Stroke
A stroke is when the supply of blood is restricted or interrupted to any part of your brain. This results in deprivation of the brain tissue of oxygen and nutrients. This results in the brain cells dying within minutes.
A stroke is an emergency and prompt treatment is required. If early treatment is taken, it can minimize the brain damage and complications which arise as a result of this.
Symptoms
You can always watch for signs and symptoms of a stroke and see the duration and exact time of the day when the stroke occurred. These symptoms are as follows:
- Trouble with seeing with one or both eyes: You may suddenly have blurred or blackened vision with either one or both of your eyes.
- Headache: You may experience headache which is sudden and severe. It may be accompanied by vomiting, dizziness or altered consciousness.
- Trouble with speaking or understanding: you may have a slur in your words, or may experience confusion. Your ability to speak may be lost completely.
- Trouble walking: You may experience sudden dizziness or stumble, lose balance or co ordination.
When to call a doctor or seek medical help?
If you see that any of the above symptoms are present in a person at a particular time, ask that person to:
- Smile: if the smile is droopy, then he might be having a stroke
- Lift the arms: If the person is unable to raise his arms, either one or both of them he might be going through a stroke.
- Speech: Ask the person to repeat a simple sentence. If there is a strange feeling in his speech, or if he is unable to repeat the words, he is going through a stroke.
Call 112 immediately and don’t wait for the signs or symptoms to go. We say this because when a person is having a stroke, every second counts. The longer it will take you to seek medical help, the greater the risk of damage to the brain occurs and there is a greater risk of permanent disability.
Risk factors
There are a number of factors which may increase your chances of having a stroke. They are listed as follows:
- Overweight or obese
- Physical inactivity
- Heavy consumption of alcohol
- Use of illicit drugs
- High Blood pressure
- Smoking
- High cholesterol
- Diabetes
- Cardiovascular disease
- Obstructive Sleep apnea
- Family history of stroke
- Race- African American have higher risk of strokes
- Gender- men are at a higher risk. Women usually have strokes at older age and they usually die of strokes.
- If you previously had hormone therapies, like estrogen therapy during pregnancy and childbirth
Treatment
If you have undergone a stroke, your doctor will check the damage that has occurred to your brain. He will try to reduce the risk of having another stroke by certain anticoagulant or anti platelet medications. These medications help in reducing strokes by regulating the blood flow and thinning the blood.
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