May 2015- Stroke Awareness Month

As we all know, every month marks a new health awareness theme.  For the month of May, there are three topics on my radar and they are:

• High Blood Pressure Awareness
• Skin Cancer Detection and Prevention
• Stroke Awareness Month

In an effort to increase awareness, I am devoting the month of May to highlight these awareness topics with a new post every week on Tuesdays.  For this post, I am going to focus on Stroke Awareness Month.  First things first, what is a stroke?  A stroke is a medical emergency that happens when a part of the brain dies from lack of blood, usually due to a damaged artery.  The most common way this happens is when there is a blockage of a blood vessel in the brain, by a blood clot or fatty deposits on the vessel wall.  Another way stroke occurs is when there's a ruptured blood vessel that disrupts normal blood flow causing leaking into the brain.

What are the signs of stroke?
The best way to remember this is through the acronym, FAST.

• Facial weakness (sudden severe inexplicable headache)- Can the person smile? Does one side of the face droop?
• Arm and Leg Weakness (generally sudden numbness, particularly on one side of the body)- Can the person raise both arms? Does one arm drift downward?
• Speech impairments (slurred or troubled speech, confusion)- Can the person say a simple phrase?  Is their speech slurred or strange?
• Time is critical- Call 911, don't hesitate

If just one of these signs is happening, call 911 immediately.  While it could turn out to be a false alarm, it's absolutely better to take precaution.  If not a stroke, there is likely still a medical emergency occurring.  Though the situation is frightening, try to maintain a timeline of the symptoms.  Doctors will need as much information as possible and any detail you can provide will be helpful.

What are the risk factors for a stroke?
 Lifestyle factors such as obesity and smoking can increase your risk for a stroke, as does medical conditions such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and atherosclerosis. There are also other uncontrollable factors such as family history, gender, race, and other preexisting conditions.  Talk to your physician to discuss your risk factors and prevention.  Maintaining a healthy and active lifestyle can help to reduce the changes.

Dispelling a couple of myths

• It's not an "old people's disease"- Strokes can happen to anyone of any age.
• Once a person has one stroke, they are immune from future strokes-  Unfortunately, no.  I know from personal family experience that this is not true.

Get more of the myths vs. facts here: http://www.stroke.org/understand-stroke/what-stroke/stroke-facts


Learn more about strokes and awareness below:
National Stroke Association: http://www.stroke.org
Mayo Clinic: http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/stroke/home/ovc-20117264 
U.S. National Library of Medicine: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/stroke.html

I'm also tweeting about this (and a variety of topics!) here (@MsVibrantLady)