Having reached the age where the yearly physical isn’t such an afterthought anymore, I found a recent article about stroke warning/recognition signs to be very helpful in identifying some immediate warning signs that could mean the difference between life and death.
As I’ve gotten older, I seem to be unconsciously paying closer attention to pretty much any article I come across pertaining to health or risks for someone in my age bracket, (I’m 47) so a series of articles in a local paper on health risks and self tests a person could take to determine their level of susceptibility to those risks was particular interesting to me.
While I don’t feel today, knock on wood, that due to either family or personal health history that I am a “high risk” stroke candidate, I still found the articles on stroke recognition very insightful because it made it easy for someone not having a stroke to identify four areas to look for in determining if someone else is having a stroke and what to do.
A system called F.A.S.T., face,arms, speech and time was outlined, and it as I said, not just from what you see, but what you can do to recognize stroke signs or symptoms which could save valuable time in getting medical assistance.
The “FACE” had not only a visual test associated with it, but a few vital questions that you can ask a person that you suspect of having a stroke. First, ask the person to smile, a stroke can cause one side of the person’s face to droop decidedly. Then, if they complain of abrupt dimming of vision or a sudden or severe headache without any known reason, these could be stroke warning signs. It is important to note that you could ask a person that you suspect of having a stroke about the dimming of vision, or the headache, you don’t have to wait for them to tell you.
The “ARMS” had a number of telltale signs associated with them as well. Asking someone to raise their arms could be an indicator if one arm begins to drift downward, which could trigger weakness, numbness or even paralysis of the arm or even a leg, particularly on one side of the body. This test could also lead to a sudden loss of balance, or even a fall because of the above symptoms.
“SPEECH” was pretty much the only real symptom I had ever been aware of as a telltale sign of a stroke, but this system again gave a specific way to use it as a recognition sign. By asking the person to REPEAT a simple sentence you cover not only whether or not the person can speak it back to clearly without slurring, but whether or not the have had any trouble comprehending or understanding the sentence.
Lastly, “TIME” was the most critical element to the F.A.S.T. system of stroke recognition. If a person has ANY of these signs or symptoms, call 911 immediately. I never completely understood just how every minute counts in a stroke emergency situation. If acted upon quickly enough, there is hope to reversing the effects that a person having a stroke is experiencing. There is the tradition clot busting drug “tPA” procedure that must be done within three hours or a newer procedure called the “Merci Retriever” which has an eight window of opportunity.
A “Merci Retriever” is less invasive surgery threaded though a blood vessel by the Merci Microcatheter until it goes beyond the clot or blockage. At that point the Merci Retriever comes out on the opposite of the blockage and unfolds into a “corkscrew” that pulls the clot or blockage out back through the blood vessel as the the Microcatheter is removed.
Certainly I am no doctor, but I found how easy some of this information was to understand very interesting and useful to share, especially for someone who may be a “high risk” candidate for stroke to have the time now to look into possible treatment and easily recognized warning signs.
