Know the symptoms of a stroke and get help

The public is urged to seek immediate medical attention if they notice stroke-related symptoms such as sudden weakness in the face, arm or leg.

The recent World Stroke Day raised awareness about the disease, which claims about 60 lives daily in SA.
The good news is that stroke does not have to be a death sentence because there is treatment available in the public health sector.

According to Tshepo Shawa, the spokesperson for the MEC of Health, if the flow of blood to the brain is blocked or there is sudden bleeding in the brain, a stroke can happen.

“There are two types of strokes. An ischemic stroke happens because blood flow to the brain is blocked, while a hemorrhagic stroke occurs when there is sudden bleeding in the brain.

“Symptoms of a stroke include the sudden onset of numbness of the face, arm, or leg, especially on one side of the body, confusion, difficulty speaking or understanding speech. Difficulty seeing with one or both eyes, difficulty walking, dizziness or loss of balance or co-ordination, severe headache with no known cause and fainting or unconsciousness,” said Shawa.

Professor Mandisa Kakaza, the head of neurology at Steve Biko Academic Hospital (SBAH) and the University of Pretoria, said people must be taught about strokes, how they present and how they are treated.

“It is vital that we educate the public about the symptoms of strokes so that they can present themselves early to their nearest health facilities for diagnosis and early treatment. This can improve the stroke outcome.

“The main thing that is always worrying about stroke patients is that when they start noticing the neurological deficit, they always think it will get better on its own. Some, particularly among Africans, believe they have been bewitched. This has to stop. People need to present themselves at their local hospitals for treatment.”

Kakaza said the chances of having a stroke increase with age, and people with high blood pressure (hypertension) and diabetes stand a higher risk of getting the disease.

However, most young patients who present with stroke at health facilities have auto-immune diseases where the body attacks itself, or they might have heart diseases which form clots and block vessels in the brain.

The effects of behavioural risk factors of strokes may show up in individuals as raised blood pressure, raised blood glucose, raised blood lipids, being overweight and obesity.

“These risk factors include an unhealthy diet, lack of exercise, tobacco use and the harmful use of alcohol. It is important for people with chronic illnesses such as high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol to take treatment regularly to reduce the risk and prevent strokes.

“SBAH’s Stroke Unit is the first and only internationally accredited stroke unit in SA. The hospital was recognised last year and awarded the Diamond Stroke Award by the International European Stroke Congress for how it has improved the management of stroke patients.”

The stroke unit has state-of-the-art equipment and advanced technological devices, such as cameras, linked to the cellphones of clinicians to alert them of the status of patients and Nintendo Wii games they use in physiotherapy for stroke patients. It also has rapid software that allows the unit to assess and treat patients up to nine hours after the onset of a stroke.

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