There are an alarming number of indications that Hillary Clinton may have already had a stroke, and if she has, then that should be a public consideration in her race for a nomination, along with any other health issues.

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Does Hillary have hidden health issues? Has she, perhaps, already sustained a stroke?

There are a number of indications that Hillary Clinton may have had a stroke, and if she has, then that should be a public consideration in her race for a nomination, along with any other health issues.

The biggest tip-off is that Hillary is taking the blood-thinning medication Coumadin (generic name: warfarin) which is typically prescribed for patients who have had strokes. Hillary is reportedly taking it to avoid or reduce blood clots.

Our family, which includes a medical doctor, researched Coumadin, as we had considered it for my elderly father who had had one major stroke and many smaller ones. We decided against it because of the side effects. And in Dad's case, since he was 90, we weren't even considering long-range effects.

Warfarin was initially developed as rat poison. It kills rodents by thinning their blood, causing them bleed to death internally. After it was developed as a poison, someone got the bright idea that in monitored doses, it would work as an anti-coagulant or blood thinner.

So the difference between the therapeutic use and the lethal use of warfarin is simply the size of the dose. Patients taking the drug must be carefully monitored.

California physician Dr. David K. Cundiff says he "believes Hillary Clinton's use of the drug could be more life-threatening to her than the possibility of a recurring blood clot." But could the reason for taking it be something other than recurring blood clots?

We know that Hillary fell and, we were told, sustained a concussion in December of 2012, just a few days before she was scheduled to testify at the Benghazi hearings. Could that incident have been caused by a stroke?

She was apparently not conscious as she fell. A conscious person will instinctively break the fall with her hands, as well as position the head in order to protect it, and therefore is less likely to sustain a concussion. Of course, the explanation we were given was that Hillary had fainted, allegedly, due to dehydration from a virus. But surely any doctor who was treating her for the virus would have taken precautions to make sure she didn't get critically dehydrated, especially during the few days before a major, stressful event such as testifying. I've mothered children who have been sick, and keeping the patient hydrated is pretty basic--a doctor wouldn't forget to tell the patient about that. So it seems quite odd that she would faint from dehydration.

Is it possible that she didn't faint, but that a stroke caused her to fall? That would be consistant with the fact that she was found to have a blood clot, and also with the fact that Coumadin was prescribed.

The timing of her fall is telling, also. Surely just a couple of days before being scheduled to testify, Hillary would have been under a great deal of additional stress, which, of course, can precipitate a stroke.

A couple of weeks after her fall, it was released that "During the course of her treatment for the concussion, Clinton was also found to have a blood clot and was given medication to dissolve it." This statement seems to try to separate the blood clot from the fall and the reason behind it, portraying them as separate and unrelated medical conditions. But blood clots can be an indication of a stroke, and a stroke can be associated with a fall, so many times these are quite interrelated.

One of the side effects of Coumadin can be coughing. Hillary's frequent coughing fits have been the subject of news items for quite a while. Surely, during this political cycle in which she must depend on her voice, she would not choose to take a medication which could initiate coughing fits unless she felt it was gravely critical to her health.

In addition, we know that Hillary experienced double vision for a while, allegedly caused by the concussion, and for which she wore special glasses. Of course, stroke can cause double vision, too.

There is a published timeline of Hillary's fall and subsequent medical interventions (in which the date of the fall has been described only as "some time early the week of Dec. 9.") In that timeline, on Dec. 20, State Department spokesman Philippe Reines announced that Clinton was being grounded: "Given her condition, the secretary's doctors have advised that she may not fly for any significant duration in the coming weeks. So as things stand we are not planning any travel through mid-January."

The Aerospace Medical Association advises patients to wait a significant amount of time before flying after they have had a stroke, although they do not offer any guidelines for concussion patients.

Guidelines from the Aerospace Medical Association say, "Patients who have had a recent cerebral infarction (stroke) or other acute neurological event should be observed until sufficient time has passed to assure stability of the neurological condition. Clearly, the risk of post-event complications, the physical and mental dis- ability, and the decreased capacity to withstand the stresses of flight are cogent reasons not to fly. Once the acute phase of recovery is over and the patient is stable, travel may be reconsidered."

On Dec. 30, Reines made the announcement that a blood clot had been discovered. On Dec 31, Hillary's doctors gave a statement, in which they said that the blood clot "did not result in a stroke, or in neurological damage." It's not clear from this statement, however, whether they also mean that a stroke did not happen at all, or just that the blood clot which they found did not, in their estimation, cause a stroke.

After Hillary's fall, her longtime aide, Huma Abedin, sent recently discovered emails to other staffers saying that they needed to give Hillary reminders, as she was "often confused." Confusion, of course, can be a symptom of stroke. (Confusion can also be a side effect of taking Coumadin.) Clearly, they had hoped to keep this under wraps: Judicial Watch notes that, "'Huma Abedin's description of Hillary Clinton as 'easily confused' tells you all you need to know why it took a federal lawsuit to get these government emails from Clinton's illegal email server,' said Judicial Watch President Tom Litton."

So Hillary has a remarkable number of symptoms, many that are often related to stroke. It may not be possible to make her submit to a non-partisan medical evaluation. No doubt she pays her doctors handsomely and can choose the ones who will be supportive in the ways she requires.

Nevertheless, in cases such as this where there is reasonable concern, based on the known symptoms, the American people are certainly entitled to very accurate information regarding the health of someone seeking the nomination for president.

Authors Website: http://www.OceanViewArts.com

Authors Bio:

Meryl Ann Butler is an artist, author, educator and OpedNews Managing Editor who has been actively engaged in utilizing the arts as stepping-stones toward joy-filled wellbeing since she was a hippie. She began writing for OpEdNews in Feb, 2004. She became a Senior Editor in August 2012 and Managing Editor in January, 2013. In June, 2015, the combined views on her articles, diaries and quick link contributions topped one million. She was particularly happy that her article about Bree Newsome removing the Confederate flag was the one that put her past the million mark.

Her art in a wide variety of media can be seen on her YouTube video, "Visionary Artist Meryl Ann Butler on Creativity and Joy" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcGs2r_66QE

A NYC native, her response to 9-11 was to pen an invitation to healing through creativity, entitled, "90-Minute Quilts: 15+ Projects You Can Stitch in an Afternoon" (Krause 2006), which is a bestseller in the craft field. The sequel, MORE 90-Minute Quilts: 20+ Quick and Easy Projects With Triangles and Squares was released in April, 2011. Her popular video, How to Stitch a Quilt in 90 Minutes with Meryl Ann Butler can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrShGOQaJQ8

She has been active in a number of international, arts-related projects as a citizen diplomat, and was arts advisor to Baltimore's CIUSSR (Center for Improving US-Soviet Relations), 1987-89. She made two trips to the former USSR in 1987 and 1988 to speak to artists, craftpeople and fashion designers on the topic of utilizing the arts as a tool for global wellbeing. She created the historical "First US-Soviet Children's Peace Quilt Exchange Project" in 1987-88, which was the first time a reciprocal quilt was given to the US from the former USSR.

Her artwork is in collections across the globe.

Meryl Ann is a founding member of The Labyrinth Society and has been building labyrinths since 1992. She publishes an annual article about the topic on OpEdNews on World Labyrinth Day, the first Saturday in May.

OpEdNews Senior Editor Joan Brunwasser interviewed Meryl Ann in "Beyond Surviving: How to Thrive in Challenging Times" at https://www.opednews.com/articles/Beyond-Surviving--How-to-by-Joan-Brunwasser-Anxiety_Appreciation_Coronavirus_Creativity-200318-988.html

Find out more about Meryl Ann's artistic life in "OEN Managing Ed, Meryl Ann Butler, Featured on the Other Side of the Byline" at https://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/OEN-Managing-Ed-Meryl-Ann-in-Life_Arts-Artistic_Artists_Quilt-170917-615.html

On Feb 11, 2017, Senior Editor Joan Brunwasser interviewed Meryl Ann in Pink Power: Sister March, Norfolk, VA at http://www.opednews.com/articles/Pink-Power-Sister-March--by-Joan-Brunwasser-Pussy-Hats-170212-681.html

"Creativity and Healing: The Work of Meryl Ann Butler" by Burl Hall is at
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Creativity-and-Healing--T-by-Burl-Hall-130414-18.html

Burl and Merry Hall interviewed Meryl Ann on their BlogTalk radio show, "Envision This," at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/envision-this/2013/04/11/meryl-ann-butler-art-as-a-medicine-for-the-soul

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