug reactions.
About 9,000 children have strokes each year,
according to the pediatric stroke program at Children's Hospital of
Philadelphia.
"Strokes in the pediatric population are
as common as pediatric brain tumours," said Dr. Michael Noetzel, chief
neurologist at St. Louis Children's Hospital.
Warning signs of a stroke can include loss of
balance, severe headache, difficulty with speech, vision problems, dizziness
and sudden weakness or numbness in the face, arms or legs, usually on one side
of the body.
Because strokes have not commonly been
considered a pediatric issue, and the symptoms can mimic other disorders such
as seizures, there are often delays in diagnosis and treatment.
Children also have a more difficult time
describing their symptoms, which can be subtle.
Kids like Josh Lovett bounce back from strokes
more quickly and fully than adults, said Noetzel.
On the other hand, it's difficult to tell in a
10-year-old the skills such as problem-solving and organization that may be
compromised in adulthood.
Children "are in some ways more
vulnerable to long-term issues," said Noetzel.
Source: http://www.thespec.com/go/healthfitness/article/730927