Stroke, or brain attack, happens
when a blood vessel that feeds the brain gets
clogged or bursts. The blood supply to the brain
is disrupted from the clogging or bursting and
the brain cells can not get the oxygen and nutrients
that they need. The cells become injured or
die when they don't get enough oxygen and nutrients.
Then that part of the brain can not work and
neither can the part of the body it controls.
Strokes are the major cause of
serious disability and are the 3rd
leading cause of death in Maine. Many people
die from strokes and often times survivors of
strokes are left with mental and physical disabilities.
Your brain controls how you move think, feel
and behave. A stroke can affect the ability
to think clearly and can affect those muscles
used in talking, swallowing and chewing. One
or both sides of the mouth can lack feeling,
thus increasing the risk of choking. A person
with a stroke may have a changed perception
of everyday objects. A loss of feeling or visual
field may result in a loss of awareness, so
stroke victims may forget or ignore their weaker
side. Depression is a frequent occurrence with
a stroke because the person perceives or thinks
they are less than "whole".
Strokes affect people in different ways. There
can be severe losses in mental and bodily functions
or even death. Rehabilitation can be extensive,
expensive and very time consuming. Prevention
of strokes and reducing your risk factors for
a stroke are important to you and those who
care about you.
The best way to prevent a stroke
is to reduce the risk factors
for a stroke by stopping smoking,
keeping your B/P down, eating a low-fat, low-salt
diet, taking off extra weight, getting regular
exercise, following your doctor's orders, taking
your medicine and getting regular checkups.
There are 5 partly
controllable risk factors, meaning
that you can impact these risk factors to a
degree.
1. High blood pressure or hypertension.
It is the most important risk factor for
a stroke. Although the actual cause for
high blood pressure is unknown, it is easily
detected and usually controllable. High
blood pressure means that the heart is working
harder than it should have to and therefore
the arteries and the heart are under a greater
strain. Having your blood pressure checked
on a regular basis will help in the prevention
of strokes. The important point to remember
about the B/P is that the higher the number,
the harder it is for the blood to flow.
The "normal" B/P is 130/80. One out of every
4 people has high blood pressure, but with
diagnosis, your doctor can help control
your blood pressure which will reduce your
risk of a stroke. Often B/P can be controlled
by eating a healthier diet and maintaining
a proper weight. There are also medications
available to control the B/P. An untreated
high B/P can lead to strokes, heart attacks,
heart failure and kidney failure. The ways
to lower your blood pressure are to limit
the salt and fat in your diet, lose weight
if you need to, increase your activity level,
take your medications the way your doctor
tells you to and let your doctor know when
your blood pressure is not where it is supposed
to be.
2. Heart disease is another
partly controllable risk factor. A diseased
heart increases the risk to twice that of
a person with a normally functioning heart.
The 4 major controllable risk factors for
heart attacks are smoking of cigarettes or
tobacco, high blood cholesterol (hypercholesterolemia),
high B/P and physical inactivity.
3. Nicotine, which is found
in cigarettes actually increases the B/P and
causes carbon monoxide to get into the blood,
causing a decrease in the amount of oxygen
the blood can supply to the body. Smoking
also causes the platelets in your blood to
become sticky and cluster, shortens platelet
survival, decreases clotting time and increases
blood thickness.
4. A high red blood count is
also a risk factor for stroke because an increased
RBC thickens the blood and make clots more
likely. There are medications and treatments
to thin the blood.
5. TIA's is an abbreviation
for Transient Ischemic Attacks. Ischemic is
a word that means a decrease in the blood
supply. Oxygen is carried to your vital organs,
like your heart and brain, by the blood and
if oxygen can not get to those parts of your
body, those areas die or become damaged. About
ten percent of people experience TIA's before
actually having a stroke.
We cannot change certain risk
factors for stroke. These unchangeable
risk factors include:
1. Age: Older people (over the
age of 65) have a greater stroke risk than younger
people.
2. Sex: Men have about a 30% higher incidence
of stroke.
3. Race: African-Americans have a much higher
risk of death and disability from strokes than
whites (about 60%).
4. Diabetes Mellitus: Even though diabetes is
treatable, the fact that a person has it still
makes it much more likely that he/she will suffer
a stroke. People with DM tend to have higher
blood pressures than those without diabetes.
5. Having a stroke in the past markedly increases
the risk for another stroke.
6. Having a family history of strokes increases
the risk of stroke occurrence.
7. The last risk factor that can not be changed
is called a carotid bruit. A bruit means that
an abnormal sound is heard when a stethoscope
is placed over an artery in your neck which
usually indicates there is atherosclerosis but
does not mean it will become clogged. Atherosclerosis
is where deposits of fatty substances, cholesterol,
cellular waste products, calcium and some clotting
materials in your blood build up in the inner
lining of an artery. The buildup is called plaque.
This buildup, or plaque, can either partially
or totally block the flow of blood, thus oxygen,
to the organ. It can cause either bleeding or
a clot to form. Usually the arteries affected
are the large and medium sized arteries. It
is a slow and gradual process often not causing
problems for a long period of time.
There are some risk factors that
indirectly increase stroke risk, especially
when one has other risk factors. These are controllable
factors. These include elevated blood
cholesterol and lipids, physical activity and
obesity. They are called secondary risk factors
because they affect the risk of stroke indirectly
by increasing the risk of heart disease (which
is a primary risk factor for stroke).
WARNING SIGNALS OF A STROKE:
• Sudden weakness or numbness of the face,
arm or leg on one side of the body.
• Sudden dimness or loss of vision, particularly
in one eye.
• Loss of speech, or trouble talking or
understanding speech.
• Sudden, severe headaches with no known
cause.
• Unexplained dizziness, unsteadiness
or sudden falls, especially along with any of
the previous symptoms.
DON'T
WAIT, CALL 911!
WARNING SIGNALS OF A HEART
ATTACK:
• Uncomfortable pressure, fullness, squeezing
or pain in the center of the chest that lasts
more than a few minutes, or goes away and comes
back.
• Pain that spreads to the shoulders,
neck or arms (even the jaw).
• Chest discomfort with lightheadedness,
fainting, sweating, nausea or SO
eating, nausea or SOB.
Not all of these signs occur but
if they do, DON'T WAIT,
CALL 911!
Remember, the best way to prevent
a stroke is to reduce the
risk factors for a stroke by stopping
smoking, keeping your B/P down, eating a low-fat,
low-salt diet, taking off extra weight, getting
regular exercise, following your doctor's orders,
taking your medicine and getting regular checkups.
