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I always thought that a stroke was simply a blood clot in the brain, but on researching for this article I found that a stroke falls under two main types, ischemic and haemorrhagic.

An ischemic stroke is when a major blood vessel supplying blood to the brain is blocked with a blood clot. A haemorrhagic stroke is where the blood vessel bursts.

A stroke is known in the medical profession as a CVA, which means a cerebrovascular accident. When this happens the result is the oxygen supply to the brain is halted which causes the brain cells to start to die.

Now we come to the good news, bad news part. An ischemic stroke where the blood vessel becomes blocked is treatable if diagnosed quickly enough, and chances of a recovery are good. The bad news is that a haemorrhagic stroke where the blood vessel bursts, and which causes internal bleeding in the brain is dangerous and risky to try and treat, and unfortunately with this type of stroke the outcome is usually not good.

People with high blood pressure and atherosclerosis, (a hardening of the artery walls), are at a high risk for a haemorrhagic stroke. Advances in treatment are being made, but the outcome is still poor.

So how do I recognize the early signs of a stroke?

First of all like most medical conditions early detection means a much better chance of successful treatment. One of the earliest warning signs is feeling sudden weakness. It may be accompanied by, or could be followed by numbness or paralysis of the face, and the numbness will probably be experienced in an arm or a leg on one side of the body.

You may become dizzy and lose your sense of balance, or you may suddenly become clumsy for no apparent reason.

Another early sign of a stroke is a loss of vision in one eye, or a sudden headache which just happens rather than builds up progressively.

If you take a stroke you may lose your ability to speak. Depending on the severity, you may even lose your ability to understand what is going on.

If you are at risk from stroke, it is a good idea to wear some sort of device which will summon help should you become incapacitated. Some at risk persons’ homes have long pull cords extending from the ceiling to the floor in each room which when pulled can summons help in a similar manner, even if you’re on the floor and have to crawl to reach it.

This reminds me of a story concerning an apartment I sold several years ago. It was a third storey apartment and had steps outside down to the street as well as private internal steps to the apartment. The owner took a stroke in the bathroom and was luckily able to summon assistance by telephone, though it took him a while to crawl to it. He managed to crawl down the stairs but was unable to open the door to allow the ambulance team to enter.

The warning device could have saved him a lot of anxiety and allowed someone with a key to enter quickly render assistance. Fortunately his stroke was the ischemic type and he made a recovery.

There is a time period here which comes into play for the best chances of a recovery of an ischemic stroke victim. There are drugs available which can break up the clot which is blocking the blood flow to the brain. How ever the victim must arrive in the emergency room within three hours of experiencing the symptoms, and meet other specific criteria, for treatment to have the best chance of success.

Therefore become familiar with the contents of this article, even read again, because being familiar with the warning signs of stroke may save your life or the life of a member of your family. The sooner you detect it and get treatment, the better chance you or the victim has to survive it.

Tags: atherosclerosis, blood, blood clot in the brain, signs of a stroke, early signs of a stroke, ischemic stroke, sudden headache, bleeding in the brain, internal bleeding in the brain, sign of a stroke, sudden weakness, haemorrhagic stroke, cerebrovascular accident, artery walls, high blood pressure, loss of vision,



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