Would you recognize the immediate signs of a stroke? It is important to know the signs and symptoms of a stroke before any medical attention is needed. During a stroke the blood flow to the brain is immediately blocked. This blockage can occur for any reason, and the consequences can be life altering. Each minute that a stroke goes untreated the person affected loses about 1.9 million neurons. This means there is the potential for a person’s speech, memory, and movement to be negatively affected.
Stroke symptoms include:
1- Sudden numbness or weakness in the face, arm or leg. This may particularly occur on one side of the body.
2- Sudden mental confusion and the inability to understand. You may also have sudden difficulty speaking and your speech may also begin to be slurred.
3- Sudden difficulty seeing. This includes blurred vision, double vision, or complete vision loss in one or both eyes.
4- Sudden trouble walking. This includes dizziness, or loss of balance and coordination
5- Sudden headaches that are severe with no apparent cause
All these symptoms may seem overwhelming. However if you, or someone you know is experiencing what you believe are the signs of a stroke, use the FAST test to quickly check for these symptoms on the spot.
FACE: Smile. Do you observe that one side of the face is drooping?
ARMS: Raise both your arms in the air. Is the person having difficulty raising their arms? Is one arm higher than the other?
SPEECH: Repeat a simple sentence such as “John went to the store.” Are they slurring their words? Is it difficult to understand them?
TIME: If any of the answers to the previous symptoms are “yes” dial 9-1-1
The damage a stroke can cause happens quickly. Please do not downplay any of these symptoms or ignore them. Call 911 or go to your nearest medical emergency services. Neighbors Emergency Center has 24 hour emergency rooms throughout the Houston metro area. We can treat you quickly and effectively so you can get back to doing what you love.