Signs and Symptoms - BE FAST!

Quickly identifying sudden symptoms of a stroke and calling 911 can make a difference in a patients overall recovery.

According to strokeawareness.com, 1/3 of the people who responded to a national survey were not aware of stroke symptoms and would not call 911 in the event of a stroke. Furthermore, only 63.7% of people admitted for stroke arrived by emergency medical services. Every second counts. During a Stroke, 32,000 brain cells can die every second.

You may have heard of BE FAST -the acronym for signs of Stroke:

Balance loss, Eyesight loss, Facial drooping, Arm weakness, Speech difficulty, Time to call 911

The five most common warning signs of stroke are:

• Sudden onset of weakness or numbness on one side of the body.

• Sudden speech difficulty or confusion.

• Sudden difficulty seeing in one or both eyes.

• Sudden onset of dizziness, trouble walking or loss of balance.

• Sudden, severe headache with no known cause.

Other symptoms to possibly be concerned with include:

• one-sided weakness

• vision changes or loss of peripheral vision

• loss of coordination, unsteady gate, dizziness

• sudden onset of nausea and vomiting

• sudden, severe headache especially if you're having a hemorrhagic stroke; it could also be the only symptom

• alertness

• feeling really tired

• numbness and tingling or loss of sensation on one side of the body

Please share this information with everyone you know. We may prevent someone from dying or having greater complications from a stroke. Every second counts. Thank you!

My Story________________________________________________________________________

It was fairly obvious to my husband that something really wrong was happening on the morning of May 12. When we woke up, he went to the kitchen; I went to the bathroom and then joined him the kitchen. He asked me how I felt. I tried to respond, but nothing came out!

Before he called 911, he wasn’t thinking about what could be wrong, he only knew it was an emergency and he tried to stay calm for me.

I couldn’t think about anything. I really wasn’t worried. That’s saying something... ordinarily I would be thinking what it could be and panicking if I thought I was having a stroke. A STROKE! But I was pretty zen throughout this whole ordeal from the trip in the ambulance through going home in two days. I can only think that since my left brain was.injured, my right brain which is the more intuitive side knew that I was ok and people were taking care of me. Looking back, I think my husband, sister and parents had it worse than I did.

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If you missed yesterday’s blog, day one of Stroke Awareness month, here is the link: https://cheryltondreau.wixsite.com/blog/post/had-a-stroke-oh-my