Reddit reviews My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey

You are one of the few stroke survivors I've read about who knew they were having a stroke, The rest of us seem to get a dose of confusion and chaos rather than an accurate self-diagnosis. Even the stroke association's FAST campaign hasn't helped much, But it is probably asking too much of a brain which is under attack. Sorry to babble but I applaud your smarts and self-awareness.


I found the book "my stroke of insight" very helpful, dr. Taylor is also a teacher and elquently describes her "mush brain" and need for quiet, low input rewiring time. link=https://www.amazon.com/My-Stroke-Insight-Scientists-Personal/dp/0452295548

Dr. Taylor was still seeing improvements four years after her stroke so don't give up or pick an arbitrary "recovered by date". Something my Neurologist said about most gains being in the first 6 months has really hurt me when the 6 month mark arrived without brain control of my left hand or foot. I had not realized that I was putting so much hope into working my ass off and hanging in until the end of August.

You have to rehab everything; speech, vision, gait, muscles, it is all a horribly slow process of incremental gains or working daily in the hopes it pays off later. The only sure thing is no rehab = no gains. In the first 30 Days after My ischemic stroke, the PT taught me to walk again, speech cleared up considerably, and I got to where I could read again. All the Therapists I've worked with report patients having breakthroughs one or even two years post-stroke. The damage and disruption from stroke seems to be as varied as each of us so I don't think anyone's experience will mirror your own. I do believe that my decision to pursue rehab with as much positive energy as I can will eventually pay off. I know it has made me less of an ass than I would be if I let myself rage against the destruction and loss. You'll meet some amazing people during recovery and your stroke isn't their fault, so please try to avoid the slide into depression and bitterness. You read like a smart lady without huge cognitive issues and I think that puts you off to a great start for recovery, even if 90% rather than %100.

Good luck and God Bless. Write it all down, almost 800,000 Americans have strokes every year so your trials and triumphs may help the next poor sap that comes along. Meanwhile, Please keep us posted on how you are doing, I've found the wisdom, patience, and experience of the folks who post here to be very helpful in my recovery so far.

On rainy days I love to try new recipes to cook with my roommates! My favorites are Indian or Spanish recipes :)

if I win I would love this book about strokes, as it's required reading for my fall semester of grad school!

If brain events other than epilepsy are of interest, I can recommend a couple of things. My Stroke of Insight is a memoir by Jill Bolte Taylor, a neuroscientist. The description of the experience of a stroke by someone who really understands the brain is fascinating. A Bomb in the Brain is Steve Fishman's account of suffering a cerebral hemorrhage while in Nicaragua, trying to get competent treatment, and making his way back to the U.S. It's 25 years old but still sticks in my mind.

Last: My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey - Jill Bolte Taylor.
Quick read, just basically an expansion of her TED talk.

Now: Linked: How Everything Is Connected to Everything Else and What It Means - Albert-Laszlo Barabasi.
Just getting started on it, but it seems like it will be an interesting read and one that isn't too bogged by concepts ill-understood by people outside the realm of.

Next: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values - Robert M. Pirsig.
I gotta take breaks from nonfiction and I need to see what all the fuss is about.

My Stroke of Insight by Jill Taylor: A neuroscientist has a stroke and learns to walk, talk, eat, write, or recall her memories.

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks: Interesting case studies of patients who suffered from extreme/rare neurological disorders.

Far From the Tree by Andrew Solomon: Not necessarily speech-language pathology specific, but it includes chapters identity, self-perception, social perception of people with autism, Down syndrome, and Deaf culture. I read this book recently, and it's absolutely brilliant.

If you haven't already, you should look into My Stroke of Insight. The story is told from a neuroscientist who had a stroke. It really helped me understand what it is like to have a stroke and how to get better.

She also has a book out on the same subject: http://www.amazon.com/My-Stroke-Insight-Scientists-Personal/dp/0452295548/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1256320086&sr=8-1

If that site interests you, you absolutely must read A Stroke of Insight. Basically, a young neuroscientist gets an unexpected stroke. She recounts the feeling as the left hemisphere of her brain shut down. She felt a oneness with everything, to the point where walking or picking up objects was difficult-impossible. I think what she experienced may be similar to the experiences of people who "died and met God."

Take a look at Jill Boldt Taylor's Ted talk or buy her book.

Stroke victim (and expert, IIRC). The story was on NPR and TED I think.

This it maybe?

http://www.amazon.com/My-Stroke-Insight-Scientists-Personal/dp/0452295548

***This.
I think My Stroke of Insight should be required reading (TED talk) for anyone that works with stroke patients.

Also, I heard about a similar-ish book from an NPR interview that was recently released.

So you believe scientists who have NEVER taken these things because they haven't come up with evidence to support it yet, when you could also just go yourself and come with plenty of hands on experience. If you don't know that it can take you there, then you haven't gone there. That is all. You didn't take that road so you don't think it exists.

So your proof that something doesn't exists is that YOU haven't been there and that scientist who also have not been there agree.

However if you were to ask this scientist among many OTHERS who HAVE been there. They'd say it's real.

>> OK, Mr. Gish Gallop, let me be specific. Unscientific nonsense:

> (Yoga Sutras, Chapter 1, verse 2) which are due to "samskaras" -impressions left in the nervous system by past experience that give rise to thoughts that are inappropriate for dealing with the current situation... which, come to think of it, is one way of defining PTSD. Asanas, the physical postures, aren't meant to be aerobic exercise, but postures that one attempts to assume in a specific order, while paying attention to sensations in the body as one attempts to get into each different position. This is supposed to establish better connections between mind and body, while serving as a preparation for meditation. Meditation (at least dhyan (AKA Transcendental Meditation)), with or without asanas, almost certainly has a better effect on PTSD than any other known therapy.



Hmmm....

(Yoga Sutras, Chapter 1, verse 2) which are due to "samskaras" -impressions left in the nervous system by past experience that give rise to thoughts that are inappropriate for dealing with the current situation... which, come to think of it, is one way of defining PTSD.

Here's what the Mayo Clinic says about PTSD

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that's triggered by a terrifying event. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the event.


You don't see a clear connection between "impressions left in the nervous system by past experience that give rise to thoughts that are inappropriate for dealing with the current situation" and "flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the event?" that are "triggered by a terrifying event?"

To me, at least, "PTSD" is merely the most extreme form of what yogis call "samskaras." In the context of Yoga, anytime thoughts arise that are not relevant for the moment are a sign of imbalance or non-health in the person due to the nervous system being overwhelmed by previous experience. When a person is sufficiently healthy that these inappropriate thoughts don't arise, then the person is enlightened, though that interpretation has its own problems, like the stroke-victim who lost her ability to verbalize thoughts and is therefore confident that she is enlightened.

My comment about asanas was meant to acknowledge that there's no known way (at least I don't) to evaluate the claim in any scientific sense:

This is supposed to establish better connections between mind and body, while serving as a preparation for meditation.

Would you have preferred that I said mystical writings from the bronze age claimed that this was supposed to establish better connections between mind and body while serving as a preparation for meditation?


Now, the last part I already dealt with:

Meditation (at least dhyan (AKA Transcendental Meditation)), with or without asanas, almost certainly has a better effect on PTSD than any other known therapy.

You can falsify that last statement (or not) merely by looking at the existing literature on PTSD therapies and seeing how well they work. Check back periodically as more studies are done and eventually a pattern will emerge concerning which PTSD-therapy works best for which group(s) of people in which circumstances.