Healthy Living
Healthy Living
Stroke
Stroke is a ‘brain attack’ caused by a disturbance to the blood supply to the brain. There are two main types of stroke:
- Ischaemic: the most common form of stroke, caused by a clot narrowing or blocking blood vessels so that blood cannot reach the brain, which leads to the death of brain cells due to lack of oxygen.
- Haemorrhagic: caused by a bursting of blood vessels producing bleeding into the brain, which causes damage.
Transient ischaemic attacks (TIA), also known as minor strokes, occur when stroke symptoms resolve themselves within 24 hours.
The best way to treat a stroke is to prevent it from happening in the first place and people should:
- Have their blood pressure checked regularly to ensure that the upper limit is below 140mg Hg and be treated if not;
- Have warfarin for irregular heart beat;
- Take statins if you have a risk of stroke of greater than 20% of cardiovascular disease within 10 years;
- Cease smoking;
- Have a healthy diet;
- Maintain a healthy weight;
- Exercise regularly;
- Drink responsibly.
Some people think that TIAs are relatively benign but anybody who such an attack should seek immediate medical advice as this may be a warning of imminent stroke. Prompt assessment and treatment of TIA can reduce the risk of stroke by 70% in high risk TIAs.
People should treat an acute stroke as a medical emergency and seek immediate hospital attention; a good way of recognizing this is the FAST test:
Facial weakness - can the person smile? Has their mouth or eye drooped?
Arm weakness - can the person raise both arms?
Speech problems - can the person speak clearly and understand what you say?
Test all three symptoms. If the person has failed any one of these tests you must call 999.
A small minority of people may reach hospital very quickly and be eligible for thrombolysis (clot busting) of the stroke. The doctors will advise if this is possible. Please be aware that this will only help in a few cases and the outcome is not guaranteed and there is a risk of making things worse.
It is important that people with stroke are admitted to hospital and stabilised as some patients will have swallowing problems and may develop pneumonia if it is not recognised and treated.
It is also important that a full assessment is performed and appropriate rehabilitation instigated so that people can recover as quickly as possible. This rehabilitation should continue following discharge from hospital until as complete a recovery as possible has occurred.
Stroke is a disease with a highly variable outcome; it is important that individuals do act to minimise its impact by following the advice on prevention and acting promptly when a stroke arises.
For more information on stroke visit www.nhs.uk/Actfast
