Have you heard about a serious medical condition, where if you recognize the symptoms early on, and get treated urgently in the hospital within the first 3 to 4 hours from the start of the symptoms, you might have greater chance for recovery? This condition is called stroke.
Stroke or brain attack, is a condition in which the blood flow to the brain gets interrupted, and might cause some loss of function in a specific part of the brain. There are 3 types of strokes. The most common type is the ischemic stroke, which can occur when a blood clot blocks the blood flow in an artery within the brain. I will talk about it in detail in this video.
It is very important to recognize the early signs of having a stroke. This is crucial in order to transfer the patient quickly to the hospital within the first 4 hours, to get the clot buster medicine. Which is an urgent intravenous injection to dissolve the clot and improve the blood flow to the brain and prevent the serious stroke’s complications like paralysis, loss of speech or vision.
So, what are the symptoms? It can be any sudden weakness or numbness especially on one side of the body. like the arm, leg or the face. Other symptoms are sudden onset of confusion, trouble speaking, imbalance or loss of vision. All of these symptoms could be a sign of a stroke.
If you suspect someone you know is having a stroke, you need to act fast, and you should do the following simple tests to confirm this condition. Please remember the word fast to perform the test. The first letter in fast is (F) that stands for face, so look at the patient’s face and ask them to smile, if you see that one side of the face is drooping, this can be a sign of a stroke.
The 2nd letter in fast is (A) which stands for arms. Ask the patient to raise both arms. If one arm drifts down, it can also be a sign of weakness. The 3rd letter in fast is (S) which stands for speech. Please ask the patient to repeat a simple phrase. During a stroke, the patient’s speech can be either slurred or strange or they can’t talk at all.
Last letter in fast is (T) which stands for time. That means that time in this condition is very important and every minute counts. So, if you recognize any of the above symptoms, you need to call the emergency number immediately to get an ambulance to transfer the patient to the hospital ASAP within the 4-hour window.
You should also know, that there are several risk factors which can cause strokes, like high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol and smoking. These are also a risk for getting a heart attack. So, it is important to have them all under excellent control to prevent strokes and heart attacks.
There are 2 other types of strokes, one from bursting of a blood vessel in the brain and the other is TIA or mini-stroke. Which I will talk about in a future video.
Video shot by Galia Helbaoui and edited by Amer Helbaoui
2 авг 2024
