World Stroke Day: Symptoms and treatment
Strokes occur when the blood supply to part of the brain is cut off, either due to a temporary blockage or due to a ruptured artery.
WORLD Stroke Day is observed every year on October 29 to raise awareness about the different types of strokes and how to prevent them.
Strokes occur when the blood supply to part of the brain is cut off, spilling blood into the spaces surrounding brain cells and thus, damaging or killing brain cells.
There are two types of strokes – an ischemic stroke and a haemorrhagic stroke.
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An ischaemic stroke, also known as a ‘mini stroke’, is characterised by a temporary blockage of the blood flow to the brain, usually for no more than five minutes.
A haemorrhagic stroke, on the other hand, is caused when an artery in the brain ruptures, leading to blood leakage. Damage to the brain cells can subsequently affect how your body works and how you think and feel.
Symptoms
Symptoms to look out for in case of a stroke include numbness or weakness, especially on one side of the body; sudden confusion or trouble speaking or understanding speech; sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes; sudden trouble with walking, dizziness, or loss of balance or coordination, or sudden severe headache with no known cause.
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Treatment
There are three treatment stages for stroke. These are prevention, therapy immediately after the stroke, and post-stroke rehabilitation.
The National Institute of Neurological Disorders (NIH) says therapies that help prevent strokes are focused on treating an individual’s underlying factors for stroke, such as hypertension and diabetes.
“Acute stroke therapies try to stop a stroke while it is happening by quickly dissolving or removing the blood clot causing an ischemic stroke or by stopping the bleeding of a haemorrhagic stroke. Post-stroke rehabilitation helps individuals overcome disabilities that result from stroke damage. Medication or drug therapy is the most common treatment for stroke.
“The most popular classes of drugs used to prevent or treat stroke are antithrombotics (antiplatelet agents and anticoagulants) and drugs that break up or dissolve blood clots, called thrombolytics,” they said.
