Be aware of stroke. Every age is at risk. Everyone can avoid it.

Be aware of stroke. Every age is at risk. Everyone can avoid it.

Stroke is a disease that leads to Paralysis and also the 2nd highest cause of death in Thai people under cancer . Stroke can occur to every age. According to global statistics, there is an annual increase of approximately 14.5 million new cases of stroke. What is surprising is that 1 in 4 of these patients is as young as 25 years old.

What is the stroke?

          Stroke is the condition that is sudden loss of blood circulation to an area of the brain, caused by abnormalities of blood vessels in the brain, it may be caused by the fat that clotted inside of the inner blood vessel wall, making narrowed arterial blood vessels or genetic disease , from torn blood vein or high blood pressure leading to vessel rupture, or the presence of small, solid blood clots that dislodge and block blood flow in the brain's blood vessels. These directly impact the nervous system and primarily result in paralysis and develop to more severe cases, death.

Abnormality of Stroke divided into 2 groups : 

          Ischemic Stroke : Clotting of the vein is over 80% of the cause of this disease that causes insufficient blood to circulate to the brain. It has complications with atherosclerosis, which is originate by clotted fat at the blood vessels wall causing hardening of the arteries. Especially the aorta around both sides of the neck that circulate the blood to the front brain. So, examining the large arteries in the neck to identify whether there is narrowing or abnormal blood flow in these vessels. Including assessing the blood volume in the brain if at normal rates. All of this is aimed at assessing the risk factors that may lead to ischemic stroke in the future.

Hemorrhagic Stroke : This disease found 20% of the patient. It is a condition in which a cerebral artery ruptures or tears, causing the leaked blood to accumulate in the brain tissue, leading to subsequent brain damage. This can occur in many parts like brain stem bleeding and bleeding at the outer part from the brainstem that spread to the stem. This symptom is commonly found in Chronic high blood pressure and Aortic aneurysm patients, including congenital abnormal blood vessels.

Observe the symptoms of stroke with the principle of BEFAST.

B - Balance 

Patient has problems in balancing, can’t cooperate in moving so is unable to control the balance, often has a headache, and has difficulty in standing up with stagger walk.

E - Eye: Poor eyesight and vision

Has an issue in the visual field or total area in which objects can be seen in the side vision as you focus your eyes on a central point. Narrowed field of view, blurred vision or acute vision loss. It may occur at any side or at both sides of the eyes.

F - Face: Bell's Palsy or Facial Palsy

When having a condition of facial palsy, the face muscle may be moved only at the half of the face, drooping lips. These symptoms are visible from uncooperative function of the both sides of the face or inability to shut the lips tightly, so that they have dripping saliva at the corner of the lips, which is the one of warning signs of the stroke that is clearly visible.  

A - Arm: Weakened arms and legs

The symptom that is easily visible of stroke is weakened arms and legs at any side of them or acute numbness or fatigue like when you grab something and it falls from the hand, etc. 

S – Speech: Unclear speak, stuttering and difficult mouth movement

Sometimes, Patients with stroke may have problems in speaking, oftenly have stuttering; unflowing speech, slurred speech or not clearly understandable. When moving a mouth, it’s unable to control the lips to move normally, so it can’t speak as before and it may have a symptom of tongue-ties. 

T - Time: Having an acute symptom

These above symptoms can occur instantly or when waking up and the symptoms will disappear within 24 hours (from transient ischemic attack) but it is also abnormal symptoms that require instant visiting the doctor.

If these symptoms are detected, you should visit the doctor, because evolutionary medicine found that if the patients get timely treatment within 4 and half hours by Intravenous injection of rt-PA before the brain’s functions gradually lose and stop. That means there’s more chance to keep the patients away from disability and death.

Prevention guideline of the stroke

1.Lifestyle adjusting is the best prevention from controlling the risk factor by yourself, by eating nutritious food, avoid food with high content of salt, sugar and fat to reduce the risk of causing high blood pressure, and regularly do exercise. Try to control the weight within standard range and avoid drinking alcohol.

2.Annual health check for young adults with good physical health, the health examination once a year helps identify potential risks for arterial blockages, obstructions, or ruptures. It also assesses the indicators such as blood sugar and fat level of the body. If the patient has other medical conditions such as high blood pressure or heart disease, it should be strictly performed under the doctor’s instruction, take medicine completely and visit the doctor according to appointment.