Why should I learn to identify the symptoms of a stroke?

You should learn to identify the symptoms of a stroke because timing is crucial when it comes to any type of brain injury. Neurologist Carolyn Brockington, MD, explains all the symptoms to be aware of and why you have to act FAST.

Transcript

00:00

If you see someone's face drooping on one side, that's the first word of FAST, right? You think, hey, maybe they're having a stroke. [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:14

Well, stroke means that not enough blood gets to the brain in a period of time and causes a permanent injury to the brain. And in stroke, we say time is brain.

00:21

What we mean is that every moment that goes by, the brain is injured, maybe irreversibly so. So, brain does not grow back.

00:28

You have to act FAST. And when we say FAST, we want people to know that they have to get prompt treatment. So if you see someone's face drooping on one side,

00:36

that's the first word of FAST, right? You think, hey, maybe they're having a stroke. If you ask them to outstretch their arms and their arms are drooping on one side, then maybe they're

00:43

having showing weakness. And that's a sign of a stroke. And as for speech, not only language, but sometimes (MUMBLES) people get very garbled in their speech.

00:51

And that could be a problem and signs of a stroke. So if you think of the word FAST and you look at someone's face, arms, and speech,

00:58

and then you think T for time, because we want people to get to the hospital right away. There are medicines that sometimes we can give that are clot-dissolving medicines.

01:06

But we can only give them during a very short period of time. So if you act FAST, call 911 right away, and get to the hospital, it's your best chance

01:14

of reducing any signs or disability that you may have after a stroke. So other symptoms that you can also consider during a stroke,

01:21

it depends on the part of the brain that's affected. So sometimes, people might have vision problems where they don't see very well all of a sudden

01:27

or they have double vision or they have problems walking, where their walking is unbalanced and they're walking as if they're drunk. Or maybe even people develop a very, very bad headache.

01:35

We all have headaches, but this is a very severe headache, the worst headache of your life. All those things should be taken into account

01:42

and should be evaluated quickly. And then there are some milder symptoms sometimes that are only seen in women-- disorientation all of a sudden, sudden nausea and vomiting

01:51

that can't be controlled, or sometimes even hiccups are problems. So it's important that if these symptoms begin suddenly and are

01:58

persistent and there's a constellation of symptoms, that you call 911 and get the appropriate treatment. [AUDIO LOGO]