Early stroke detection screenings can help reduce the risk of falling victim to one of the worst conditions that can have an impact to lifelong disability.

President of Stroke Detection Plus Scott McLaughlean says that strokes are caused by an interruption of blood flow to the brain.  He states that the main reason for why there’s an interruption in blood flow is caused by plaque buildup in the blood vessels that’s brought on by large amounts of cholesterol.

McLaughlean points out that our bodies naturally produce cholesterol, but he believes that to lessen the chance of having too much cholesterol, it’s a 90% change in our diet and 10% exercising.  The white, sugary carbohydrate foods is what is the largest contributor to large amounts of cholesterol.

He notes that diabetic and overweight people are usually more susceptible to stroke.  Other signs to be aware of are dizziness, loss of vision, loss of cognitive function or a numbness on one half of your body.

Stroke Detection Plus also provides screenings to help with any early detection of stroke-like behavior.  McLaughlean explains what they want to accomplish by providing ultrasound screenings of your arteries.

“We want to find those people who have a significant amount of this plaque in their arteries, so we can treat it before they are disabled.  And then secondly, what we want to do is we want to find those people who just have a moderate amount of plaque.  It isn’t increasing their risk yet for a heart attack or a stroke, but we show them that they’ve got 20-30% narrowing in those vessels and really motivate those changes, those daily changes.”

They will be at the St. Joseph’s Parish Center in Jefferson on Tuesday, January 7th.  The screenings are $135.  Call to schedule a 30 minute appointment at 1-877-732-8258.