People are saying that Trump was treated for a mini stroke, which is why he went to the Walter Reed for no apparent reason in November. This makes total sense. That is why they would have given him the cognitive exam that he aced. And Mike Pence is avoiding giving a direct answer to the question.

Now I’m no doctor, but if Trump were taking medication due to stroke risk, that could explain a shaky walk down a ramp and difficulty holding a glass with one hand.

Ok, but doesn't it concern you that Biden has apparent cognitive issues? I'm not an expert, but I can see it quite clearly. And, in this time of pandemic, the expectations voters have about candidates actually campaigning will be very, very low. I think this favors Trump if only because he has the bully pulpit (irony not intended). I don't think Trump is in good health. I'm just not convinced Biden is, either.

I don’t see any cognitive issues with Biden. None.

He knows his positions. His last debate with Sanders was good. His speech was good. He is a seasoned, experienced politician. What’s the problem?

Why all the hate for Biden? We’re you for Sanders in the primaries?

quote:

Originally posted by Cindysphinx:
I don’t see any cognitive issues with Biden. None.

Because there are none, except in the bullsh!t put out by OAN, Fox, and the Trump campaign, and by the Russian bots (and gullible Americans who credulously eat that garbage) all over social media.

Not seeing any cognitive issues with Biden either.

I've only recently realized that cognitive issues often come with physical manifestations of neurological issues. It only makes sense that when a brain starts to degenerate, it wouldn't necessarily be only the portions that deal with memory, logic, and such. Physical coordination doesn't necessarily mean that the coordinated person does not have dementia or other vascular brain diseases, but it is a contraindicator.

We have very recently seen Biden ride a bicycle, run, jog upstairs, and drive a car. We have very recently seen Trump have trouble operating a drinking glass and navigating a not-steep ramp. Trump drags one foot when he walks, and his speech is routinely more garbled than anything I've heard cherrypicked from Biden's speeches.

I am very unhappy that we can't seem to let (or insist that) elderly people retire. Biden would not have been my pick for that one simple reason. However, people do age at different rates, and Trump is the one whom, even if I didn't abhor his policies and his personal behavior, I would not want to see in the Oval Office because of his evident health issues.

Wikipedia article on TIA:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...ient_ischemic_attack


My mother's health was deteriorating. Less than a year before she passed away, before she moved into an assisted living place but in a senior apartment community, she called me one afternoon. She was telling me that she had called the credit union and to verify her identity, they wanted the last four digits of my father's social security number. He had passed away 12 years earlier, but since his name was on the account when they first opened it, they were still using his number. She said she couldn't remember just the last four digits unless she recited it from the beginning. Apparently the woman at the credit union couldn't deal with that, she needed just the last four digits. My mother was also telling me that at dinner the night before they had pork chops with cherry glaze, but no one in the dining room could find any cherries in the cherry glaze. Then she switched back to the story about calling the credit union and dad's social security number. Then it was back to the cherry glaze. And back and forth a couple more times over the course of twenty minutes, until at the end she said a couple of times, "and there are no cherries in dad's social security number".

After twenty minutes of this, I told her I needed to go and hung up.

A half an hour later my phone rang. It was my mother's friend Claudia. She said, "I'm worried about your mom... I think she had a stroke."

I said, "because there are no cherries in dad's social security number?"

She said, "yes."

I told her I'd get her in to the doctor the next day.


The doctor put her through the standard tests for a stroke -- lift both arms (is one lower than the other?), smile (does one side of your mouth droop?), things like that. She was fine at that moment. The doctor told me it may have been a TIA, but the only way they can positively determine that is in an autopsy and she wasn't ready for that. However, he said a TIA was like the little tremors before a big earthquake. It means a stroke is on the way.


Of course, like a full-blown stroke, the symptoms vary depending on what part of the brain is affected. It can affect speech, cognitive ability, visual, coordination and mobility, and other stuff.

That's what I know about that.

Mr wtg had a TIA about seven years ago.

I noticed he sounded like he was slurring his speech ever so slightly. I asked him to read something from a book and after a few words he couldn't do it; he just couldn't get the words out. He got pretty mad when I told him he should go to the hospital. He insisted he was fine but I dragged him to the ER anyway.

By the time we got to the ER and a doctor saw him, the symptoms were gone. CT scan and a bunch of other tests later they said there was no stroke, but that it was likely a TIA. He takes a baby aspirin to help prevent future clots.

A TIA probably ended Toscanini's career prematurely. From a review of neurologist Harold Klawans book Toscanini's Fumble:

quote:

This fascinating memoir`s title stems from the celebrated case of conductor Arturo Toscanini and his last radio broadcast with the NBC Symphony in 1954. While conducting Wagner, Toscanini suddenly stumbled, lost his baton and stood, befuddled temporarily. The network quickly cut to a recording, resuming the live broadcast moments later when the maestro had recovered.

The event marked the end of the career of the most famous conductor of the first half of this century. But Toscanini didn`t suffer a stroke, Klawans writes; it was more likely a ''transient ischemic attack'' (TIA) that occurred because Toscanini`s vigorous arm movements had temporarily stopped enough blood from reaching his brain.

If the conductor had changed his podium style, he probably could have performed longer. But the syndrome wasn`t discovered until 1961.

https://www.chicagotribune.com...803080381-story.html

My father had a TIA or maybe small stroke. He fell down. It took a while for him to get up.
He did not start going downhill for what must have been 6 or more years.
He had a major, final stroke at 90.
If you have your fingers crossed for Trump to have a big one don't hold your breath.

I think this discussion, like the ones about I-1's and Biden's mental and physical fitness, boils down to one question:

Would you rather see President Pence or President Harris at some point in the next four years.

If you really want to see Christian theocracy in the U.S., the choice is obvious.

quote:

In early July the Department of Homeland Security withheld publication of an intelligence bulletin warning law enforcement agencies of a Russian scheme to promote “allegations about the poor mental health” of former Vice President Joe Biden, according to internal emails and a draft of the document obtained by ABC News.

The draft bulletin, titled “Russia Likely to Denigrate Health of US Candidates to Influence 2020 Election,” was submitted to the agency’s legislative and public affairs office for review on July 7. The analysis was not meant for public consumption, but it was set to be distributed to federal, state and local law enforcement partners two days later, on July 9, the emails show.

Just one hour after its submission, however, a senior DHS official intervened.

“Please hold on sending this one out until you have a chance to speak to [acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf]," wrote DHS Chief of Staff John Gountanis, according to an email obtained by ABC News.

That was nearly two months ago. But the bulletin was never circulated.

quote:

According to the draft bulletin, analysts determined with “high confidence” that “Russian malign influence actors are likely to continue denigrating presidential candidates through allegations of poor mental or physical health to influence the outcome of the 2020 election.”

“High confidence means what it sounds like -- that they are highly confident that their assessment is accurate and they don’t use that language very often,” Elizabeth Neumann, a former assistant secretary of Homeland Security during the Trump administration, told ABC News.

The document mentions Iranian and Chinese efforts to criticize Trump, but focuses on — and takes its title from — Russia’s attacks on Biden’s mental fitness. It is a line of attack also utilized by both President Donald Trump and his reelection campaign.

Beyond warnings of Russia's purported activity, critics said the decision to withhold the document will fuel concern that the Trump administration has sought to politicize intelligence, particularly after an announcement over the weekend that senior intelligence leaders will cease congressional election security briefings due to alleged leaks from lawmakers, and will instead provide only written reports.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politic...ck/story?id=72747130

quote:

However, he said a TIA was like the little tremors before a big earthquake. It means a stroke is on the way.

My Dr. wife doesn't agree with that. It's concerning, but it's not necessarily your future.

quote:

Originally posted by Cindysphinx:
I don’t see any cognitive issues with Biden. None.

He knows his positions. His last debate with Sanders was good. His speech was good. He is a seasoned, experienced politician. What’s the problem?

Why all the hate for Biden? We’re you for Sanders in the primaries?

We can agree to disagree.

I've never been for Sanders. In fact, I can't stand him.

quote:

Originally posted by Piano*Dad:

quote:

However, he said a TIA was like the little tremors before a big earthquake. It means a stroke is on the way.

My Dr. wife doesn't agree with that. It's concerning, but it's not necessarily your future.

stroke risk after TIA a function of cause of TIA

It looks like a TIA both is and isn't a harbinger of a stroke (especially immediately after a TIA).
That it's almost entirely a matter of the aetiology of both - if that cause is a serious build-up of artherosclerotic plaque, then, yes, TIA's are often the harbinger of a stroke. (But that been reduced a lot by excellent TIA care.)

Now I don't feel so great about my Lipid Profile just coming out "perfect" (my cardiologist) - from quite the opposite. And after eight months of KETO during which I mostly ate saturated fats! I figure my heart valves are completely coated in Brie. (And not just from recent fats but refined carbs which because of my genes, also cause high lipids.)

I was saddenned to learn from him that it isn't possible (beyond a relatively small percent) to reverse preexisting plaque. I somehow thought there might be a (medical) roto-rooter function.

Actually, I really wasn't thinking all those years I was blowing off my bad lipid reports (started coming when I was only 25!).

I don't know what possessed me. I didn't grasp what was taking place - that a substance was being permanently deposited in my most delicate mechanical structure. Just considered it a temporary, remediable problem like - I dunno, being overweight.

Not so! I might as well have been a long-term heavy smoker thinking as soon as I quit, my lungs would magically clear up.

As for Trump, I think his remarkable diet has probably coated HIS heart valves a good bit more than mine, anyhow.

This article says the "window" of likelier stroke sequel to a TIA is 90 days. Now WHEN did he have that mystery visit to the hospital? How awful [JK!] if it came after rather than before the election.