Today I wish to share a little excerpt from my book. I have made many advances in my recovery, both in my accumulated knowledge / experience, and physically. I have 37 medical books on recovery etc. of which I have read about 30. But that’s not the point ; the point is that this ‘holiday’ helped my recovery more than any other single factor to date during my 2 year recovery period…(my 2 year stroke anniversary is tomorrow). So here is my greatest re-discovery, with a little clips of me walking around the airport in Kos… this is the first time I have ever walked in public without a stick! The sand and beach were essential stressors which gave me the missing proprioceptive awareness in my leg … (another story for another time.)
On a therapeutic level, the holiday literally unlocked the secret to my recovery. Exposure to the sun initially acted as a stressor to my mitochondria, but slowly, these poor, traumatised organelles (who do not share our DNA at their nucleus) started yielding energy. My dreaded yin/yang cycles lost all relevance, and I began walking without a stick. Since 90% of our energy comes from our mitochondria (which reside mostly in our heart, sperm, and muscles) it felt clear I was experiencing some sort of inner metamorphosis, as if a phone running out of juice had been plugged in and left to charge overnight. Many times, after exposure to the sun I could feel a tingling sensation as Nitric Oxide (NO) dissociated from the enzyme Cytochrome C Oxidase (CcO). This left it free to produce ATP (otherwise known as energy) more efficiently. A deep awareness for the partnership between mitochondria and ourselves is not so far-fetched. After all, I would start each morning with Qigong meditation sending Chi down from my middle to my lower Dan tian and even circulate it within my body. My exposure to the natural elements gave me a renewed zest for life. Water, salt, sand, air, and sun combined to give me the most powerful therapy available on the planet. I vowed to double the length of our stay next year. A few days after the holiday my body was still radiating heat, as I resumed my Red-Light Therapy.
The sun is out, so I’ll head outside now for some free therapy,
Ciao, good luck all, Roland
“The sun is out, it’s a good day to be alive!” so says Danny Cowley, Colchester United head coach agead if today’s match. I am there, it is Indeed sunny, and a lovely day to be outside
Oh wow That is phenomenal Despite the telling of your progress on here, you never get a truer picture than when you actually see it.
You’ve had so many ups and downs since you joined us and I am glad you have hung in there and persevered. All your hard work is finally paying you back
@pando
Wow! That’s so inspiring. I love your zest for life and the way you pursue it. I know you’ve had your struggles, so it’s a joy to hear of your progress and how the sun, sea and sand have played a big part in that. It’s probably something we should all try, if we haven’t already. (Speaking to myself here😁).
That’s amazing Roland. I too am almost 2 years on and am still terrified to walk without my stick. Stupidly I know I can manage without it indoors but the fear of falling still stops me
The fear of falling is a good fear. However, a certain (calculated) risk must be taken in order to make progress lest we stagnate and bore ourselves. Now you can take a risk, absolutely, can, you can just take a small risk and increase it very slowly.
Example ; I have 3 steps to get onto my lawn from my patio. Each of the 3 steps I do carefully… plant stick on the next step / left foot next / right (affected) foot last x3. Well today I changed the last step to stick / right / left foot for the first time. It is tricky because I have nothing to hold on to, but I had been planning this move for several days… when I did it I didn’t ponder, lest I hesitate, and perhaps falter… I did it quickly, smoothly, confidently, and a touch a faith or trust… and voila … I pulled it off perfectly. Think first time you rode a bicycle… first swim, first ski… etc. We need a sense of adventure. Good luck, thx, Roland
ps. since it was the last step, if I did fall it would be onto the lawn / grass. Remember I said “calculated” risk?
And sizing risk is a compound assessment: probability AND impact of the net of all factors.
If one addresses the impact of threats one lessens them. All risk is expressible as upside & downside. Trick is to maximise upside (opportunity) while reducing the threat component to ‘acceptable’.
Getting on & off a moving narrowboat across a watery gap either too or from a grassy bank is this week’s learning opportunity - not mastered yet!
I did wonder how you were going to manage with that. The barge pole might help in some areas for stepping off. Drive it down upright in the canal bed between the boat and the bank to hold onto as you step off and on.
I also spent a lot of time this summer in a warm sunny place in the mountains. Didn’t realise how beneficial it was until I returned home to the usual British not warm or sunny weather and within a few weeks noticed how my brain and body started closing up again. Not everyone can afford or is able to enjoy a warm sunny holiday, but being in nature and sun is so restorative that I spend time now absorbing the a.m. sun in my bedroom and sit in the park at every chance.
We probably have dysfunctional, damaged and traumatized mitochondria that need some serious rehab to get back to par. Look how many stroke survivors complain about fatigue. Sunlight (which our mitochondria respond to directly) exercise sleep diet are key factors. If only this message could get through it would benefit a lot of people. The sun has gone in, so I have my Red Light Panel on (I’ve got a nerve in my foot that’s sore today)
In a nutshell SAD light attempts to recreate sunlight at home
RLT is a specific set of wavelengths ( 680nm the frequency of photosynthesis and 850nm which penetrates the skin by a couple of inches ) Red light therapy is a treatment that may help skin, muscle tissue, and other parts of your body heal. It uses low levels of red light to target your skin and cells. It is thought to work by increasing the production of mitochondria, your cells’ energy sources. This may improve cell function and repair.
Red light therapy is also sometimes called low-level laser therapy, low-power laser therapy, low-power laser, or photo biomodulation.
It will take a bit of research to understand how it works, but there are 15,000 scientific papers which say that the science behind them is valid. Anyway, far from trying to sell it, there are a couple of Amazon books I have read on kindle
SAD therapy lamps and LED devices differ in some key ways. SAD lamps are used to brighten a room and give the impression of more sunlight. LED devices actually deliver red and NIR light to a person’s body and cells for a physiological benefit like enhanced ATP energy production.
Despite the telling of your progress on here, you never get a truer picture than when you actually see it.
