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Any stroke survivors here?

 
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OldNSlow



Joined: 26 Aug 2022
Posts: 3

PostPosted: Fri Aug 26, 2022 12:01 pm    Post subject: Any stroke survivors here? Reply with quote

My balance is off and I need more leg strength but otherwise I am good to go in light to medium winds. What all did you do to get back on a board?
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isobars



Joined: 12 Dec 1999
Posts: 20935

PostPosted: Fri Aug 26, 2022 12:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

For other medical reasons, I fall (even at home) a few times a day, I'm weak head to toe, and my R leg hurts and balks most of the time.

I've sold off my 6.2 and 7.0 sails because they require too much strength to waterstart and maneuver. I've sold off most of my smallest sinkers (they are WORK to sail unless the winds are very steady ... an increasingly rare event where I live). My Go-To boards for decades were about 70 L (at 180#), but now I'm using mostly 90-100 L boards carefully chosen for their ability to slash, jump, and ride softly in heavy chop.

I also have to cherry pick my water time. No more extremely gusty stuff, no more gale force crap, no more swimming 500 yards to and from the windline, no offshore winds.

And I'm getting a new right hip this fall after the wind season. You can't get a new carcass, but using stroke-impaired nerves and muscles can very significantly rehabilitate them. What better way to rehab them than doing something you love, as long as you can always rescue yourself. (If I have another Meniere's attack while on the water, I'm dead, but my last one was many years ago and on a lawn.)

Mike \m/
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OldNSlow



Joined: 26 Aug 2022
Posts: 3

PostPosted: Fri Aug 26, 2022 2:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thank you Isobars for your thoughtful response. No doubt my sailing will change drastically. I was a competent sailor before but now will almost have to relearn. I will start out on a big board with a small sail on a small lake where I can't get into too much trouble then go from there. Smile
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isobars



Joined: 12 Dec 1999
Posts: 20935

PostPosted: Sun Aug 28, 2022 5:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I should add that I reduced my at-home falls overnight by 99% by quitting melatonin. I still walk erratically on natural surfaces such as a lawn, but actual falls seem to have diminished dramatically. If you use melatonin to fight insomnia, cancer, and/or tinnitus (research shows it helps all three), try doing without it for a couple of days and see if your balance improves. Sans melatonin, my brain is finally giving me enough warning to prevent the vast majority of falls on dry land.

Alas, my chemotherapy is emerging as the prime suspect in the loss of my once-excellent jibing ability, and chemobrain very seldom goes away. Like you, I hope to relearn this and other sailing skills. I've learned not to look up at my sail or the sky while sailing, as either always produces an instant fall. When walking in rippled water near shore or across the lawn, I have to fix my eyes on dry, stationary land lest I topple right over. Staying oriented when waterstarting demands fixing my eyes on whatever relatively stationary landscape is available, such as a hill or the distant watery horizon. Upauling is impossible even on big boards because it requires me to look at two moving objects ... the rig and the water's surface.

Parallel to all that and more, you might add another tool to your arsenal. In anticipation of advancing age, more rounds of heavy cancer drugs, needing a new hip, declining balance, etc, I bought a carefully chosen kayak. Within maybe 20 hours of practice in ever-challenging conditions, I'm now taking it out with a fair amount of confidence into winds averaging 30 mph and gusting over 40 and the swell that goes with it on the Columbia River. Almost no balance required ... just lots of deliberate advanced practice at reboarding. I stay a helluva lot dryer doing that than windsurfing, and self-rescue is a low-effort piece of cake. The next step may be shutting my eyes, maybe reclining the seat to lower my cg, and seeing how long I stay upright passively in unseen wind and swell.

I've got to believe this option will sweeten the lemons you and I have been dealt, provide training and workout for damaged neurological and muscular systems, minimize risks if we choose our sites wisely, and reduce our dependence on the freaking wind. Not one person has commented on my lousy jibes, but I get accolades and self-rewards every day for just hanging in there.

Lemonade and all that.
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OldNSlow



Joined: 26 Aug 2022
Posts: 3

PostPosted: Mon Aug 29, 2022 10:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wow! That is quite the fight you've got on your hands. I do take melatonin every night so I will skip it and see if that helps. Thanks again and good luck!
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isobars



Joined: 12 Dec 1999
Posts: 20935

PostPosted: Sun Sep 25, 2022 4:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Now that I got a new hip Thursday, it's obvious that I couldn't have done that while using Melatonin. Recovery rules number 1, 2, and 3 are:
1. DON'T FALL.
2. DON'T FALL.
3. DON'T FALL.
I quit the narcotics/opioids the morning after surgery, and am steadier already than I was on Melatonin. Age and Melatonin are a bad mix. Add a stroke and the risks probably go up dramatically. Did dropping Melatonin help your balance?
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carl



Joined: 25 Feb 1997
Posts: 2674
Location: SF bay area

PostPosted: Sat Oct 01, 2022 10:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The brain needs to re-learn how to balance, since that was affected by your stroke. It does that by doing things that require balance, repetitively. If you have the means to windsurf often and push yourself to get back to the level you were at, that would be great. Otherwise you will have
to simulate with lots of balance exercises, very often. Stand up paddle would be one excellent way and if you fall its only water. It's like getting your "sea legs" back so to speak.
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