Blindness and Insight

Two years ago I suffered from an ischemic event (i.e. stroke) localized in my left eye leaving a large band in that retina inoperative. Following a battery a tests and hospital visits with a number of specialists the underlying pathology of the event could not be traced. In the end little could be done for the loss of vision and little could be said about preventing another stroke. My hematologist put me on one baby aspirin a day and said good luck. Since then I have been trying to take better care of myself, exercise, etc. and started with the StrongLifts 5x5 (I’d never touched a weight in my life), eventually moving to Starting Strength and put on 30 lbs.

Following a non-training related back injury I’ve progressed slowly, but every time I squat or pull hard the thought of another blockage or hemorrhage creeps into the back of my mind. At the same time I’m under the impression from the literature (to which my general feeling/experience coincides) is that strength training produces adaptations across the biological ecosystem–including capillary strength, heart, etc.

I know its a long shot that anyone has any experience with this as my doctors have been completely stumped, but I can’t think of a better place to ask. Do you think strength training is helping? hurting? Any thoughts are appreciated.

Age 36
Height 6’
Weight 190lbs
Squat 235 5RM
DL 275 5RM
Press 115 5RM

Unfortunately without a better idea as to what caused your stroke, it’s going to be difficult for us to comment on this case confidently.

For example, it could have been related to atherosclerosis (which is a bit less likely at your age in the absence of other diseases, and would typically have been detected on standard stroke evaluations), or embolic (which can be a bit more difficult to detect, depending on the source) - but from your description it does not sound like you had any significant hemorrhage, so this shouldn’t be a significant concern IMO. We have trained many people after ischemic stroke and feel that the systemic benefits generally outweigh the risks.

Thanks for the input, Austin. Will keep at it.