We must do better for stroke survivors
Has anyone you love ever suffered a stroke?
Chances are, you answered yes. Every 40 seconds, someone in the United States suffers a stroke — nearly 800,000 each year. In 2021, more than 8,000 people were hospitalized after a stroke in Orange, Seminole, Lake and Osceola counties.
May is National Stroke Awareness Month, a time to raise public awareness about strokes. When my father, a neurologist, suffered a stroke six years ago, I wanted to do everything in my power to help him. My father was the reason I became a doctor myself, and watching him struggle after his stroke inspired me to study all I could about stroke recovery.
A stroke occurs when blood flow to the brain is disrupted, depriving the brain of oxygen. Nearly two million brain cells can die every minute during an acute stroke, potentially leaving behind lasting physical, cognitive, and emotional impacts.
For the fortunate 85% that survive, about half are left with moderate to severe impairments that require considerable care. Physical and occupational rehabilitation and therapies are imperative to help survivors restore some lost function and adapt to their disabilities.
Unfortunately, after about six months of rehabilitation, most are released from therapy and told not to expect many further improvements. These therapies are focused on adapting, not on healing. Although learning to speak, walk, and write again is essential, rehab does not address the source of their deficiencies — the injury to their brain tissue.
Recovery doesn’t need to stop after six months. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy, or HBOT, is helping survivors restore lost function, even years after their stroke. Peer-reviewed, published research suggests that a specialized hyperbaric oxygen protocol can restore additional function in stroke survivors.
Understandably, most people are skeptical when it comes to HBOT. Thanks to tabloid news, celebrity hype, and fringe medical spas, HBOT has received a bad rap. But when administered by medical professionals using a scientifically backed protocol, HBOT can effectively increase blood flow and oxygen to damaged parts of the brain.
Let’s be clear: Necrotic (dead) brain tissue cannot be restored. But many stroke survivors have areas of the brain where the tissue is merely damaged. Brain imaging can help us identify this tissue and determine if these non-necrotic cells are the source of a survivor’s impairment.
I have treated stroke patients with a unique science-based protocol — combined with physical therapy, cognitive training and dietary coaching — that delivers outstanding results to stroke survivors even years after the incident.
One of those survivors is Cindy, who moved to Central Florida after suffering a hemorrhagic stroke in 2018. She had simple goals. She wanted to walk without a cane. She wanted to comb her hair. She wanted to be able to drive her golf cart again. After completing this specific evidence-based HBOT protocol, Cindy has newfound confidence in her ability to care for herself. Thanks to measurable physical and cognitive improvements, she is now walking confidently, driving her golf cart to the grocery store, and yes, even styling her own hair. She even traveled to Jamaica for a once-in-a-lifetime vacation, a trip she would have never even dreamed possible.
I will never forget the struggles my father faced after his stroke. Nobody should have to watch a parent, child or other loved one needlessly suffer. For the hundreds of thousands of stroke survivors in the United States, there is still hope for recovery. Unfortunately, this treatment is currently not covered by insurance. It’s a disservice to stroke survivors when their recovery is capped after just a few months of rehabilitation, even with scientific evidence that shows that we can still do much more for them. Our researchers will continue to gather comprehensive data on the efficacy of HBOT for stroke survivors so that one day every survivor will have an opportunity to continue their stroke recovery journey.