This has been shared many times, but never often enough...

---

STROKE: Remember The 1st Three Letters...S.T.R.

If everyone can remember something this simple, we could save some folks.
Seriously..

Please read:

STROKE IDENTIFICATION:

During a BBQ, a friend stumbled and took a little fall - she assured everyone that she was fine (they offered to call paramedics) ...she said she had just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes.

They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food. While she appeared a bit shaken up, Ingrid went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening.

Ingrid's husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital - (at 6:00 pm Ingrid passed away.) She had suffered a stroke at the BBQ. Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps
Ingrid would be with us today.

It only takes a minute to read this...

A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can almost totally reverse the effects of a stroke... He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then get the patient medical care within 3 hours, which is tough.

STR - Read and Learn!

Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke.

Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:

S * Ask the individual to SMILE

T * Ask the person to TALK and SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently) i.e. It is sunny out today.

R * Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.

If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call 911 immediately and describe the
symptoms to the dispatcher.

New Sign of a Stroke --------
Stick out Your Tongue

Another 'sign' of a stroke is this: Ask the person to 'stick' out his tongue. If the tongue is 'crooked', if it goes to one side or the other, that is also an indication of a stroke.

A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this e-mail sends it to 10 people; you can bet that at least one life will be saved.

Thank you Bobcat and Mom's Buddy. To answer your question Bob, yes I still have that little rascal cocker spaniel mix, along with two other precious dogs.


Thinking about strokes and how to prevent them, please pay attention to one's blood pressure. I don't think it is sufficient to rely on the occasional blood pressure test at the doctor's office, but to test daily at different times of the day at home. This is what one of my mother's docs told me to do for her awhile back - buy a blood pressure machine, take the readings and write them down to bring to him at the next appointment.


Doing this - we finally got her blood pressure under good control through a combination of medications. High blood pressure can trigger a stroke. This is why keeping the blood pressure under good control is so important. ec kostrubala

Another note of caution:
If any of these signs appear and you call 911, only to have them get to the house and find that all of the signs have disappeared, don't be angry at yourself. The EMTs will do further checking, and probably decide to transport anyway. Don't let your loved one talk them or you out of the trip. A Transient Ischemic Attack (mini-stroke) has the same signs, but they usually disappear withing a half hour, and don't leave outward signs of damage. HOWEVER, they are often a signal that a major stroke event is about to happen. Symptoms such as these should never be ignored, and event such as this should always receive medical attention. Even if they release a TIA victim from the ER within hours, they will recommend a follow up ASAP. Please make that appointment as soon as you can.

I opened this thread just to make certain that the list of tests was the same as mine. Am glad that I did...The tongue test was new to me.

Bobcat's idea of turning execution of the tests into a game is excellent. Playing the game could be a way to have some minor mental exercise, fun and interaction.

Thanks...

Another thanks, EC. This is something we have talked about a lot, but can't be emphasized too much! I hope EVERYONE keeps this in the forefront of their mind and DOESN'T do what so many people do... well, we'll watch and see how we feel later. There may not be a later.

Thanks ec. Sorry we don't hear more from you here, but when you do post, it usually is worth a read. It would seem you don't allow PMs, but I like your home page. Do you still have the cocker?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Bobcat,

quote:

A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can almost totally reverse the effects of a stroke... He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then get the patient medical care within 3 hours, which is tough.

My next door neighbor, a 48 year old man with no medical history, one month ago began having problems talking and walking as he was about to drive his high school aged daughter to her private school.

Because he's such a joker, his daughter thought her dad was playing around.

He was not. He was having a stroke from a clot in the back part of his brain.

He knew what was happening, but he could not get the words out to say he is not joking. Also, he did not want to really believe what was happening, and he did not want to alarm his young daughter.

So guess what he did next?

He got in his truck and drove his daughter to her school a few miles away before going to work.


His daughter realized her dad was not joking around after -

He Ran A Red Light at an intersection! (thankfully, no accident.)

After he dropped her off at her school, he headed to his workplace, which he owns and was the first to arrive. She, fortunately, phoned her mother - who had already arrived at her job as a teacher - to tell her mom what her dad was doing.

Her mom called her dad, no one answered. It turned out that my next door neighbor made it to his workplace, got inside, then could not move to even answer the phone, becoming more and more paralyzed.

His wife, not reaching him by phone, called 911 and told them to get to his workplace because she thinks he's in medical trouble. By the time she arrived, her husband was already on the gurney, oxygen, hooked up to IVs and ready to be transported to hospital.

At the hospital they performed an MRI, found it was a clot in the back of his brain, and administered to him that drug (name escapes me) to bust up the clot.

The drug worked. Like a miracle, actually.

My next door neighbor is walking, talking fine. Thinking fine. Working full time. To look at him and hear what his wife tells me, one would never know he had such a serious blood clot in his brain that caused such a bad stroke.

But because he was treated with the clot busting drug within two hours, he is doing marvelously.


Of course, he's now on Plavix (a blood thinner) and other meds. He is now exercising daily, and on a new low fat diet to lose weight and get in better cardiovascular shape.


He wanted to put something up in his workplace about stroke warning signs. I have such up on my bulletin board already, so copied it off and gave it to my neighor (his wife).

As she read it, she said her husband had exhibited every single sign that day, and the headaches symptom for the previous few weeks. Here it is -


THE WARNING SIGNS FOR STROKE

• Sudden numbness or weakness of face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body
  
  
  
  
• Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding
  
  
  
  
• Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes
  
  
  
  
• Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination
  
  
  
  
• Sudden, severe headache with no known cause

Those Are Signs You Should Never Ignore

Call 911

Immediately



Please post that poster in your home and workplace. It really can save a life.

One word of caution about clot busting drug thinking and aspirin:

If someone displays such symptoms, never provide that person an aspirin assuming it will help. An MRI of the brain must be done to determine what kind of stoke it is: a clot or a hemmorage? If one gives them aspirin as one awaits the ambulance, and the stroke is caused by bleeding in the brain due to a hemorrage, one will make the patient worse.

Unfortunately, one of my cousins had a stroke at age 58 as she visited some other cousins, during breakfast. Fine one minute, the next minute losing control over one half of her body.

Our cousin later bragged to me that she got an aspirin and gave it to our afflicted cousin as they awaited the ambulance. She had no idea what a stupid thing she did. I did not have the heart to tell her that what she did made our cousin worse. For from the MRI the hospital found it was not a clot caused stroke, but a hemorrage caused stroke. They were concerned because she kept on bleeding. Of course she did - the aspirin helped that along.

My cousin, several years later, remains paralyzed on one side, unable to use her right hand nor feet, terribly afflicted.

Just a little note in case someone thinks of aspirin - don't do it. Call 911 immediately, and let the medical professionals do their bit fast, get that MRI of the brain and make their decision on what drugs to administer.


If the stroke is due to a clot, and that clot busting drug is given within two hours, the patient may well have an outcome similar to my next door neighbors.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ec kostrubala,

Thanks for this post. My grandmother recently had a very mild stroke and luckily we were able to get her to the hospital right away.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Moms_Buddy,

A scary side note here. A friend of our had a lawn mower accident (lost the tips of 3 fingers). He was IN the hospital ER. After quite awhile (a coupe of hours) just before surgery his wife noticed he was talking strangely -- asked the nurse -- they just put itdown to the morphine. It seemed progressively worse -- long story short he had a stroke and it was well past the 2-3 hours of on set. He is recuperating nicely but it was a very"near miss". Left side was paralized for awhile. He is in physical therapy, etc. and will most likely make a 90% recovery. What MB said!!!!!

When I think of how long it takes to get through an average ER visit, it makes me afraid...

When you say a "life will be saved" it is not just the breathing body, but a real livng experience. The amount of recovery from a stroke really does depend on the speed of diagnosis and treatment.

I add to this saying.. get your LO to respond to you with this "drill" when you think everything is normal. Make it part of a "game" if you can. Play it regularly. That way you will have the best idea of "normal".

The last time Mom had a fainting spell, she had regained consciousness before EMTs arrived. This was in aug.'06. That was the first time I saw the tongue test. She passed and we didn't make her go to the ER but did schedule appts with PCP and neurologists.