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Iredell Health System: Be Smart about Stroke

Mooresville Tribune - 5/24/2017

You're having trouble speaking and feeling numbness on one side of your body. Maybe you are experiencing the worst headache of your life. Those could all be signs of a stroke, which is essentially a disruption of the flow of blood to your brain cells. A stroke can be debilitating or even deadly. While May is American Stroke Month, Iredell Health System works throughout the year to promote stroke education. Cardiovascular Clinician Celeste Stevens oversees those efforts. She shared three stroke facts that could save your life or the life of someone you love.

1. Symptoms are Sudden

Whether it is numbness or a headache, here's one thing stroke symptoms have in common: they start suddenly and do not quickly go away. "It's something that is going to happen all of a sudden, where one minute you're okay and the next minute you have a symptom," said Stevens. "If you're having dizziness because you got up too fast, that's going to resolve itself. Stroke symptoms will not resolve on their own at that speed." A stroke happens when something impedes the flow of blood to your braincells, including a clot, a narrowed blood vessel or bleeding. Symptoms of a stroke include sudden numbness or weakness in the face, arm or leg especially on one side of the body; sudden confusion or trouble speaking or understanding speech; sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes; and sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination; and a sudden, painful headache. "It's a severe headache with no known cause," said Stevens. "They call this one the worst headache of your life or a thunderclap headache. That's usually associated with bleeding into the brain. Blood on your brain is very painful."

2. Timing is Everything

A quick response to a stroke can make the difference between death or serious disability and resuming your daily activities."If you think someone is having a stroke, call 911," said Stevens. "Don't wait, don't put them in the car and drive them to the hospital yourself, don't call the doctor first. Treatment is very time limited and calling 911 is the best thing you can do. "Alteplase is the only FDA approved medication to treat a stroke caused by a blood clot."Know what time your symptoms started, get to the hospital as quickly as possible to get treatment," said Stevens."You have about three hours from the time your symptoms start until it is too late to receive that medication. That's why time is so critical with a stroke."

3. Most Strokes can be Prevented

"That's the beauty about stroke - it can be prevented by working on your risk factors," said Stevens. "If you have weight issues, you can work on losing

weight. If you have elevated cholesterol you can work with your doctor and get on medication, if that is appropriate." A healthy lifestyle can also prevent diabetes, which is a leading risk factor for stroke as well. Also, give up smoking. Smoking can increase your risk of having a stroke.

For more information on stroke, visit IredellHealth.org/Stroke.

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