Recognising and Helping a Stroke Sufferer

[Aussie Chris]

Hi All,

I received this in an email from a friend and thought it would be handy to share with all of you.

Please do your part and send it on, I did mine. It may just be one of US it saves.

Cheers,

Chris

STROKE: Remember The 1st Three Steps

A friend sent this to me and encouraged me to spread the word. I agree. If everyone can remember something this simple, we could save some folks.

STROKE IDENTIFICATION:
During a BBQ, a friend stumbled and took a little fall - she assured everyone that she was fine (they offered to call paramedics) and just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes. They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food - while she appeared a bit shaken up, Ingrid went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening. Ingrid's husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the! hospital - (at 6:00pm, Ingrid passed away.) She had suffered a stroke at the BBQ. Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps Ingrid would be with us today. Some don't die. They end up in a helpless, hopeless condition instead.
It only takes a minute to read this...


A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke...totally. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough.


RECOGNIZING A STROKE
Thank God for the sense to remember the "3" steps, STR . Read and Learn!
Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke.
Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:

S*Ask the individual to SMILE.
T*Ask the person to TALK . to SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE
(Coherently) (i.e. . . It is sunny out today)
R*Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.

NOTE: Another 'sign' of a stroke is this: Ask the person to 'stick' out their tongue! ... if the tongue is 'crooked', if it goes to one side or the other that is also an indication of a stroke - Also give the individual 2 Aspirins as they will help to thin out there blood...

If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call 9-1-1 immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.

A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this e-mail sends it to 10 people; you can bet that at least one life will be saved.

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[Arlyss]

Someone gave me this also, when my husband suffered his stroke. The three hour time window is the amount of time when a clot busting drug can be given for those with strokes due to blood clots. Bleeding in the brain would be different.

Here are links to some other stroke warning sign descriptions

http://www.strokesafe.org/warning_signs.html

http://www.stroke.org/site/PageServer?pagename=SYMP

Best wishes,
Arlyss

 

[Harpoon]

Was surfing through the site and noticed this thread and thouht to myself, "Hey! I just wrote a feature on a new program for stroke care here, hmmmmm...."


I won't bore you with the whole article, but I will share the "fact box" information that I pulled from the spoke hospital website that manages a telemedicine stroke care program for rural hospital emergency rooms:


Warming signs for stroke:
? Sudden numbness or weakness in face, arm or leg ? especially on one side of the body.
? Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding.
? Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes.
? Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination.
? Sudden severe headache with no known cause.

Not all warning signs occur with every stroke and they should never be ignored, even if they go away.

What to do: Call 911 immediately, minutes count. There are treatments that may reduce the risk of damage from a stroke but only if you get help quickly ? within three hours from onset of symptoms.
(SOURCE: The Stroke Center at Millard Fillmore Gates Circle Hospital - http://gates.kaleidahealth.org/stroke/ )


By my (rough) count, we've had maybe half a dozen strokes in this area in the past two weeks including one today that was the root cause of a minor car accident (single vehicle, the driver apparently suffered a stroke and drove his (or her?) car into a tree alongside the rode, suffering a broken arm in the process)

Anyways, being "valvers," we all could incur some above average risk for stroke and it's worth knowing the signs and symptoms and what to do.

The clot-buster drugs are great, but there's a specific window of time involved and a number of protocols that have to be met in order for such drugs to be useful. Time is critical; "time lost is brain loss" they say...

And yeah, TIA's should be brought to the attention of a physician immediately too.