It is time to know about F.A.S.T. - It will save you from stroke
A stroke can prove fatal
It is extremely difficult to get immediate medical help if a person is having a stroke. A stroke can cause death besides long-term disabilities, which in turn become the reason of suffering for patient ant his family members. Therefore, to avoid long lasting effects of a stroke, it is advisable to learn about warning signs of a stroke so that a medical help could be provided to the patient before it harms the patient or cause damages beyond treatment.
What exactly is a brain stroke?
I am not an expert on such topics but a person who keeps a close watch on such topics, if I put the stroke in simple words it occurs when blood vessel (s) in the brain is blocked. If you ask your doctor, he will put it in medical terms something like this - It is Hemorrhagic when the vessel ruptures or it is Ischemic when the brain is blocked by a clot, and this cause brain cells to die because the cells do not get the proper supply of blood and oxygen.
We all are aware that a brain is very complex body part of a human that is responsible for every activity of human functions and movement. If the stroke causes any brain cells to die, in that case those particular parts of the body cease to function where the stroke makes the damage. It simply unable those parts to work because the particular brain cells controlling them will not be functional. The doctors advise that if a patient is treated within three hours of suffering a stroke, the chances are that he can recover to certain extent.
The signs of a stroke
There is an association in the USA to help the cause of people suspect of suffering a brain stroke or may suffer in the future, called American Stroke Association, (You can find it on the internet) which has introduced a very simple way of knowing and remembering the symptoms of a brain stroke. They have named it FAST. It is abbreviation of all the four major symptoms in case of a brain stroke.
F- It stands for Face dropping- we know it as paralysis also. If it occurs, one side of the face drops because the dead brain cells stop sending the signals to that particular side of the face. The patient finds it difficult to smile or his smile becomes erratic. It is obvious sign of a stroke that calls for an emergency medical help.
A- A stands for Arm in this case. It is weakness in the arm – If any of the arms of the patient has the feeling of numbness or weakness and cannot raise his hand properly or it drops down when asked to raise, it is another sign of a stroke that need an emergency help.
S- S stands for Speech in FAST. The patient in such cases suffers from problem of speaking clearly. Generally, his speech loses balance to the extent of slurred. When a person tries to speak and the listener finds him hard to understand that is sure sign of a stroke and time to call for emergency help.
T- T stands for Time, Note down the Time when it occurred for the first time because Time is an important factor in such cases. Also, it is time to call for medical help. Thus the FAST stands for, any problem in Face, Arm or Speech, note down the time and that is time to call for emergency help or for taking him to the nearest hospital where facilities to treat such a patient are available.
Additional signs of a stroke other than FAST
A- Loss of coordination or body balance
B- Trouble in walking or sudden feeling of dizziness
C- If a person feels sudden problem in his vision, it can be in one or both eyes
D- Person suddenly loses his memory for a moment or finds it hard to remember for long time
So the overall symptoms stand as imbalance, slurred speech, loss of memory, bad vision, and loss of control in particular parts of the body and sudden dizziness. The symptoms may vary from person to person and it is more complicated in women patients. In case of woman, the trend could be lot more non-traditional compared to a man. Generally, the women suffering from a stroke go through pain in the face, limbs (One sided) find hard to breath, pain in the chest and other symptoms related to brain.
There is an important point to note that most people suffering from above mentioned symptoms having a mild stroke become normal or almost normal within 15-20 minutes therefore most of them ignore these signs. But ignoring these signs may prove fateful as these symptoms may reoccur with more intensity in coming days or weeks.
We all know that most people who suffer from a stroke have certain reasons behind them. In most cases, it is the family history of heart problems, hypertension, higher inflammation marker sources but I will not go in details, as it could be typically medical terms, good for a doctor to explain. But, I as a normal parson who keeps an eye on such studies can tell you that to keep strokes away, it is necessary to live a healthy life. The same precautions, which keep your heart healthy, can keep your brain healthy too. To keep away the risks of a stroke, it is safe to go through your regular physical exercises, eat fat-free nutritious diet that keeps your heart healthy. Brain is related to your heart therefore if you take a proper care of your heart, your brain will remain healthy and help keep your mental status good for long time.
Conclusion
We now know the five warning signs of a brain stroke namely- weakness, dizziness, trouble in speech, sudden blurriness in vision (either eye or both eyes) and headache without any particular reason. If we take proper care of a person suffering from any of the above mentioned symptoms without any delay, we can save him and ourselves from lot of problems.
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