More than 30,000 people have a stroke in Belarus every year. Only 10% of them return to normal life. Neurologist Sergei Marchenko tells how to identify a stroke and what to do before it's too late.
What is a stroke anyway?
Sergei Marchenko
neurologist
It's spicy circulatory disorders in the brain, which is always a secondary disease. It does not occur in healthy people.
According to the mechanism of circulatory disorders, strokes are divided into ischemic(about 85% of all strokes) and hemorrhagic. In the first case, the vessel is clogged with a thrombus (embolus), in the second case, the vessel is torn. There is also a division of strokes according to severity, but even a mild stroke is a deadly disease.
Symptoms in these typessame?
The symptoms of a stroke depend on the location in the brain, not on what kind of stroke it is. If blood circulation in the center of speech is disturbed, speech will suffer, in the motor center - movements in the arm and (or) leg will be disturbed.
How to understand that a person has a stroke?
A very simple test has been invented to detect stroke, which is recommended by all national and international protocols. It is called "Face, hand, speech, time", and on its basis, the ambulance team has the right to diagnose a stroke.
Face: ask the patient to smile or show teeth. With a stroke, there is a noticeable asymmetry of the face (the corner of the mouth on one side "hangs").
Hand: ask the patient to raise and hold both arms for 5 seconds at 90 ° in the sitting position and 45 ° in the supine position. With a stroke, one of the arms drops.
Speech: Ask the patient to say a simple phrase. With a stroke, the patient cannot clearly and correctly pronounce a simple phrase, his speech is illegible, slurred.
If there is at least one symptom indicating the development of a stroke, it is urgent to call an ambulance - the sooner assistance is provided, the greater the chance of recovery.
Time: It is very important to find out when the stroke happened. You need to ask the person when he or others first noticed these violations. If a person cannot remember when they first noticed the symptoms, we ask those close to them when they last saw them without them.
There is a concept "therapeutic window"- the time when you can try to fully restore blood circulation. It refers to ischemic types of strokes, because when a vessel breaks, you do not need to restore blood flow, but stop bleeding and remove the hematoma.
The duration of the "therapeutic window" - no more than 6 hours. In the first four and a half hours, the occlusion of the vessel can be cured and medicines(i.e. using thrombolysis), and endovascular methods (using thrombus extraction) - that is, using special devices that are carried out in the arteries of the brain and remove the thrombus mechanically. In the interval of 4.5-6 hours, only endovascular treatment is possible.
The success of stroke treatment depends entirely on the timing of seeking medical help.. Unfortunately, if the symptoms are not very pronounced, people often wait for everything to go away on its own, but it does not go away, and sometimes it only gets worse.
Can I use this test to determine if I have a stroke?
Certainly. If you understand that something is wrong with you, you can always smile at yourself in the mirror and see how symmetrical the smile is, evaluate your speech, try to hold both hands. But still, most often, strokes, of course, are diagnosed to someone. Relatives see that something is wrong with the person.
When a stroke occurs, what happens to a person at that moment? Does he faint, does his condition worsen sharply?
All options are possible. When a large vessel is blocked, a person can lose consciousness, because a large part of the brain ceases to be supplied with oxygen. If the vessel is small, the symptoms may be subtle, but gradually become more pronounced.
Should all these symptoms be present in a stroke?
No. Symptoms can be all together, and one of them: it all depends on how large a vessel and what part of the brain is affected. In addition, it is important to remember such nuances: the test only says about the arm, but weakness can also be in the leg, a person may develop coordination disorders.
The main thing: if your condition suddenly changes, do not wait, but immediately seek help! This applies not only to stroke, in medicine a lot depends on time: it is difficult to successfully treat surgical pathology when abdominal pain lasts a week, and for cardiologists - myocardial infarction with a pain syndrome lasting more than 24 hours.
What can be confused with a stroke?
With diseases that cause the same symptoms. It can be a tumor, and trauma, and an infectious lesion of the brain (encephalitis, meningitis). All these diseases are dangerous, and in any case they need to be treated, and not wait until they pass by themselves.
These symptoms will most likely not go away on their own. And even if they disappear, you must go to the doctor. There is the concept of "transient violation of cerebral circulation" - when neurological symptoms occur, but quickly disappear, because blood circulation is restored on its own within a day. This is also a very formidable condition, a harbinger of a full stroke.
Is it possible to miss a stroke?
Can. The brain is responsible for everything in our body, but at the same time it has functionally insignificant zones: if a stroke occurs in one of them, the symptoms will be insignificant or completely invisible. Such a stroke is often detected already in the form of chronic changes on brain tomograms.
How can I help someone who is having a stroke?
Call an ambulance - by dialing 103. After that, lay him down with his body raised by 30-45 degrees, ensure airway patency, freeing his neck from clothes and cleaning his mouth from vomit and foreign objects, including removable dentures, in case of unconscious of the patient's condition, it must be turned on its side to prevent saliva and vomiting from entering the respiratory tract.
No other help should be provided: do not reduce pressure, do not give medication. The treatment for a stroke depends on its type, and only a doctor can determine it.
What if I have a stroke with speech impairment and no one is around?
If they are minor, try to make sure that the ambulance dispatcher understands what you want. If it doesn’t work, try writing to someone you know, asking them to call an ambulance for you.
What to do if a person has a stroke far from the city?
You still need to call an ambulance. Our whole country is divided into service areas, every place is assigned an ambulance substation, from where a brigade should come and provide assistance.
If this is completely wilderness and you understand that it will take a very long time to go there, it makes sense to load a person into a car and drive to the nearest settlement or hospital.
Active work is currently underway in Belarus to organize regional vascular centers, which are designed to provide assistance to patients located within a 70-kilometer zone, where both strokes and heart attacks will have to be treated with modern methods.
How does a stroke usually end?
Death, disability or recovery. Stroke outcome statistics have not changed for decades: 20-30% of patients die within a year, about 60% remain disabled of various groups, and only about 10% return to normal life.
If our fellow citizens began to seek help in a timely manner, fewer people would remain disabled.
About 60% of stroke patients treated with thrombolysis or thromboextraction are discharged from the hospital either without any disorders or with minimal ones - this does not take into account the rehabilitation period. That is why I am so happy for the timely appeal to doctors: we have everything for treatment - knowledge, skills and equipment.
What exactly are the consequences of a stroke?
Most often, the consequences are symptoms that could not be eliminated during treatment and rehabilitation. They depend on the size of the stroke and its location. It is difficult to predict the outcome of a stroke in most cases.
Are there psychological consequences?
Of course, they can be, and moreover, they are often found. A stroke is brain damage, you don’t even need to build logical chains here. For example, people with a speech impediment sometimes become tense and overly active because they are not understood, that they cannot express their thoughts. Alas, sometimes people become inadequate.
What does recovery depend on?
First, from the time the patient, from whether we managed to restore blood flow to the death of a large area of the brain. When a vessel is blocked by a thrombus (embolus), the part of the brain that is supplied with blood only by this vessel dies in any case (the brain lives only 5-6 minutes without oxygen) - this is "core stroke". Areas of the brain surrounding the “nucleus”, which have adjacent blood supply not only from the affected vessel, will experience oxygen starvation. And if we restore blood flow in time, they will return to their normal state and these parts of the brain will remain healthy.
Secondly, from the diameter of the clogged vessel: the larger it is, the greater the stroke, the more severe the symptoms and treatment.
Only 30% of patients go to the “therapeutic window”, and half are patients with cerebral hemorrhage, who are treated very differently, for whom thrombolysis is not applicable. Of these 30% in 2017, thrombolysis and (or) thromboextraction was used in only 4.2% of cases, that is, in every eighth. The rest are treated as usual, these modern methods are not applied to them: they arrive on time, but we find contraindications. In such cases, alas, the blood flow cannot be restored: people either die or become disabled.
What can I do to fully recover?
Arrive at the hospital on time, successfully undergo treatment and actively rehabilitate. Rehabilitation includes taking medications, physiotherapy exercises on the recommendation of a specialist, visiting a speech therapist, etc. By the way, the effectiveness of recovery greatly increases the support and help of loved ones. How exactly you can help, the attending physician will tell and show you, the main thing is to deal with the sick.
After a stroke, is it necessary to go to a psychotherapist?
It is necessary to treat everything that needs treatment, any deviation in the state of health. If a person has developed disorders after a stroke that have not gone away, you do not need to get used to them - this also applies to the psyche.
Is there a chance that the stroke will happen again?
Unfortunately, for those who have had a stroke, the risk of having another one increases many times over, especially in the first year. Further, the risk decreases, but still remains high. According to various publications, recurrent stroke occurs in 30-50% of patients.
After treatment, it is imperative to follow the measures of secondary prevention of stroke - this is taking medication, for many on a lifelong basis, a qualitative change in lifestyle, control of the disease that led to the stroke.
And what should I do to avoid a stroke the first time?
To be healthy. Only, unfortunately, this does not work out over the years, so primary prevention is the timely detection of chronic and other diseases that can lead to a stroke. To do this, we have a well-thought-out medical examination system in our country: an examination plan has been developed for each age, which allows us to exclude diseases characteristic of it. It is free and accessible, the main thing is to get to the clinic, perform the prescribed examinations, and complete all examinations by the necessary specialists. In addition to stroke, there are many other dangerous diseases, and they all need to be treated.
If there are no health problems, you need to exclude smoking, alcohol abuse, start moving more and eat right.
What diseases cause stroke?
Diseases that occur in the vast majority of stroke patients are arterial hypertension, cerebral atherosclerosis, cardiac arrhythmias, diabetes mellitus. Smoking, drinking alcohol, being overweight, being sedentary will all contribute to a stroke.
What most often triggers a stroke?
It is far from always possible to say what caused a stroke. The body can adapt to changes for a long time, as long as they do not exceed the limit of its capabilities. An atherosclerotic plaque can grow for a long time, but sooner or later it blocks the vessel or, if it is unstable, breaks away from the wall and blocks it.
The most common "trigger" is a jump in blood pressure.
Does stroke depend on heredity?
If your grandmother had a stroke, you don't necessarily have one. But there is a hereditary predisposition to chronic diseases that cause a stroke. If your mom has hypertension, chances are you will too.
Does the disease depend on age?
Stroke occurs predominantly in older people, those who have retired. But in recent years, there has been an increase in the proportion of patients of working age, modern diagnostic capabilities make it possible to more often detect this disease in young people.
Cardiologist
Higher education:
Cardiologist
Saratov State Medical University. IN AND. Razumovsky (SSMU, media)
Level of education - Specialist
Additional education:
"Emergency Cardiology"
1990 - Ryazan Medical Institute named after Academician I.P. Pavlova
Some people are irresponsible about their health. It is this category of patients that most often has to deal with such pathologies as a stroke on the legs. Adverse symptoms of the disease usually disappear after a few hours. A person takes a pill of pain medication and does not consider it necessary to contact a specialist. But is it so easy to throw off the shackles of the disease, as the patient believes? After all, a stroke on the legs can lead to serious complications.
Signs of a microstroke
A microstroke occurs due to chronic stress, strong excitement, exhausting physical work.
The main symptoms of a stroke on the legs include:
- Decreased sensitivity of the facial muscles.
- Lack of control over facial expressions.
- Lethargy.
- Feeling of numbness in the limbs.
- Loss of orientation in space.
- Slurring of speech.
- Severe pain in the occipital region.
- Vision problems. A person cannot consider the object of interest to him: the image is blurry or resembles a children's mosaic.
- Unsteadiness of gait.
- The appearance of a lump in the throat.
- Nausea or vomiting.
- Intolerance to noisy sounds.
- Chills.
These symptoms usually go away within 24 hours. If the patient's condition worsens over time, he is diagnosed with a stroke.
How should the relatives of the patient behave?
It is no coincidence that a microstroke is called the “younger brother” of a stroke. Therefore, relatives of the patient must show restraint and prudence:
- When the first symptoms of a microstroke appear, an ambulance should be called, the person should be laid on a large pillow, his head should be gently raised.
- It is necessary to open the window wider to ensure the flow of street air into the room.
- Tight clothing is removed from the patient or the shirt collar is unbuttoned.
- We need to measure his blood pressure. If it exceeds the permissible norm, the patient should be given a medicine for pressure.
- When a person has a sharp headache, ice should be applied to the back of the patient's head. He must not make careless movements.
- First massage the temples, then move smoothly to the back of the head.
- From the crown move to the shoulders.
At the same time, hand movements should be neat and circular. The patient is advised to undergo a medical examination to reduce the likelihood of a stroke.
Complications of a microstroke
With a rupture or blockage of brain vessels, the nutrition of nerve cells is disrupted. As a result, they die or are seriously damaged, the patient develops neurological disorders. If the blockage is observed in the department that is responsible for the movement of the limbs, the patient has a feeling of numbness in the legs. Quite often, blockage of blood vessels leads to paralysis of the limbs.
There are other consequences of a microstroke:
- Dizziness.
- Doubling of objects before the eyes.
- Irritability, aggressiveness.
- Memory deterioration.
A person loses control over emotions, becomes like a capricious muslin lady. Problems in the emotional sphere usually arise due to the death of nerve cells due to nutritional deficiencies.
The statistics are relentless: a few days after a pinpoint hemorrhage, a person develops a stroke, causing serious damage to the body. The patient may die or remain motionless for the rest of his life.
Medications for microstroke
Medicines should be taken no later than three hours after the first signs of a microstroke appear. After 6 hours, any medication may be useless. The main goal of treatment is to restore normal blood flow in the affected part of the brain.
With a microstroke, the following drugs are used:
- Vasodilator drugs. They help improve blood flow. These medicines must be taken strictly as prescribed by the doctor.
- Nootropics. These medicines help improve brain activity.
- metabolic drugs. They help oxygenate the blood.
In this pathology, angioprotectors are also used. They activate the metabolism of the vascular wall, improve blood microcirculation. With a microstroke, antiplatelet agents are also prescribed. The use of these medicines reduces the likelihood of blood clots.
The patient needs to give up alcohol, adhere to the correct daily regimen, take vitamin complexes. You should protect yourself from unrest and limit physical activity.
Prevention of the occurrence of a microstroke
In order to reduce the risk of disease, you need to regularly measure blood pressure, a person needs to eat right.
You should regularly be examined by a specialist in the presence of the following pathologies:
- Angina. This disease can provoke a microstroke.
- Hereditary predisposition to diseases of the cardiovascular system.
- Diseases of the hematopoietic system.
- Tendency to thrombosis.
- An increase in blood sugar levels.
- The presence of extra pounds. Overweight people often have high blood pressure.
- A history of hypertensive crisis or serious cerebrovascular accident.
A microstroke is often observed in females taking birth control pills. The likelihood of pathology increases during pregnancy.
A microstroke in women aged 20 to 40 years occurs much more often than in their male peers. In addition, female representatives suffer a stroke much harder.
Pine cones after a microstroke
American scientists have come to an interesting conclusion: ordinary pine cones are an excellent medicine that speeds up the process of brain recovery after a microstroke.
The cones contain vitamins and useful essential oils. They are also rich in tannins: these substances can stop the process of dying of brain cells.
To prepare the infusion, you need to thoroughly rinse five pine cones. They are poured with 400 ml of water and kept on low heat for five minutes. The mixture is then cooled and filtered. You need to drink 50 ml of the drug once a day after meals. The duration of the course of treatment is two weeks.
Conclusion or the harsh truth of life!
A stroke suffered on the legs is a rather dangerous pathology. But a person still has a chance for a successful outcome of events. When the characteristic symptoms of a microstroke appear, you should seek medical help, and not rush to your favorite job. After all, only a step remains from trouble. No matter how bitter it is to admit, but a person deprived of the ability to move, in fact, turns into a plant. Only close people will listen to the incomprehensible sounds of his slurred speech: they will never betray and turn away from the patient. But is it worth it to overshadow the life of the most beloved and dear?
A stroke is not necessarily a sharp pain, loss of consciousness and an ambulance, such brain damage does not always lead to immediate death, as some believe. Sometimes they are almost asymptomatic, a man or woman may not be aware of their condition. While a stroke suffered on the legs leads to serious complications.
A stroke is a pathological condition that occurs as a result of partial or complete blockage or rupture of cerebral vessels. In medicine, it is defined as an acute violation of cerebral circulation - stroke. There are two forms of it:
- hemorrhagic;
- ischemic.
In hemorrhagic stroke, a vessel ruptures due to extremely high blood pressure or a strong weakening of the vascular wall, and, as a result, hemorrhage in the brain tissue. The development is usually rapid: the patient feels an unbearable headache, his face turns very red, one arm, leg or side of the face may completely fail, speech disappears.
With an ischemic stroke, the brain tissue ceases to receive nutrition due to blockage of the capillaries by blood clots. Prerequisites are, as a rule, atherosclerosis and age-related changes in blood vessels. The symptoms are almost the same, but they are less pronounced, often blurred.
If a small vessel was damaged, and a slight hemorrhage occurred, or if a blood clot clogs the vessel only partially, without completely blocking nutrition, what is popularly called a microstroke develops. That is what most patients endure on their feet.
How to recognize - the main and hidden signs
Very often, the patient does not realize that he has had a stroke and cannot even clearly identify its signs and manifestations: irritability, weakness, dizziness, unfortunately, are common to a modern person of any gender and age and are usually mistaken for fatigue, overwork, nervous stress. Sharp headaches, migraines also do not surprise anyone and are not considered a reason to see a doctor. The first and most characteristic sign of a microstroke is numbness of the face, upper or lower limb, or the entire half of the body on the right or left side. Symptoms of a stroke on the legs that should be of concern:
- loss of sensation in the face, the inability to control facial expressions;
- incoherent, monosyllabic speech;
- blurred vision- the victim is not able to look at one point with both eyes;
- impaired coordination of movements, wobbling gait;
- nausea, in severe cases ending in an attack of vomiting;
- increased susceptibility to loud sounds and bright lights;
- fever or chills.
Micro differs from a real stroke in the duration and severity of symptoms. If, after taking medications that stabilize blood pressure and the work of the heart muscle, the discomfort disappears and the condition returns to normal (in healthy, young people, the symptoms can go away by themselves, without the use of medications), then it was a microstroke. If the state of health worsens, the symptoms begin to appear more intensely - immediate treatment is required in a hospital setting.
A microstroke on the legs can last from 5 minutes to a day.
Consequences and complications
The likelihood of complications and their severity will depend on several factors:
- in which part of the brain the vessel (or vessels) was damaged;
- how severe the damage is;
- what measures have been taken.
Not the last role is played by the age of the patient and his general condition. If the capillary is damaged or torn, those cells of the nerve tissues that it nourished also begin to be damaged or die. This is manifested by various deviations from neurology: there is a temporary paralysis of the limbs, impaired vision and speech, weakening of memory, weakness. The patient may suddenly panic, become aggressive or, conversely, tearful. All these are symptoms of the death of nerve cells suffering from a lack of oxygen and nutrients.
These complications are mild and reversible. In 40% of cases, microstrokes, if the patient takes adequate measures in time, pass without consequences, full rehabilitation is possible. But in 60% of cases, if no help was provided, an acute stroke occurs within 3 days after a microstroke. If the patient does not die on the spot before the ambulance arrives, the consequences for him will not be comforting.
Due to the complete and irreversible death of nerve cells, he can forever remain paralyzed, dumb, blind, emotionally unstable. Such a person will never again be able to return to a full life, work and serve himself, as before the stroke. He will need constant care and supervision of relatives or medical staff.
The consequences of a stroke on the legs affect throughout the rest of life.
What to do - first aid and treatment
First aid for alarming signs, the patient is able to provide himself - he must immediately consult a doctor and undergo an examination. Standard laboratory tests of urine and blood, ECG, MRI or CT are prescribed. Based on the results, the doctor will be able to determine in which part of the brain the hemorrhage occurred, how severe the damage is, and what medications are needed for treatment. Combinations of nootropics, antiplatelet agents, and angioprotectors are commonly used. Naturally, after a microstroke, emotional and physical peace, a stable regimen, good rest and an absolute rejection of bad habits are shown.
Conclusion
Knowing the main signs of a microstroke suffered on the legs will help you see a dangerous condition in time, provide the necessary assistance as soon as possible and prevent serious consequences. Doctors do not recommend even carrying a common cold on your feet, but if we are talking about cerebrovascular accidents and hemorrhage, the consequences of a microstroke can be the saddest, even fatal.
A stroke is a violation of the blood circulation of the brain. When blood does not reach the cells (due to a blood clot or rupture of a vessel), they die. Because of this, a person loses the ability to move, speak, see, breathe.
Stroke is the second (after coronary heart disease) cause of death in Russia. A fifth of patients after a stroke become severely disabled. But many consequences can be prevented if called in time.
The first 3-6 hours after a stroke is the "therapeutic window" - the time at which medical care is most effective.
Sometimes a person does not immediately notice that something is wrong with him, or he thinks that the ailment will pass by itself. Because of this, precious time is wasted. Therefore, it is important to know what a stroke looks like and what to do about it.
The main signs of a stroke
1. Suddenly and strongly the head starts to hurt or be ill;be sick.
2. The person loses consciousness.
3. The balance is disturbed, the gait becomes unsteady.
4. A part of the body becomes numb on one side, for example, half of the face.
5. There are problems with speech: it is difficult to pronounce words.
6. Loss of vision in one eye or both.
How to know for sure it's a stroke
Ask the person to do a few simple things:
- smile. If a person cannot smile or the smile comes out one-sided (and this was not the case before), sound the alarm.
- to speak. Ask the person to repeat a simple sentence or a poem after you. After a stroke, articulation is disturbed, speech becomes slurred.
- Stick out tongue. If a person cannot do this, if the tongue involuntarily deviates to one side or looks skewed, then this is a stroke.
- Raise both arms evenly. With a stroke, a person will not be able to control both hands equally well.
- Raise your hands in front of you and close your eyes. If one arm drops involuntarily, this is a sign of a stroke.
- Write SMS. Researchers at the Henry Ford Hospital have noticed that patients who show no other signs of a stroke are unable to type a coherent message: they write a nonsense string of words without noticing it.
If a person has not coped with at least one of the tasks, this is enough to act immediately.
What to do if a person has a stroke
First, call an ambulance. Be sure to describe why you suspect a stroke: it started abruptly, the person lost consciousness or balance. Tell what the patient cannot do: cannot smile, cannot raise two hands, cannot speak.
With a stroke, professional help is needed as soon as possible.
After calling an ambulance, lay the person on the pillows, the elevation should start from the shoulder blades. Provide access to fresh air: open the window or door in the room, unfasten tight clothing.
Do not give water or food, because organ functions may be impaired, making it difficult for the person to swallow.
If possible, measure your blood pressure. For high blood pressure, give the person the blood pressure medication they usually take. If there is no such tablet, do not give anything.
Unfortunately for doctors, the need for constant health care has not been formed in the minds of our compatriots. More often, when signs of illness appear, people think that the symptoms will disappear on their own, nothing will happen to them, and the disease will recede. It will go by itself. There are probably many reasons for this behavior. But here's what it leads to, reflects the dry language of statistics. Kazan doctors conducted a study of the causes of death in strokes.
Stroke kills a lot of people
The results were horrendous:
- Half of stroke patients are admitted to the hospital more than 6 hours after onset. What is 6 hours in ordinary life? Even for sleep is not enough. But not to save the life of the patient. This gap is called the "therapeutic window". The time at which treatment gives the maximum result and allows you to save a person from disability or save his life.
- More than half of these patients are not hospitalized! Not because they are rejected. They do not go to the hospital or refuse hospitalization offered by emergency doctors. Mortality in this group is 97%.
What can be done so as not to replenish the dry statistical lines of mortality in stroke with your life? Just to understand at what signs of a change in well-being it is necessary to urgently consult a doctor. So to speak, to recognize the enemy in the face.
What is a stroke and what are the types of stroke?
The word "stroke" refers to acute interruptions in the blood supply to the brain, which develop according to the ischemic (reduction or absence of blood circulation) or hemorrhagic (hemorrhage) type. For cerebral ischemia, another short-term condition called a transient ischemic attack is distinguished. Learn more about each of these conditions.
Strokes are divided into 2 large groups: ischemic and hemorrhagic
Transient ischemic attack
A microstroke or transient ischemic attack is an acute transient disturbance of the blood supply to a small part of the brain that does not cause irreversible changes in the cells. But this condition is not as harmless as it might seem. In people who have undergone a TIA, in 20% of cases a full stroke develops a week later, in another 45% in the first year after the attack. This is a call that you need to be more careful about yourself, and urgently call a doctor as soon as they appear:
- Changes in sensation in the face or limbs: numbness or tingling sensation on the skin.
- Restriction of movements.
- Difficulties in understanding the speech of other people.
- Partial loss of hearing, touch or vision.
- Double vision.
- Dizziness.
- There may be a disorder of coordination of movements, gait.
- Loss of speech.
- Clouding of consciousness or short fainting.
In this case, call the doctor immediately! Despite the transience of TIA, timely examination and treatment can prevent a life-threatening condition.
Ischemic stroke
Ischemic stroke due to vascular thrombosis
#3 cause of death in the world. A disease that changes a person forever. Deprives him of speech, movements, the ability to think. A condition that confines a person to bed for months. And despite this, people continue to hope for "maybe". Say to yourself: "maybe it will pass." During ischemia, part of the neurocytes ceases to receive oxygen. If you do not return them the opportunity to "breathe", they die.
And it is possible to prevent the death of brain cells in the first 6 hours from the onset of ischemia.
It is only necessary to deliver the patient to the hospital as soon as possible. Signs of cerebral ischemia:
- There are speech disorders, difficulties in intelligible pronunciation of words.
- Violent headache, sometimes accompanied by vomiting.
- Asymmetry of the face: the corner of the mouth or eye is lowered on one side, the smile is crooked.
- Muscular weakness of the leg and arm on one side. Trying to raise both arms at the same time may fail.
- Clouding of consciousness, loss of orientation, fainting.
These symptoms signal the development of ischemia. A person needs urgent help:
- Call an ambulance. It is better to say by phone what happened, because there are specialized “stroke” teams at the stations.
- Be sure to help him lie down. Even on the floor, even on the table. Doesn't matter. The main ˗ horizontal position.
- Do not try to bring the patient back to consciousness. Doctors will take care of this.
If measures are taken to start treatment quickly, the chances of regaining health after an illness reach 50%. Not just to survive, but to restore the ability to live actively.
Hemorrhagic stroke
Hemorrhages in the brain occur 4 times less often than ischemia. Only the prognosis for their outcome is much worse. Apoplexies end in death in 45% of people in the first week from the onset of the stroke. A condition that is not worth treating on its own or waiting for it to go away on its own. The insidiousness of hemorrhages lies in the fact that the blood pouring from the vessels remains inside the skull and compresses the brain. The signs of hemorrhage are joined by symptoms of secondary ischemia from exposure to the spilled blood. Signs of apoplexy:
- The condition develops unexpectedly, against the background of high emotional or physical stress.
- May be accompanied by a rush of blood to the face.
- The head starts to hurt badly.
- Consciousness becomes confused.
- Nausea appears, vomiting may develop.
- Sometimes there are seizures.
First aid in this case is the same as for cerebral ischemia:
- Put the person down.
- Call an ambulance.
Woman calling an ambulance
stroke goes away on its own
Of course, like any disease, a stroke can go away on its own. In two cases: if a person becomes disabled or dies. Take care of your health and contact your doctor on time.