Why Early Detection of Stroke Is So Crucial

It is common knowledge that a stroke is a very serious medical event. If you, or someone you know, is exhibiting signs of a stroke, it is important to detect these early and take action early. The reason for this is that as soon as a stroke begins, damage is happening in the brain. The symptoms of a stroke mean that your brain is not getting the blood that it needs in order to function and to just stay alive. The longer your brain goes without this blood, the more the risk of permanent damage.

With any stroke, damage caused could potentially be either temporary or permanent. Damage caused by a stroke can vary, depending on the part of the brain that is affected. A person can lose his or her ability to speak, or lose motor abilities in one side of his or her body. If the stroke is detected early, and medical action is taken early, it is going to be more possible to prevent this damage from happening, or if it happens, prevent it from being permanent. If you prevent or minimize the brain damage that is happening, you can prevent or minimize the potential physical disabilities that would happen as a result.

As soon as a stroke starts, brain cells could potentially be dying due to the lack of blood supply. Early treatment is essential to preserve as many brain cells as possible. In some cases, if the treatment is done immediately, stroke complications are prevented and the individual is left just as he or she was before the stroke.

Strokes are caused by blood clots that take place within the brain. Blood vessels clot, so that the blood is blocked from flowing where it needs to flow in the brain. As such, one major treatment that is used for a stroke is a tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), which will break up these clots. This will enable the blood to start flowing where it needs to flow again, but it needs to be administered before too much damage has happened and it is too late to prevent permanent disability or even death. tPA has actually been shown to be capable of stroke reversal in effect, making it so that no significant damage is done to the brain. However, it needs to be administered within three and a half hours of the initiation of symptoms.

There are certain signs of a stroke that are important to know in case it happens to you or you witness it. These include: onset of weakness or numbness in the face, leg, or arm, particularly if it is only happening on one side of the body; trouble or confusion with speaking or understanding someone else’s speech; loss of balance and/or coordination trouble walking; problems seeing with either one eye or both eyes; and a sudden onset of a severe headache that seems unexplained.

If you, or someone you know, starts experiencing any of the above symptoms, contact medical help immediately.