This list totally sucks
Here is a list of the eight most common stroke triggering behaviors, excluding persistently high blood pressure.
- Coffee consumption (10.6%)
- Vigorous physical exercise (7.9%)
- Nose blowing (5.4%)
- Sexual intercourse (4.3%)
- Straining to defecate (3.6%)
- Cola consumption (3.5%)
- Being startled (2.7%)
- Being angry (1.3%)
This sucks.
Angry and startled are my two default states of being. Having suffered from PTSD for years, I am the most easily startled person I know. My nervous system, according my therapist, has literally been trained to startle easily.
And angry?
I can’t tell you the number of things that annoy me.
Not to mention that when I’m not startled or angry, vigorous physical exercise, sex, and drinking Diet Coke are three of my favorite things in the world.
gauld-diet-coke
For those not keeping track, that’s five out of the eight triggers.
Thankfully, my normal blood pressure is exceedingly good (they always check it twice, assuming the first reading was incorrect), and I don’t drink coffee, but this list does not make me happy.
In fact, it makes me quite angry.
See what I mean?