My own personal stroke story from years ago; to my Dad experiencing a more severe stroke in January 2024- Thankfulness, faith, and healing tools through it all.
Just over 9 years ago, at the age of 36, I was personally going through all sorts of testing, and seeing specialists like the neurologist, and vascular surgeon to look into why I had a torn carotid artery. After many tests, including CT scan, a reverse CT, MRI and more... they concluded that they were 95 % sure I experienced a mini stroke just a few months prior during a chiropractic visit. I remember the moment vividly. I remember the most painful, excruciating headache I had ever had about 5 minutes after my neck adjustment. But I didn't even think to relate any of this or the other symptoms I experienced in the first 6 hours to being signs of a stroke. I was too young for that!
All in all? I am an extremely fortunate woman who I am certain; God spared my life that day. It could have been so much worse and really, I came out unscathed; other than a fear of hurting my neck doing certain activities and tongue that sticks out sideways (not on purpose! haha!) And I might add that I have found a new chiropractor whom I trust and uses a different, much more gentle approach to adjusting my neck instead of the typical neck adjustment.
In all of this though, it launched me into other things regarding my health. I learned to deal with the root of the issue I am experiencing rather than band -aiding the symptom with different meds or pain creams that didn't solve anything. They just temporarily helped me feel better and were beginning to wreak havoc on my stomach. Having a mini stroke also helped me discover using natural tools and digging deeper into advocating for myself in various ways. I am forever grateful for that!
One day I will share my very skeptical start into using Essential Oils to support my health in various ways 9 years ago; but that's a story for another day! What I want to share with you today is how using pure, high quality essential oils really helped my Dad in his stroke recovery 6 months ago. I always catch myself thinking " I can't believe drops of plant juice helped this much AGAIN"!!
January 3rd, 3:30 in the afternoon we received a text in our family chat from mom saying "Please pray. Dad may have had a stroke. Got him in right away. They are doing a scan now".
Ugh. It feels like the next few days after that just went on forever yet passed so quickly. How does time do that??
Dad slept on a stretcher in the ER hallway for the first 24 hours, he then got moved to a private room upstairs next and started immediate therapies within 24 hours of him arriving to the hospital. His care from all staff, nurses and doctors was excellent.
Once he got into a room, I went up to visit him. (The picture above, is Dad and I a few days after his stroke) He was experiencing some pretty heavy aphasia. He recognized me but kept calling me by his sister's name instead of mine lol. It took me by surprise at first, because I was seeing first hand that his brain was jumbled up... he was having a hard time finding words, he couldn't remember the passcode to get into his phone. He didn't know his own phone number nor could he tell the time on the analog clock. Writing was so difficult. He could say the alphabet for the most part with a few helps, but he couldn't write the letters down.
One of the hardest things to see was that he had a terrible, terrible headache and there was no relief. Nurses had given him meds to try and help with the pain, but nothing was touching it. It seemed to be mainly on one side of his head and he just kept holding that side with his hand trying to explain the pain/pressure that he was experiencing. I had to do something to help.
Well you have to know.... I have an oil for that right?? Or do I? I know I know..... it becomes a joke sometimes associated with an eye roll from some because "how could an essential oil possibly help someone who just suffered from a stroke?" come onnnnnnn.
Here's the thing. I have been using these tools for 9 years and I am STILL amazed when they work. I always have a little bag with about 8-9 of my favourite every day oils in my purse. And thankfully? Dad loves stuff like this too. So he was totally open to trying some to help him get some kind of relief.
What did I use?
I pulled out the frankincense first. Over the years, I have noticed that Frank is a very helpful oil for things like concussions to help bring inflammation down. So what the hey? It can't hurt right now to help Dad and his brain post stroke trauma. Plus, it is known to help calm; and Dad definitely needed that. He was feeling a bit anxious overall with his new lack of understanding and all of these changes that came like a light switch! He was frustrated & fretting that he couldn't remember or write things down the same as before. So I applied a drop or two on the crown of his head and massaged it in. And then we also put a drop on his thumb and pressed to the roof of his mouth for 20ish seconds at a time. We tried to repeat this several times a day with whoever was visiting and remembered.
Another thing I pulled out of my bag of goodies was Deep Relief Oil Blend along with Peppermint. We massaged this into his neck, up behind his ears and up to his temples where he was complaining of the pain. The minty, soothing scent and the hot/cool sensation on his head/neck felt so good and it helped him relax and take his mind off the pain. It was so awesome to know that we weren't helpless and that we could do something to help him feel better in those moments. Plus? It sure helped his room not smell like hospital! lol. It smelled great in there!
The last thing that popped into my head that might help was Ningxia Red Juice. I brought a box of packets down to the hospital for Dad, but also for Mom as his main support person.Why did I think we should try Ningxia? It combats inflammation in the body. It's an incredible anti oxidant AND? with the lack of nutrients in hospital food, how do you even help a body heal? If Dad was drinking at least 1 packet (2 oz) a day, I could sleep at night knowing that his body/brain was getting the support he would need to help heal and recover better.
I was visiting Dad about a week after the stroke , and a new doc that hadn't met Dad yet came in while he was doing his rounds. He walked into the room, looked around and said "I came to see Bill Sales... but I don't see him here. Is he gone for a physical therapy session?". We pointed at Dad and said "this is Bill right here". The doc's jaw just about hit the ground, because he said "I am looking for a stroke patient and you don't look like a stroke patient!"
That is an example of how well Dad was recovering. He didn't look like a stroke patient in the hospital. His physical body for the most part was doing great! He was walking well minus a bit of tunnel vision in one eye. He was starting to hold conversations and get less and less confused every day. Oh how grateful we were!
Now that we are on the flip side 6 months later.... I realized that just mayyyyybe those little oils in my purse had a hand in his recovery. So I started looking up a bunch of studies on EO's and stroke recovery. One of them states "Despite the small # of studies , it emerges that EO's possess anti-inflammatory and anti oxidant properties as well as purported psychological effect that may alleviate somatic and emotional diseases". It continued to say that "perhaps we should be looking at using this inexpensive, yet powerful tool more and more in beside care to help patients."
"Evaluating data from preclinical trials, it emerges that aromatherapy produces a consistent effect as a therapeutic agent for the prevention of ischemic brain damage promoting neuroprotective activities." You can read more here in this article: Aromatherapy and stroke patients
I found this study interesting as well. BA's (Boswseillic acids= Frankincense) the main bioactive compounds of Bosweilla resin; are triterpenoids with well documented anti inflammatory properties. Frankincense study
Boy, I feel like I started going down a fascinating rabbit hole with all this! I could just keep on going and going to see all of the amazing effects of antioxidants and how they support recovery in strokes! This is also where the Ningxia Red Juice comes into play. It is a POWERFUL antioxidant scoring exceptionally high on the ORAC scale! Here is a fascinating study on that! Neuroprotective effect of Antioxidants
Do I know for certain that the oils and Ningxia Red that we used help Dad in his recovery? I will never know for sure.... but I am 9 years in, and have countless stories of how they have supported myself and our family and so many folks over the years. It really is beautiful. I feel so fortunate to have these incredible tools in my back pocket <3 I do truly believe that they played a part in his recovering so well from this.
How is Dad doing 6 months later? Well, he definitely isn't the same as he was pre stroke. Reaction times/ response isn't quite the same and he still forgets some words sometimes, but he has worked SO HARD on the everyday things like writing, telling time and stuff like that. You wouldn't know by talking to him ; because it is very typical for the most part. He is really enjoying golfing as much as possible and still gets riled up telling a great story ;) We are so thankful he is doing well!
Remember to know the sigs of a stroke!
F - Face, Is it drooping?
A - Arms, can you raise both?
S - Speech, is it slurred or jumbled?
T - Time- to call 911
There are some additional signs of stroke that are less common.
They include:
- Vision changes - blurred or double vision
- Sudden severe headache - usually accompanied by some of the other signs
- Numbness - usually on one side of the body
- Problems with balance
Disclaimer: ** This information is personal experience and not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Anyone suffering from disease or injury should consult with a physician.**
When I felt the first few nudges of “you need to pull her out and homeschool Dana. It’s time “
I screamed back.. “ hahahaha no thank yooooou!!!!” And kept on moving. Head down. Ignoring the prompts.
A few weeks later.. it was still being laid upon my heart. The same nudges, only more so. I thought “really God?! Why now? I have a business to run. A house to keep up. A family to run after and feed. How will I fit homeschooling Into the already jam packed fullness of life?”
I already knew the answer. But sometimes it just feels good to whine back a little doesn’t it? 🤷🏻♀️
The final nudge wasn’t so much as a nudge as much as a good shove forward lol
The answer to all those questions? The one I already knew… because we have walked through nudges before. The call to obedience.
God says “I love you. I know what’s best for you. I know what’s best for Emma. Trust me”
Faith. Trust. Laying down our own selfish ambitions and truly handing over the day to day. The dreams and goals for business. The days that feel like there are no hours left in them. Trusting God with it all.
Guess what? He provides. He always does. Sometimes it looks a little messy at first. Sometimes the blessings come right away, and sometimes they take a little longer to see. But they are always there. Because God is faithful. ❤️
We finished our first month of school at home and can say that we had more sweet and good moments than we did frustrating ones. Hallelujah. 🙏🏻 We are enjoying school together ❤️
I felt like I lost my business hours to work and just fit it in an hour or two a day; and barely that some days… and where I felt like that would make it suffer? The Lord blessed my business with the highest sales we have had in several months.
I haven’t quite figured out how to fit in the exercise routine regularly or how to be completely on top of taking care of our home but that’s ok.
Obedience is always worth it. Trusting in Gods plan and just taking the step of faith in trust is worth it. His plans will ALWAYS be better than mine. I know and believe that with my whole heart.
Sometimes it takes the gentle shove to get there 😆
