Basic facts about strokes -- they might save a life

May is Stroke Awareness Month. And here's a quick rundown on basic stroke facts, including signs and symptoms. Here's some of what you need to know about strokes:

During a stroke, nearly 120 million brain cells die every hour. Compared with the normal rate of brain aging, the brain ages 3.6 years each hour during a stroke. The sooner a patient receives care, the better the chances of recovery.

About 66 percent of strokes are spotted by a bystander, but less than half of Americans know the common warning signs and symptoms of stroke, which can be remembered using the acronym FAST -- (F) face drooping, (A) arm weakness, (S) speech difficulty, (T) time to call 911.

Other stroke symptoms include sudden numbness, sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes, sudden severe headache with no known cause and sudden trouble walking.

The fastest way for stroke patients to receive treatment is by calling 911. Driving to the hospital is a common mistake people make, and it can result in longer wait times before the patient receives care.

Up to 1 out of 3 of you have had a stroke - perhaps without knowing

Have you ever had a stroke? Perhaps you had one but didn't recognize it. Read this link how 1 in 3 Americans may have had warning stroke without knowing it:

 ... [A]bout 35 percent of Americans experience symptoms of a warning stroke. Yet only about 3 percent get immediate medical attention.

Most adults who had at least one sign of a "mini" stroke - a temporary blockage also known as a transient ischemic attack (TIA) - waited or rested until symptoms had faded instead of calling 911 right away, according to the research from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association (AHA/ASA).

"Ignoring any stroke sign could be a deadly mistake," said ASA chair Dr. Mitch Elkind, in a news release from the organization.

May is Stroke Awareness Month: How aware are you?

May is Stroke Awareness Month. It's important to be aware of stroke signs, what to do and how to prevent strokes - and not only in a single month.

Why? A stroke can strike anyone. Strokes do not respect age, social status or wealth. My own stroke happened in May 1998. Outwardly, I was healthy - a longtime distance runner - and under 40.

I received a chart showing basic information about strokes, signs and prevention from Crouse Hospital of Syracuse, N.Y., and wanted to share its good information for this month. It's not an ad as far as I'm concerned, but rather information for you to retain and share.

Click on the chart and check it out.

Alexa - tell me how to save a life

Alexa has moved into our home.

That is, a couple of Amazon Echo Dots occupy the place where I live. So far, I've told Alexa (the name of the voice) to tell me jokes, give me news and weather information, play radio stations, play music and more.

Very handy devices, all voice-controlled.

And now, Alexa can tell you the steps for CPR and warning signs of heart attack and stroke:

Alexa, the friendly voice of the Amazon Echo, will for the first time offer CPR instructions and describe the warning signs of heart attack and stroke.

You likely know about strokes, but share this with people who aren't so familiar

May is Stroke Awareness Month - which I haven't been emphasizing in the last few years, instead focusing on stroke awareness regardless of month - so you'll probably see similar articles in your local media.

Nonetheless, it's a good reference about what you need to know about surviving or preventing a stroke:

The key to minimizing the effects of a stroke is to learn to identify the symptoms. There’s a quick mnemonic that can help with that: FAST.

F: face droop
A: arm weakness
S: speech difficulty
T: time to call 911

Mini-stroke can lead to a big problem - take it seriously

Take mini-strokes seriously - that's the bottom line of some interesting research. Read more how aggressive treatment of "mini-strokes" lowers risk for major stroke:

Better and faster use of secondary stroke prevention methods after transient ischemic attacks, or TIAs, helps reduce risk of additional strokes and death, according to researchers involved with an international study.

With the most aggressive care available, researchers at 21 sites around the world cut in half the risk of a second stroke among participants in the five-year study, which is published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

So don't just sit there - take action if you see the symptoms!

Young and old: Do you know what to do?

I was 39 when my stroke hit, and I freely admit that I knew very little about strokes at the time.

And people in that age bracket have strokes every day. And that numbers have been going up.

It's disheartening to hear, then, how most young adults are not stroke savvy:

When asked what they would do if experiencing the hallmark symptoms of stroke, only about one in three people under age 45 said they would very likely head to the hospital.

Doesn't take a medical degree to save a life - know stroke signs

We've got a long way to go to prevent strokes, to find ways to maximize immediate stroke treatment, and to decrease the rate of disability for stroke survivors. Strokes kill too many people and disable too many people.

I, personally, don't have a hospital or a lab. You probably don't either. But we can make more people aware of early warning signs of stroke:

"Today, thanks to early detection, aggressive treatment and new intervention therapies, more stroke patients than ever are returning to normal life with limited to no disability," said Dr. Stanley Tuhrim, director of the Stroke Center at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.

Stroke falls in U.S. causes of death

In the news, you can find a New Year hint that stroke treatment seems to be working. Recently, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that stroke is dropping down the list of cause of death in the United States.

Read through this link how stroke falls one place to fifth leading cause of death in U.S.:

Commenting on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report, the American Heart Association (AHA) hypothesize that the drop in deaths from stroke is due to advances in the treatment and prevention of stroke. In particular, the AHA note, there are more stroke centers now operating across the US, and there has also been an improvement in acute care of stroke.

Ignorance about stroke can kill or disable

If you're here, chances are you've had a stroke or know someone who had a stroke. That means you're likely more educated than most people about stroke risks, signs and the potential outcomes, both good and bad.

I ran across a couple of articles about the lack of knowledge in the United States - where this blog is based - and halfway across the globe. One article reports that more than half of Americans don’t know if they are at risk for:

Despite the prevalence and potential severity of stroke, many Americans still don’t know the risk factors or signs of a stroke. About one third of Americans are unable to recall the warning signs of a stroke, according to the American Heart Association (AHA). Nearly 60 percent of Americans don’t know if they are at risk for the disease, the American Stroke Association (ASA) said.

Stroke signs and stroke centers

Knowing stroke signs is important - but what to do next is also vital.

A recent article in the Philadelphia Inquirer offered a resource on finding stroke care. A primary stroke center must meet a certification standard that elevates patient care:

A primary stroke center is an acute-care hospital that meets certain criteria for delivering stroke care and adheres to practice guidelines designed to improve outcomes for patients with warning signs or symptoms of stroke.

If you or a loved one may be having a stroke, call 911 immediately and ask for transport to the nearest primary stroke center.

Click here for a map of stroke centers across the United States - sadly, only updated as of 2010. It's not the most user-friendly map. To see a map of stroke centers, click on the button labeled Map Options, choose the tab called Layers and choose the latest-available year of primary stroke centers.

You'll get a map similar to the image, and you can zoom in for more detail. As you can see, west of the Mississippi, they become sparse.

Listen and learn, young people ...

A cautionary tale ... .

Young people - that is, people under 45 - can have strokes, too. In fact, it happens too often. Mine happened at age 39.

Ran across a recent story quoting an expert saying that patients under 45 years of age often miss stroke symptoms:

Neil Schwartz, M.D., Ph.D., says strokes are not uncommon in younger patients.

"We do see 10 or more percent of strokes occurring in younger patients under the age of 45," says Schwartz.

In fact, a new nationwide study found that while the incidences of stroke has dropped by nearly half over the last two decades, most of that improvement was in patients over 65 years old. Researchers believe some younger patients may not have seen the improvement because of an increase in risk factors like obesity and diabetes.

So even if you're young and active, know the stroke signs and don't be afraid to act!

Reduce disability risks - get help immediately for stroke patients

Among adults in the United States, stroke is the leading cause of permanent disability. And too many times, those disabilities came about because of delay in treatment.

Even more research makes it even clearer - know the stroke signs and get help. Immediately. Share this information with family, friends, loved ones, colleagues, acquaintances - anyone and everyone.

British researchers found (again!) that speedy delivery of a clot-busting drug helps stroke patients avoid disability:

Prompt treatment with tissue plasminogen activator (tPA, also known as alteplase) "is a very effective means of limiting the degree of disability in stroke patients," study co-author Dr. Jonathan Emberson, of University of Oxford in the U.K., said in a news release from the journal The Lancet.

The study, published in the journal on Aug. 5, also reinforces the idea that the quicker that patients can get tPA, the better.

One U.S. expert agreed. "The analysis reiterates the importance of patients going to the ER immediately at the time of developing acute neurological symptoms that could be due to a stroke," said Dr. Rafael Alexander Ortiz, director of interventional neuroradiology and stroke at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.

'Dangerously uninformed' about stroke

May was Stroke Awareness Month, and despite many efforts and many years, people are still generally unfamiliar with stroke symptoms and what do do about them.

So please, share this information about stroke and what do do about them:

“The public is dangerously uninformed about what stroke is, and what the signs and symptoms of stroke are, as well as the risk factors,” Jim Baranski, C.E.O. of the National Stroke Association, told Reuters Health.

Stroke is a brain attack, occurring when vital blood flow and oxygen to the brain are cut off or greatly reduced.

The National Stroke Association suggests using the word FAST to help recognize the signs of a stroke. F stands for Face: ask the person to smile, and see whether one side of the face droops. A stands for Arms: if both arms are raised, does one drift to the side? S stands for Speech: is it slurred, or strange? And T stands for Time: don’t waste time before calling 911 if someone has started to show any of these signs.

Are stroke treatments perfect? No. Are the techniques to aid recovery guaranteed? Again, no. And we can't lose sight of that and continue efforts on those fronts.

But - when stroke signs are recognized and the person gets help as soon as possible, are the odds of recovery much better? YES. Remember that.

Know and share stroke symptoms - of course!

I haven't emphasized it this year, but May is Stroke Awareness Month in the United States. Personally, I think people should be aware of stroke signs and symptoms year round.

Still, there have been lots of stories published this month telling people it's important to know the signs of stroke:

Dr. Henry Woo and Dr. David Fiorella, co-directors of the Stony Brook University Cerebrovascular and Stroke Center, say the most important thing is to remember the FAST rules about stroke symptoms:

F -- face drooping
A -- arm weakness
S -- speech difficulty
T -- time to call 911

"Speed of treatment is crucial," said Woo, an endovascular neurosurgeon and professor of neurological surgery and radiology at Stony Brook's School of Medicine, in a university news release. "People are seeking treatment faster and, more critically, at the right place -- a health care facility that's been certified as a primary stroke center."

You can read more using the link above. And share this short but important message with others!

Most women miss most stroke signs

Stroke signs - too few people recognize them.

I'm guessing that men and women pretty much equally miss the signs in general. However, a recent study focused on just one sex and found that most stroke signs are unrecognized by most women:

Slightly more than half of the participants (51%) identified sudden one-sided weakness or numbness of the face or a limb as a stroke warning sign, but the rest of the warning signs were tagged by fewer than half, according to Heidi Mochari-Greenberger, PhD, MPH, of Columbia University Medical Center in New York City.

Those included difficulty speaking or understanding speech (identified by 44% overall but by a lower percentage in Hispanic versus white women), sudden severe headache (23%), unexplained dizziness (20%), and sudden loss of at least some vision (18%), she reported at the American Heart Association's Epidemiology and Prevention/Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Metabolism meeting in San Francisco.

I'd add that not every stroke has every sign. I never had a headache, for example. So even if one sign appears, get to help fast!

Delays to stroke treatment can be costly

I was fortunate enough to get help quickly on the day my stroke happened. Now, recently published research casts this in a different way - stroke patients lose a month for each 15-minute delay:

Diane Barbeler had a stroke on Monday last week. The next day, she walked out of the hospital with only minor sensory changes in her right hand and foot.

Barbeler owes her quick recovery to the tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA, that she received within 3 hours of losing strength and control in her lower limb, says Atte Meretoja, a neurologist who helped diagnose her stroke at Australia’s Royal Melbourne Hospital. Patients like Barbeler, 66, gain a month of disability-free life for every 15 minutes saved in getting the clot-busting drug, according to research by Meretoja and colleagues published today in the journal Stroke. ...

“The main delay in stroke is due to people not calling for help,” said Meretoja, the lead author of the study and an associate professor of medicine at the University of Melbourne. “We have now demonstrated that this is very harmful, and people lose on average a month of life for every 15 minutes they wait at home hoping that the symptoms will go away.”

That's a sobering number. Wait 15 more minutes, and you lose a month. Know the signs of a stroke and get help - for yourself or someone you care about - quickly.

From the American Stroke Association

'Dangerously uninformed about stroke'

The link (below) tells the story of a stroke survivor and points out a sad - but obvious - fact. Stroke risk factors and stroke symptoms are not well know.

Read the story about the survivor and the cold facts about stroke prevention and symptoms:

Stroke, which strikes some 795,000 Americans each year and kills about 130,000, is the fourth leading cause of death in the U.S. and a leading cause of disability, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There are roughly 6.8 million stroke survivors in the U.S. And yet it is largely misunderstood.

"The public is dangerously uninformed about stroke," said Jim Baranski, CEO of the National Stroke Association, a nonprofit advocacy group based in Englewood, Colo.

Strokes happen in the brain, but the underlying causes often begin in the cardiovascular system. The good news is that 80 percent of strokes can be prevented, Baranski said, if people control the risk factors that make them more susceptible and recognize early stroke signs.

Check out the stroke signs with this video:

Women trail men in clot-busting treatment

Ran across an interesting report about a disparity between men and women and stroke treatment. The article cites why women trail men in clot-busting treatment:

Among patients presenting with an acute stroke, women were less likely than men to receive intravenous thrombolytic therapy, which could have to do with delayed arrival at the hospital, researchers found.

Read through the entire article; another argument that speedy response to stroke signs are vital.

Spotting stroke signs quickly

May is Stroke Awareness Month, and I hope you will see this information multiple times - it's very important. But through my trusty Google alerts, I found a nice presentation of  signs of stroke:

"When someone has a stroke, they may show either slight or extremely noticeable physical changes," Dr. Randolph Marshall, chief of the stroke division at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, said in a hospital news release. "The most effective way to prevent the permanent damage associated with stroke is to recognize the signs of an attack and to seek medical attention immediately."

Dizziness and trouble walking, loss of vision in one or both eyes and a severe headache that comes on suddenly for no apparent reason are other signs that someone is having a stroke. Early treatment, however, can prevent or possibly reverse the damage caused by strokes. The experts advised remembering the acronym "FAST" to help people recognize a stroke sooner and reduce any long-term damage:

• F for Face: Does someone's face look uneven?
• A for Arm: Do you notice one arm hanging down?
• S for Speech: Check for slurred speech or other signs of trouble speaking.
• T for Time: Call 911 and seek immediate medical attention.

Please click on the link above and read all of it. Stroke is the leading cause of disability in the United States, and the country's fourth largest cause of death. Taking quick action might make a huge difference.