Do you know the signs of a stroke?

[jimallyn]

I ask because a couple of weeks ago, I had a stroke. A mild one, a TIA, but a stroke nevertheless. I was talking to my sister, and she told me my speech was a little bit slurred. I didn't think too much about that, but then she said my mouth was drooping on one side. That's what made me realize: I am having a stroke. Would you spot it if somebody near you were having a stroke? Some people use FAST to remember the signs:


Face drooping

Does one side of the face droop or is it numb? Ask the person to smile. Is the person's smile uneven or lopsided?


Arm weakness

Is one arm weak or numb? Ask the person to raise both arms. Does one arm drift downward?


Speech difficulty

Is speech slurred? Is the person unable to speak or hard to understand? Ask the person to repeat a simple sentence, like "The sky is blue." Is the person able to correctly repeat the words?


Time to call emergency services (911 in the U.S. More countries listed below, thanks to catweazel).

If someone shows any of these symptoms, even if the symptoms go away, call 9-1-1/emergency services and say, "I think this is a stroke" to help get the person to the hospital immediately. Time is important! Don't delay, and also note the time when the first symptoms appeared. Emergency responders will want to know.

If you see someone with these signs, call 911/emergency services right away. Time is of the essence, because if the stroke is caused by a clot (most are), they have a medicine that will break up the clot before it has a chance to cause great damage. It's best if this drug is administered within an hour of first symptoms, and if it's past 3 hours, it may be too late.

In my case, the stroke (TIA) was pretty mild. I was back to normal in probably less than an hour. They didn't give me the clot-buster drug, they just kept me overnight for observation. They also warned me that they used to call TIAs "mini-strokes" but not any more. Now they call them "WARNING strokes." If you've had one, you are more likely to have another, bigger stroke. So, you have been warned to get your blood pressure and cholesterol down, lose weight, get in better physical shape, and so on to reduce your chances of having a big stroke. Your doctor will be able to prescribe appropriate medications for you and may make other suggestions.

This is important: I don't want to see any of my Mint friends get serious brain damage because they didn't recognize the signs of a stroke.

(Thanks to catweazel for pointing out that not every country uses 911 for emergency services (as the u.S. does, and for listing the emergency services numbers for other countries below.)

[MintBean]

Jim,
Sorry to hear about that, hope all is well.
All the best.

[Schultz]

Thanks for the posting. My father had a stroke and didn't get to the hospital immediately. He had severe brain damage. He had to live with that for 20 years before he died.

A few years back, my wife's friend came over, and she was talking out of one side of her mouth. I immediately told her I was taking her to the hospital, and I didn't give her an option. Thankfully in her case it was only Bell's palsy.

Best to you, jimallyn.

[WharfRat]

Sorry to hear that jimallyn. I'm glad to hear that you reacted and recovered quickly.

Take care

[Moem]

Oh yes, I do know the signs. I have two reasons to remember them:
- I took a First Aid class and we went over them
- a loved one had a stroke as he was sitting in the car right next to me. At the time, I had no idea what was going on but when he got very nauseous and could not move his right arm and leg, and said they were numb/tingly, I knew it was serious business and I took him to the nearest hospital right away.
What he had was a leak, not a clot; it was a pretty serious one but he has recovered so well that he's back at work, and can walk and ride his bicycle. He has not suffered any cognitive damage and his speech is fine, too. He would probably have not fared so well if we would not have gone to the hospital immediately.

Nausea and/or a sudden, strong headache can also indicate a stroke, especially if there is also one or more of the other signs present.

Jim, you're right: this stuff is important. Thanks for posting, and all the best to you.

[karlchen]

Hi, Jim.
Wish you all the best. Take care.
Hope I will remember FAST if someone should exhibit the symptoms. Only I will have to dial 112.
Cheers,
Karl

[Tomgin5]

Thanks for the repeat Jim. At 73 I am trying to not have one and watching others. 3 friends have had them and only one has had difficulties as a result afterwards, He was a pediatrician and was with a patient. The kid hollered for the nurse and he was in the ambulance in 30 seconds, at the hospital trauma center in 3 minutes. He was up and riding his bike in 3 months. Unfortunately he nailed a kid in a BMW that left hooked him on a hill. Destroyed the car and his bike. But his Dfib keeps him from riding now.

[Pierre]

a change in the Face or slurred Speech is two of the symptoms:
https://strokefoundation.org.au/about-s ... e-symptoms
they have a poster that you can print out.

somewhere, I've read, that you ask them to Poke their Tongue out:
- they usually can't do so. . .


Take care, Jim, as we don't want to lose you, just yet. .

[jimallyn]

Thanks for the well wishes. I'm fine now, except for the fact that I am apparently likely to have more of them in the future. I think that if my sister hadn't pointed it out to me, I probably would have continued playing on the computer and never even known that I had had it. It's entirely possible that I have had them before and never knew about them. So this was very minor, but it's a warning: another one, maybe a bigger one, could happen at any time. Or I could live another 30 years and never have another one. No way of knowing. I know it's going to be hard, but I'm going to work on changing some of my bad habits. I think I am going to order some FAST wallet cards and pass them out at church and other places I go to frequently. I asked my pastor if I could get up and say a few words about strokes some Sunday morning, and he said no. OK, how about having Lance (an ER doc that goes to my church) do it? Still no. I think he will change his mind when somebody close to him has a stroke; a shame that that's what it will take. Maybe my posting this here will save the life of some forums member or somebody they know some day. I hope so.

[Tomgin5]

Yes Jim, some pastors are that way. I am a member of a very old congregation and we have many older members. We also have several very good multitalented doctors, indocronologists, gynecologists, GP's and RN's even a couple of lawyers and homeless people. Even one member who is 104 years old who broke a vertibrae this spring riding his bicycle, he was back at church in 3 weeks. His wife died from a stroke. As a result, every year we have a short tempal talk about FAST. In the last 47 years we have had 3 members have strokes during the service.
Keep mentioning it to the pastor Jim.

[jimallyn]

Keep mentioning it to the pastor Jim.

Oh, you can be sure that I will. I pestered him constantly for 10 or 12 years before he finally gave in and did a sermon on climate change.

[Jim Hauser]

I had a TIA about ten years ago but no visible signs to others. I was doing work at an ice plant and had to write down the model number of a motor. Only I could not see the numbers, they were just a blur. Prior to that my eyes were good! I did not have any other symptoms at the time. I was able to drive home and later made a trip to the eye doctor. He said my eyeballs looked fine and suspected something in the brain. As the months went by the sight in my left eye recovered completely but my right eye is still of little use.

Before any of this I had a triple bypass of the heart, an aortic bypass, had a pacemaker/defibrillator implanted along with a handful of stents. Been on blood thinners and heart medicine ever since.

Thanks for posting these tips. I check myself every day as best I can and watch for these things in others.

15 years ago my cardiologist gave me a "2% chance of surviving the next 48 hours." and said I would probably not see my 50th birthday. I turned 60 last May...

Copy the original post and save it where you can find it... it may help you or someone else!

[catweazel]

call 911

Not to detract from the message but the world doesn't end at the US border. 999 in the UK, 000 in Australia, 112 in the EU, 111 in China, 129 in Albania, 994 in Zimbabwe...

[jimallyn]

call 911

Not to detract from the message but the world doesn't end at the US border. 999 in the UK, 000 in Australia, 112 in the EU, 111 in China, 129 in Albania, 994 in Zimbabwe...

Thanks, catweazel! I knew other countries had different emergency number, but I didn't know what they were.

[DAMIEN1307]

hi jim hi folks...i really do know about tia strokes etc...over 12 years, i have survived 1 minor heart attack and a total of 6 tia strokes...during that time from 2006 to 2011 i was always between hospitals in portsmouth nh and my hometown of boston...it took them almost 5 yrs with the best heart doctors available there just to finally balance out the right meds to handle the problem...be aware jim that those tia strokes do have an effect on short term memory, the voice of experience here lol i happy to hear your doing better...your doctors may, depending on your needs, put you on lisinipril. carvidilol, pravastatin, furosimide as well as 81mg low dose aspirin as your daily regime...in july 2011 after being forcefully retired at age 56,(im now 62) i moved here to Alamogordo nm...i have actually regained a good measure of health here because of the climate, (maybe its the residual fallout from the first atomic bomb test explosion here back in 1945 lol)...but in all seriousness, my doctor here cant even detect a life long heart murmur any longer...i do also have an excellent support system through my pastor and his wife as well as my entire church community here as well...they always make sure that i get my shopping done as well as getting to doctors appointments etc. and i always lean most on my faith...your pastor should consider it a duty and privilege to get the word out as you suggested...we do this as a matter of course at my church because it shows we truly and actively care for one another..Luke the physician being chosen as an apostle by Christ should also show your pastor that He also thought that proper medical care and knowledge was deemed important as well...take good care of yourself...i will keep you in special mind...DAMIEN

[JeremyB]

Sorry to hear that you and your family had to go through that Jim

[jimallyn]

your pastor should consider it a duty and privilege to get the word out as you suggested...we do this as a matter of course at my church because it shows we truly and actively care for one another..Luke the physician being chosen as an apostle by Christ should also show your pastor that He also thought that proper medical care and knowledge was deemed important as well.

Well, that's pretty much the way I feel about it. I don't know why he doesn't make an announcement on that, or allow me to make the announcement. I pestered him for 10 or 12 years to do a sermon on climate change before he finally did it. We do have an ER doc that attends sometimes, perhaps I will have him also pester the pastor. (Hmmm, "pester the pastor", I like the sound of that!)

[ArtGirl]

So sorry to hear this, jimallyn. You have my best wishes for your health to be the best it can be and to be able to get any help you need for that.

[samriggs]

Thanks for posting this and hope your well.
I had a minor heart attack a few years back, mind you since I suffer from insomnia big time I have to admit it was the best sleep of my life, that part was great and very glad it wasn't a permanent sleep, they kept me in for a couple of days and ran test and made sure I was ok before releasing me.
My dad had 11 heart attacks before I stopped counting and knowing and sharing information on what to do about strokes and heart attacks are very important because folks need to know what to do in case someone is having one.
One church I use to do go to in the past had one elder lady have one in church and died while worshipping in prayer.
So it is very important a church knows what to do and the tell tale signs so they can get emergency help right away.
The person next them should know in case no one else notices.
It's just one way to help the flock, help the flock.
So if the pastor won't tell the flock at least post the warning signs in some area of the church and hand out the fast cards like you said, anything that would help others help others.
Just glad your alright

[Fred Barclay]

Or I could live another 30 years and never have another one.

Let's aim for that!
Sorry this happened to you, and glad to hear you're doing well. Thanks for the FAST reminder - who knows, you could end up saving a life?