You Should Recognize These Signs Of Stroke

Signs of a stroke and recognizing them in time can save lives. Strokes are often associated with high blood pressure, a sedentary lifestyle, and too much free radicals in the body. The risk of paralysis is also higher if you smoke tobacco, drink too much alcohol and stress a lot.

Signs of a stroke and what you need to know about them

When there is not enough blood to travel to the brain, the cells do not get the nutrients and oxygen they need to function properly, eventually dying.

Cerebrovascular disease is the third most common cause of death in the West and the leading cause of permanent injury. They are also one of the triggers of neurological problems in older people.

There are different types of strokes, depending on which part of the brain they affect:

Ischemic stroke

This type of stroke is also called a cerebral infarction and occurs when the brain does not get enough blood. This is due to a blockage in certain blood vessels that carry blood to the brain. The blockage may be due to calcification, clotting or hardening of the arteries.

Hemorrhagic stroke

This type of stroke occurs when a cerebral vessel ruptures due to either a congenital aneurysm or high blood pressure.

The resulting bleeding causes paralysis because a certain area of ​​the brain does not get enough blood or because the blood puts too much pressure on the brain structures.

Once the blood clot is removed, it takes 24 to 48 hours to determine which area of ​​the brain is damaged.

Signs of a stroke and how to act

It doesn’t matter what type of stroke is involved or what causes it; stroke is always an illness that requires urgent treatment  as it happens suddenly and can leave awkward permanent damage behind in just a few minutes. In addition, the severity of the stroke depends on how much anemia the brain suffers from.

The severity of the damage depends on how quickly the patient receives treatment. That is why it is very important to recognize the warning signs that our bodies give us.

If you are at risk, you should be more vigilant about the following symptoms of a possible stroke:

Dizziness and difficulty walking

• As the blood flow to the brain is impaired, you may suddenly feel dizzy.
• You may also experience imbalance or coordination, and this can make you stumble.
• Paralysis affects all movements that require precision.

Weakness or numbness

One of the symptoms of a stroke is the inability to raise your hands in the air (one at a time or both at the same time) and keep them up.

You also feel your hands are numb and you have difficulty lifting objects even if they don’t weigh much on anything. Many drop the goods they hold in their hands.

In addition, you may feel tingling and numbness in your legs. You may need to sit still for a few seconds as your limbs may not work.

Speech difficulties

When you have a stroke, not only will you have difficulty walking or moving, but you may also have difficulty expressing yourself.

Mossy speech, difficulty finding the right words to explain things, or inconsistencies in speech can be signs of a stroke.

Facial paralysis

You may also experience facial stroke in addition to speech difficulties.

This feeling is similar to when a dentist numbs your mouth to remove a tooth. In other words, you won’t be able to smile or open your eyes either. Paralysis is almost always only on one side of the face.

In addition, you also experience other typical symptoms associated with stroke, such as blurred vision, blur, double vision, or darkening.

Severe migraine

We’ve all had headaches, even severe ones. Before the stroke, however, you may experience a migraine so severe that you cannot do anything.

It appears suddenly, followed by dizziness, nausea, and vomiting. In the case of a hemorrhagic stroke, headaches can even cause fainting.

What is characteristic of these signs of paralysis is, above all, that they may appear without the person himself even realizing it. Others may think that the person in question is just out of his mind, tired, embarrassed, or even drunk.

When symptoms appear for a few seconds or minutes and then disappear, it is a transient stroke whose symptoms should not be ignored. This is a clear sign that your brain is not getting enough blood and you may have a severe stroke later on.

In this case, you should call an ambulance so that the medical staff can diagnose the problem.

Many nurses and paramedics perform an on-site test called the FAST (Face Arm Speech Test).

It consists of three parts:

• Face: Analyzes whether the patient has involuntary muscle asymmetry in the face.
• Hands (Arms): Tests whether the patient is able to move their hands if desired or whether they feel tingling or numbness in their arms.
• Speech: Ask questions to find out if the patient has difficulty speaking or if he or she sounds drunk or otherwise confused.