Do YOU know the symptoms of a STROKE ?!

http://www.strokeinfo.org ^

[tet68]

STROKE HAPPENS. To you. To those you love. Know the signs. Act fast.

A stroke happens when a part of the brain dies from lack of blood, usually because one of the arteries that supply oxygen-carrying blood to the brain has been damaged. There are two ways this can happen:

Clogged vessel or ischemic stroke: Caused by blockage of a blood vessel in the brain, usually by a blood clot or by fatty deposits on the vessel wall. 85% of strokes are ischemic. Burst vessel or hemorrhagic stroke: Caused by a ruptured blood vessel, preventing normal flow and allowing blood to leak into brain tissue, destroying it. This occurs in 15% of strokes. Stroke is a common and often misunderstood condition and its early symptoms are often ignored. Some brain cells deprived of oxygen die within minutes. Others may take a few hours to die depending on the nature of the blockage or hemorrhage. The loss of physical and mental functions is often permanent and can include motor-function disability. The most effective treatment for stroke can be administered if it is within three hours of the onset of stroke. Although strokes can occur at any age, most stroke patients (two-thirds) are over the age of 65.

A Transient ischemic attack or TIA is often described as a mini-stroke. Unlike a stroke however, the symptoms can disappear within a few minutes. By definition, a TIA resolves within 24 hours, the majority of TIAs resolve within 60 minutes, and most resolve within 30 minutes. A TIA happens when blood flow to part of the brain is blocked or reduced, often by a blood clot. After a short time, blood flows again and the symptoms go away. With a stroke, the blood flow stays blocked, and the brain has permanent damage.

A TIA is a warning: It means you are likely to have a stroke in the future. If you think you are having a TIA, call 911. Early treatment can help prevent a stroke. If you think you have had a TIA but your symptoms have gone away, you still need to call your doctor right away.

WARNING SIGNS

WALK (Is your balance off?) TALK (Is your speech slurred or face droopy?) REACH (Is your vision all or partly lost?) FEEL (Is your headache severe?)

If you recognize any of these signs – even if they go away – call 9-1-1 immediately and tell the operator, paramedics, or emergency room staff, “I think this is a stroke.”

FAST

FAST stands for face, arms, speech and time, and is being used as part of a campaign by the Stroke Awareness Foundation to educate the public about warning signs of stroke and seek proper medical services immediately. If you think a person is having a stroke, call 9-1-1, especially if the person has trouble with these basic commands.

[tet68]

I post this because today at lunch I watched one of my oldest friends have a stroke right before my eyes. He is now in hospital and we have not heard a prognosis as yet. He knocked over his waterglass and began slurred speech, it was as though he was drunk and I knew he didn't drink. He fumbled his money paying the check while continuing to speak in a slurred voice, all the while denying that anything was wrong with him and wouldn't let me call 911 insisting we drive home. We got in the car and he thought he had it in reverse and was turning the wheel but his left hand was just jiggling in his lap. I told him to let me drive and to call his wife to meet us at home. Which we did, on the way I asked him to touch his nose with his left forefinger and he said, "sure", but when he tried he could only put his hand to his nose kinda off center and by then he realized something WAS wrong as he was having trouble walking. His wife came and I told her what had happened and she drove him to hospital. I talked with her a little while ago and they are keeping him over night but thats all she was sure of. I had read about stroke symptoms many times and it's a good thing I did, but it still took me several minutes to tie it all together.

So ya'll say a prayer for my friend and his wife. Hopefully this was a small transient stroke as he recovered his voice after ten or fifteen minutes but still was wobbly.

[darkwing104]

Prayers sent...Thanks for the info

[tet68]

Thanks, it sure was incredible to see it happen.

[Arizona Carolyn]

My husband died from a massive stroke in October and nope... the last thing on my mind and his was he was having a stroke... each one is different, but it seems they ALL are sudden and some worse than others, in my husband’s case it was a massive bleed of a vessel in the center of his brain and the damage was sudden, severe and deadly... the night before he was telling all of us at a dinner how great he was feeling... he ate healthy, took his vitamins, didn’t drink or smoke and watched his blood pressure. Bottom line when it’s our time to go.. we will.

[Nervous Tick]

Thanks for the insight.

I don’t know why but I’ve been thinking about strokes (& the possibility of having one) the last couple days.

Prayers for your friend.

[LilAngel]

Prayers for your friend. He was lucky to have you with him.

[tet68]

Sorry to hear that. I sure can see how it gets missed
some times, it’s a good thing he wasn’t driving.
How are YOU now?

[tet68]

I hope we were in time, I could not get him to call 911.
It was probably as fast for his wife to take him as an
ambulance. Will know more tomorrow.

[bcsco]

Prayers for your friend. I had a stroke back in ‘95 and still have a few remnants of behavior at times. Also a TIA about 3 years ago. Hopefully, your friend will recover more of his skills as time progresses. Depending on severity and skills affected, it does not have to be that limiting an issue with proper medical help.

[bannie]

My brother wasn’t able to put a sentence together, and he walked around “lost.” Luckily, his wife took charge and took him to the hospital.

His was caused by a mushroom shaped clot in his heart. Pieces had begun to break away. He had open heart surgery, and he’s now perfect. He didn’t lose anything anyone can detect.

Prayers for your friend.

[Palladin]

I am sorry to hear this, AC. I did not know you were recently widowed.

He must have been a fine man. My condolences.

[Man50D]

So ya'll say a prayer for my friend and his wife.

They and you are in my thoughts.

Burst vessel or hemorrhagic stroke: Caused by a ruptured blood vessel, preventing normal flow and allowing blood to leak into brain tissue, destroying it. This occurs in 15% of strokes

This was the cause of my sister in law's fatal stroke three years ago. She was the picture of health at 47 prior to the stroke. She was on the phone with her mother three days before Christmas 2006, one minute, the next minute she was complaining of a severe pain in her head. She immediately called 911. Paralysis had set in one side of her body by the time the EMT's arrived. She was unconscious when they arrived at the hospital. The medical staff induced coma to reduce brain activity but it was too late. She was taken off life support a week later. It was later determined the cause was congenital(existed since birth).

[Qwackertoo]

My father had a stroke before Thanksgiving. Luckily my brother from Austin was visiting and realized and they called 9-1-1 with first ten minutes. Dad wanted to take a nap and see IF he felt better, brother said NO. Since it was within first 3 hours, they gave him that shot, forget the name, med-flighted him over to Fort Worth from Arlington, kept in hospital a week, was in ICU for a few of those days and he made a pretty much 100% recover. Time makes a huge difference. I’m sure with Obamacare, they wouldn’t have given him as much care since he was turning 74 a few days after that.

[Revelation 911]

prayers for your friend - watch for brain swelling in the next 24hrs -

[Jemian]

Thank you for posting this. I am suffering with a very bad headache now and the medico last week looked for these very warning signs. Fortunately, no stroke, but I realized I needed to review these signals and become very familiar with them. Thank you for posting that accronym: FAST (face, arms, speech, time).

Prayers up for your friend. Thank you for recognizing the signs.

[LilAngel]

I’ve heard of a new drug they can give during the first three hours to reduce the damage from a stroke. I don’t remember what it’s called, but I hear it’s the next best thing to a miracle. From your description, it looks like you got him to the hospital pretty quick. You can probably think of something you didn’t do perfectly, if you like to kick yourself, but don’t do that. You did an excellent job.

[tommix2]

Good you posted this. I had a stroke several years ago, and I did not know what a stoke was. I was typing a reply on FR and I mentioned that I had to type with one hand and people told me to get to the hospital so I did. Occupational therapy restored my hand and now I type wth both hands as well as ever. There are good books on preventing stroke

[thesearethetimes...]

Prayers for your friend, his family, and for you tet. It is good that you were there.

AC, my condolences. Take care, and may God bring you comfort as you walk this new road.

God Bless FRiends.

[davetex]

Our prayers are with your friend Tet. My wife had the same thing back in July. We didn’t realize what was happening, and waited (unknowingly as there is more to the story, but would make it quite long). The bottom line is, she was admitted to the hospital the next day. We have learned alot since then, and she is doing well.

She has some short term memory issues and is a little more fragile than before. But for the most part is back to where she was.

Your post is very informative, and we can really appreciate it. The main thing I took away from the experience is just what you are doing. Making people aware of the sudden symptoms. We/me just did not know. It will hide itself, and it is very subtle. Thanks for posting this. It might save a life.

[Gator113]

Prayers up for all concerned.

I woke up to find I had suffered a stroke during heart surgery and I also contracted MRSA. Prays helped me get back together, mostly.

Your friend may end up just fine.... but there could be a bunch of work ahead.