Brain Attack

You're probably familiar with the classic signs of a heart attack (pressure or squeezing sensation in chest, radiating to left arm and/or jaw, worsened with exertion, relieved with rest, associated with shortness of breath). You probably know what to do, too: Go immediately to the ER.

Do you know the signs of a stroke?

An article in today's NYTimes outlines the key symptoms:

"[N]o matter what a person's age, the sudden appearance of any of the following symptoms should prompt a trip to the hospital as quickly as possible.

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

Columnist Jane Brody points out that "Unlike a heart attack, most strokes are painless. Even if the initial symptoms dissipate they must be taken seriously."

Stroke is sometimes missed by physicians. Whatever your age, if you have the above-mentioned symptoms, Brody advises you "insist on a thorough work-up [that includes an MRI scan of head] and ask to be seen by a neurologist." 

Many strokes are amenable to treatment that mitigates the brain damage and improves long-term outcome, but only if given within the first 3-4 hours after symptom onset. With such a small window of opportunity, it's better to be safe than sorry.

Maybe we need to start calling a stroke a "brain attack."

Comments

[Jan Hasak]

Thank you for this important post on warning signs for a stroke.

[Greg Suda]

I think we can call stroke as brain attack. The most common reason of stroke is high blood pressure that complicates, which leads to heart attack then stroke. We should monitor our health as stroke is also a silent killer like high blood pressure. Knowing the basic and common symptoms could help us avoiding mere complications.