Stroke victims in their 50s have battled back
Rosey Ramsey, who suffered a stroke at age 52 and now works to help other stroke patients, gets a neurological evaluation from physical therapy students in a mock clinic at CSU Sacramento. Students are, left, Donovan Shields, Lo Saechao, lower right, and Claudiu Stefan Mich. Ramsey's biggest risk factor was genetic; few relatives in her father's family lived beyond their 50s.
As a registered nurse, Rosey Ramsey knew there was something wrong as soon as she woke up that night. Her right side was tingly and numb. She made it into the bathroom without difficulty, and then she lost her balance, tearing at the shower curtain as she fell.
It was Aug. 15, 2002. She was 52 years old, and she was having a stroke.
"I was determined from the get-go," said Ramsey, now 59, a stroke activist who lives in West Sacramento. "This wasn't going to hold me down. At 52, you've got a bunch of living left to do. You'd better learn to live your best life ever after having a stroke."
Years earlier than medical experts expected, stroke may be becoming a baby boomer disease. Several recent studies show the incidence of stroke in people in their 50s and younger has increased so much in some regions of the country that the average age of first stroke has dropped from 71 to 68.
Stroke – the interruption of blood flow to the brain, which can lead to loss of brain function – is America's leading cause of disability and the third most common cause of death. And it is no longer your grandparents' disease.
"Not at all," said Dr. Richard Atkinson, a Sutter Medical Center neurologist and stroke specialist. "In women, it's more common than heart attack until age 40."
The American Stroke Association says 3 percent of women and 1 percent of men in their 40s and 50s suffer strokes.
But in what some experts fear could indicate a disturbing new trend, half the patients treated for stroke in a recent Washington University School of Medicine study were younger than 65, and a quarter were younger than 55.
Ramsey's risk factor was genetic: Strokes were such a medical issue in her father's family that few relatives lived beyond their 50s.
For Nancy Briggs – a Sierra College music professor who suffered an aneurysm leading to stroke at age 58 – the risk factor was gender, said her Kaiser Permanente Sacramento Medical Center neurologist, Dr. Paul Akins.
Ethnicity can be another factor, with people of Asian or African American descent at statistically greater risk of having strokes earlier in life. But for many other stroke patients in their 50s and younger, lifestyle choices are to blame.
"We see more stroke in Sacramento in younger people because of methamphetamine use," said Atkinson. "I see middle-class secretaries who come in with cerebral hemorrhage and test positive for methamphetamine.
"They say they're using it for weight loss. People always say that. No one ever says they're using it recreationally."
The top cause of stroke is high blood pressure. Smoking, another stroke cause, may be on the wane, but obesity – which many times can lead to hypertension, diabetes and other conditions that increase stroke risk – is on the rise.
"One of the biggest factors is obesity," said Akins. "That leads to diabetes. We're seeing young people having strokes from diabetes and renal (kidney) failure."
An accomplished pianist, Briggs was playing in a recital on Nov. 8, 2008, when she suddenly developed a pounding headache. Sounds faded momentarily, and she started seeing lights. She thought she was having a migraine – not that she'd had one before – so she continued with the concert.
When Akins saw her later in intensive care, she was paralyzed on the left side, with major stroke symptoms, the result of a ruptured aneurysm and severe arterial spasms.
After extensive treatment, three weeks in an intensive-care unit and two more weeks in rehab, she returned to the piano.
"I started a regimen of practicing as if I was a beginner," said Briggs, now 59, who lives in Rocklin. "I really improved. I got it back."
A year ago, with Akins in the audience, she played her first post-stroke concert. This weekend, she participated in another. She returned to teaching at Sierra College last July.
For Ramsey, despite extensive rehabilitation, the outcome was somewhat different.
She walks with a slight limp and has limited use of her right arm. But she also has a sunny personality and a bright smile that she worked hard in physical therapy to get back.
Stroke changed her life. She leads support groups, helped compile a directory of local stroke resources and works one-on-one with new stroke patients.
"It's become my new career," she said. "It's not making lemonade from lemons at all. It's finding a way to be better than you were before."
Nancy Briggs chats with neurologist Paul Akins after her piano performance in Sierra College's faculty recital Sunday. After Briggs suffered a stroke, she worked hard to regain her piano skills. "I got it back," she said.
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