Stroke sounds scary and people wish to take all the precautions needed to avoid this deadly condition. It has claimed a number of lives, still people are mostly misinformed or uninformed about it. A few facts and knowledge about the disease can help people take precaution, identify warning signs and take adequate medical help on time. Here are a few useful facts about the disease.
Warning Signs of Stroke; remember FAST
Many of us are still ignorant about the Warning Signs of the disease. In such a case remember to watch FAST, which stands for Face, Arms, Speech and Time.
- F-Face: Check the face of the person and ask to smile. Is one side of the face dropping?
- A-Arms: Ask the person to raise both the arms. Is he unable to uplift the arms and one of them is dropping downwards?
- S-Speech: Ask the person to say a few lines in continuation. Does the speech sound slurred or unclear?
- T-Time: Time is crucial to save a life in stroke. If you observe any of the above symptoms, call emergency or rush the patient to the hospital.
With the ease of symptoms, people tend to ignore a visit to the doctor. Never do that. Temporary stroke symptoms are called Transient Ischemic Attacks (TIA) and they are just the prior warning sign of the actual attack. It should be taken seriously.
Top 3 risk factors for stroke
High blood pressure, diabetes, and smoking are the top 3 Risk factors for stroke. However, genetic history also plays a vital role.
Tips to reduce the risk of stroke
Healthy lifestyle changes, preventive health check-ups, awareness about the signs & symptoms are a few things that reduce the risk.
Stoke has nothing to do with age
If you believe that only elderly people get a stroke, then you might be wrong. One-third of the stroke cases are between the age of 20 to 64. Incidents of stroke among young generation are increasing rapidly and even newborns are not safe to this.
Many stroke survivors go in a locked-in condition
It is a rare syndrome found in the survivor of a basilar artery stroke which is very dangerous. In this case, the person enters into a state of whole-body paralysis after the stroke, hence the term locked-in.
Among women, stroke kills more than breast cancer
Breast cancer seems to be an alarming health concern among women which is rising exponentially year-by-year. However, the data shows that women have high mortality risk due to stroke than breast cancer.
The sad fact is that, around 40% of the people fail to identify the early warning signs. Only 20 to 25% people reach the hospital on time to receive medical care. Stroke is mostly unpredictable, but if anyone is at a higher risk due to any lifestyle or medical factor, then being alert and watchful is always advised. Make preventive health check-up a mandate to identify risks or early onset of any disease.
This post first appeared on Online Health & Wellness Tips | Zoylo Digihealth, please read the originial post: here
