Plastics found inside carotid artery plaque. A 4.53x higher risk of stroke, heart attack, or death. Here's what the landmark 2024 NEJM study means for your brain and what you can do about it.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN:

• What the 2024 Marfella et al. NEJM study actually found inside human carotid artery plaque

• Why 58% of surgical patients had detectable polyethylene, PVC, or polystyrene in their arteries

• How microplastics trigger vascular inflammation and what IL-18 and TNF-alpha have to do with it

• Why there is currently no clinical screening for this, and what that means for stroke survivors

• 3 evidence-informed steps you can take today to reduce your exposure

François Couillard is the CEO of Optometry Canada the national body representing every optometrist in the country. When he had a stroke, his symptoms were dismissed at the ER. He walked home alone in the middle of the night. He woke up the next morning having lost the right visual field in both eyes permanently.

What followed was a masterclass in adaptation: riding 100km on his bike one week post-stroke, navigating a fatigue nobody could see, and returning to lead a national health organisation all while living with a blind spot his brain works overtime to hide.

François talks openly about stroke symptoms dismissed, the link between his life's work and the stroke that changed it, and what recovery really looks like when the damage is invisible.

In this episode, Bill Gasiamis speaks with Greg Graham, an AVM (Arteriovenous Malformation) stroke survivor who lost nearly everything: his health, his independence, and the life he had built. Greg shares the raw reality of spending six weeks alone in recovery, navigating profound loss, and eventually finding a path to rebuild on completely new terms.

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Dr. Robert Hedaya is a psychiatrist, functional medicine practitioner, and founder of the Whole Psychiatry and Brain Recovery Center. In this episode, he explains how QEEG brain mapping combined with transcranial laser therapy (photobiomodulation) is helping stroke survivors recover lost functions, including speech, cognition, and facial recognition in ways conventional neurology rarely offers.

New Griffith university etanercept trial results offer hope that healing after stroke is possible even years later. Watch the full breakdown here.

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