I read that also and I do buy it. I don’t thik it rules out strokes and besides that was the caption on my picture. :-)
Interestingly this proposition was discussed here on FR just over 10 years ago.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1174887/posts
I discovered that interesting fact while trying to find the earliest report I read on Lenin's syphilis. I never did find that report but I recall some interesting tidbits from it that have stayed with me all these years.
Lenin was ensconced in a sanatorium during his final years. Due to his constant insane howling all the dogs in the general area were shot as they would begin howling when he did.
The ONLY people who would treat and care for an increasingly repulsive Lenin was a group of Orthodox Christian nuns who were dedicated to caring for the enfeebled.
For their trouble after Lenin's death the nuns were executed so they couldn't talk.
I wish I could have found that many years ago original report from, I believe, a Swiss publication. It was really quite interesting. Perhaps someone else is this generally well informed crowd recalls it.