According to the World Health Organization, about 7 million people die from stroke every year. Terrible number. If earlier people over 55-60 years old were sick with this disease, now about a third of patients aged 30-40 years. Mostly men. This means that the disease is getting younger. The neuropathologist of the National Hospital Fatima Eleusizovna Iskakova spoke about the causes of the stroke, its symptoms and identification. The most common signs of stroke are headache, nausea, vomiting. The head can spin and lose consciousness. Facial asymmetry, nasopharyngeal deformity, and lateral tongue displacement. Sudden clouding of the eyes, squint, strabismus, speech impairment. The patient cannot clearly pronounce the names of objects, repeats the same words, confuses the joints, “rings.” Swallowing is difficult, suffocation. It is especially difficult to swallow fluid. A sharp weakening of the muscles and one arm or leg. Loss of sensation and clotting of half of the face, limbs or one side of the body. Violation of coordination of movement, movement.
Risk factors for stroke: high blood pressure; diabetes mellitus, heart defects, cardiac arrhythmias, especially cardiac fibrillation, cholesterol elevation, overweight and obesity. Also small movement, smoking, alcohol abuse. Long-term use of contraceptives.
Before the ambulance arrives, everyone, even schoolchildren, should know the tactics of detecting signs of a stroke and providing assistance, says Fatima Eleusizovna.
If you suspect a stroke, try with a simple task. Look at the person’s face. Ask him to smile or show his teeth. On one side the lips hang down and the smile is asymmetric? Look at their hands. Ask the patient to raise their hands and hold them for 5-10 seconds. Can’t raise one hand? Does one hand go down more than the other? Pay attention to the speech. Ask him for his name, just talk to him. Is speech impaired? In this case, it is very important not to waste time.
