1. Don’t wait.
Holland Hospital Dr. Sandip Kothari said the biggest problem with stroke is getting people to the hospital right away.
“As soon as they notice some of the symptoms, they need to go to the emergency room. Don’t sleep on it, don’t call your third cousin who is a nurse,” he said.
When it comes to chest pain and heart attacks, Kothari said people are trained to go right to the emergency room, so the American Heart Association piggy-backed off that same sense of urgency by referring to strokes as brain attacks.
Liz Dirkse, a West Olive resident, suffered a stroke last March.
She said she found herself flapping her arms to get her husband’s attention and alert him that something was wrong because she couldn’t speak.
“Everything was right on the tip of my tongue, but my brain couldn’t tell my mouth what to do. It seemed that my brain had lost the connection to the rest of my body.”
2. Know the symptoms.
Before her stroke, Dirkse knew symptoms varied from patient to patient, and her sudden inability to talk and walk tipped her off to what was happening.
Kothari said the major symptoms to be aware of include facial drooping, garbled or slurred speech and weakness on one side of the body, such as in the arm or leg.
“None of us think we will have a stroke, but then it happens and, if the people around you are not educated on what to recognize and what to do, you could end up in serious or even tragic circumstances,” Dirkse said.
3. The clock is ticking.
Up until about six months ago, the research said there is a three-hour window to get treatment for a stroke before it causes permanent damage to the brain.
“Time is absolutely of the essence,” Dirkse said. “That is an exceptional demonstration of why you must go over your wishes for treatment during a stroke before it happens.”
Kothari said, thanks to new research, now that window is more like four-and-a-half hours.
4. Know if you’re at risk.
People who are most at risk for a stroke include those with hypertension, diabetes, those who smoke and the elderly.
The prevalence of transient ischemic attacks, or mini strokes, increase with age, and up to 40 percent of all people who suffer a will go on to experience a stroke.
Excerpt from:
4 things to know about stroke