The Four Ways You’ll Probably Die

Stroke

Stroke seems pretty terrible. It’s the third leading cause of death in America. It’s the number two cause of death worldwide. And it’s the primary cause of adult disability in the US and Europe.

Wikipedia defines a stroke as “the rapidly developing loss of brain function(s) due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain.” This definition is upsetting when you consider that all that needs to happen for you to become mentally disabled for the rest of your life is just about a minute of decreased blood flow to your brain.

There are many different kinds of strokes. Symptoms include muscle weakness in the face, numbness, altered smell, taste, hearing or vision, dropping of eyelids, decreased reflexes (gagging, swallowing), balance problems, inability to turn your head to one side, weakness in your tongue (causing slurring), inability to speak or understand language, impaired eyesight, confusion, hypersexuality (“a desire to engage in sexual activities at a level that is considered abnormally high”), trouble walking and vertigo.

Here’s what one person said on Yahoo! Answers about having a stroke:

I had a stroke in 2003 at age 29. I was drinking my coffee and all of a sudden I dropped the cup. My husband was right there, thank God, and he notice that the left side of my face was droopy. He asked if he should call 911. My speech was slurry. When the fireman got there they called in that I had a stroke, but the hospital just thought I was on drugs. They did a cat scan and they thought there was something. I didn’t actually find out I had a stroke until 3 days later when I had an MRI. I did not think I had warning signs until later. A week before my stroke I was dusting and I lost all the feeling in my hand it lasted about a minute and then went away. It was a mini-stroke.

Emphysema

Emphysema is a progressive disease. When it becomes severe, lung tissue and capillaries are destroyed. As a result, there’s less area in which the lung can take up blood and air, thus limiting the amount of oxygen that enters the bloodstream. To the afflicted, this feels as if they can’t get enough oxygen, no matter how much they breathe.

As the disease progresses and the lungs can’t maintain a steady flow of oxygen to the blood, the body compensates by increasing the breathing rate. The heart begins to work harder. After awhile, this causes the heart muscle to get bigger and can cause heart failure, which leads to death.

Good luck!