What are the Warning Signs of a Stroke?

I have a couple more questions answered for my FAQs. Researching and finding answers to what happened to me is helping me understand the severity of my life choices. Any one or all of them could have influenced my CVA and a chance in any of them could have prevented it all together. Live healthy and don’t ignore any of the following signs.What are the warning signs of a stroke?The key word in all the following signs is “immediate.” When something changes about your body and the way it feels, you don’t want to ignore it:

• Immediate, severe headache with no cause.
• Immediate weakness or numb feeling on one side of your body, particularly arm, leg or face.
• Immediate trouble with vision in one or both eyes.
• Immediate dizziness, loss of coordination or balance.
• Immediate confusion or understanding.
• Immediate trouble speaking or slurring of speech.

The symptoms vary depending on what is causing the stroke, whether by a blood clot, which is what happened in my case, or by bleeding in the brain.Now, here’s the kicker. Stokes usually happen suddenly, but may present over several hours. That’s what happened to me. See this post for the story of my stroke.

Is it a stroke or something else?When is a stroke not a stroke? When it is a Transient Ischemic Attack or TIA. Some refer to a TIA as a mini-stoke. It’s caused by an interruption of blood flow to the brain, via blockage or reduction in the flow by a blood clot. The difference between TIA and full-fledged stroke is that a TIA event is more short-term and the blockage is freed in enough time that it doesn’t cause permanent damage.TIA’s resolve themselves before any permanent damage occurs, but they should not be ignored. 33% of TIAs are followed by strokes within a year. It’s like a warning stroke to let you know what’s going on before full damage can occur. Response to a TIA should be exactly the same as for a stroke since you don’t know what’s going on. As the American Stroke Association says: time lost is brain lost.

Related Articles

• Mini-Stroke Doubles Risk of Heart Attack (nlm.nih.gov)
• Something different- Warning signs of a stroke (xeniagreekmuslimah.wordpress.com)
• What is a Stroke (donthaveastroke.com)
• Know the Stroke Warning Signs ~ It Could Save Your Life! (pacificvascular.wordpress.com)