How to recognize stroke symptoms and act fast to save lives
Did you know? Every 40 seconds, someone in the United States suffers a stroke. That’s nearly 800,000 Americans every year affected by this sudden, potentially deadly event. Stroke is the 5th leading cause of death and the leading cause of long-term disability in the United States.
What exactly is a stroke? There are 2 main types of stroke. An ischemic stroke, which is the most common type, occurs when there is a blockage in a blood vessel preventing flow to a particular part of the brain. A hemorrhagic stroke occurs when a blood vessel ruptures, resulting in bleeding within the brain.
When it comes to stroke, every second counts. Treatment of both types of stroke is time sensitive therefore recognizing signs of stroke is very important. The FAST acronym can be helpful in recognizing stroke symptoms.
- F is for weakness or drooping of one side of the Face
- A is for weakness of one Arm
- S is for difficulty with Speech
- T is for Time to call 911 immediately
Symptoms can vary and other symptoms of stroke include numbness of one side of the body, confusion, trouble seeing, trouble walking, or severe headache.
Emergent treatment of ischemic stroke includes potent clot busting medications given through the veins and procedures to remove clots from the blood vessels of the brain. Again, these treatments work best when delivered quickly. Time is brain.
Many strokes are preventable by identifying and treating stroke risk factors. Some common controllable stroke risk factors include high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, smoking, a sedentary lifestyle, an unhealthy diet, heavy drinking, abnormal heart rhythms, being overweight, and sleep apnea. It is important to have regular checkups with your primary care provider to help identify and treat these risk factors. Some risk factors not within our control include age, family history, race, and gender. Although strokes tend to occur in people over the age of 65, they can occur at any age. Alarmingly, stroke rates have been rising in younger age groups in the past few decades.