Cannabis For Stroke?

❝Each year in the U.S., over half a million people have a first stroke; however, up to 80% of strokes may be preventable.❞

~ American Stroke Association

Source: New guideline: Preventing a first stroke may be possible with screening, lifestyle changes

One thing that’s important to realize about the concept of a “first stroke”, is that most people don’t expect their first one.

Stroke seems like something that happens to other people, not us.

So, how can we help improve our odds? There are a lot of ways (more on that later), but today we’ll talk mainly about one that has been found to make a 37% difference to stroke risk; namely, cannabis.

At the heart of the matter

It would be nice if this article could have been entitled “cannabis against stroke”, but no, it’s “cannabis for stroke”.

As for why, regular 10almonds readers may remember when we wrote about Cannabis & Heart Attacks. The short version there is that research found even young healthy cannabis users got the following associated risks:

• Threefold increased risk of cardiovascular death, heart attack, or stroke
• Sixfold increased risk of heart attack
• Fourfold increased risk of ischemic stroke

Those rather damning figures were based on analyzing data from 4,636,628 relatively healthy adults. For full details, see the link we gave just above.

But the statistical modelling for that study couldn’t show causality.

More recently, researchers (Dr. Megan Ritson et al.) looked at an even larger dataset, from more than 100 million participants (the full dataset is available here), and, doing rather more stats to it, Mendelian randomization supported a causal relationship for cannabis use disorder and stroke, particularly large artery stroke.

Specifically, that cannabis use likely caused a 37% higher risk of stroke overall, when other factors were taken into account.

As for the mechanism of action (i.e. how one thing leads to the other), Dr. Ritson and her team noted that sudden increases in blood pressure, blood-vessel narrowing and spasms, abnormal heart rhythms, increased blood clotting, inflammation, and vasculitis as likely culprits.

So, in terms of the most common different stroke types, these mechanisms can contribute to ischemic stroke, caused by interrupted blood flow, as well as hemorrhagic stroke, caused by bleeding in the brain.

You can read the paper in full, here: Does illicit drug use increase stroke risk? A systematic review, meta-analyses, and Mendelian randomization analysis

Bit of a weird title, as it’s not the illicit nature of the drug use that changes the risks; the body neither knows nor cares whether a drug was illegal or not.

And yes, it covers some other drugs too. Highlights besides the cannabis numbers include:

• Cocaine: associated with a 96% higher stroke risk overall and a 97% higher risk among people under 55.
• Amphetamines: associated with a 122% higher stroke risk overall and a 174% higher risk among people under 55.
• Opioids: not significantly associated with stroke risk!

Want to reduce your stroke risk further?

We have just the thing for you: Reduce Your Stroke Risk

And, for that matter: Don’t Get Caught Out By These “Nontraditional” Stroke Risk Factors

You might also want to be aware of: 6 Signs Of Stroke (One Month In Advance)

And of course: What To Do If Having A Stroke Alone? ← with the caveat that, if you have a stroke, there’s a good chance you’ll forget all this. However, this is good to know anyway, in case someone else is having a stroke (and if you don’t live alone, it can be good for whoever is with you to know this too).

There are also such resources as: Reverse Stroke Damage (Within A 6-Hour Window) ← there is a drug that does this now, but time is of the essence

Take care!