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Do you think that when you are 25 or 35 you are not in danger of having a stroke? You’re wrong. Every year, 80 thousand people in Poland have a stroke. Approx. 5 percent of them is at a young age. See who is at risk.
Strokes in young people
Prof. Agnieszka Słowik emphasizes that most often among young «stroke patients» dissection of the carotid artery occurs first, and only then a stroke. The professor tells that she had young patients who – even a few weeks earlier – had severe neck injuries, for example while skiing, in the gym, but also by tight tightening the seat belts. There are also cases where an ischemic stroke was experienced by a woman in her thirties after zumba training, during which she bent her neck sharply. Carotid dissection can also occur during massage or manual therapy on the cervical spine.
– It begins with the fact that usually under the influence of a strong impact in the neck area, the inner lining of the artery ruptures – explains Prof. Nightingale. – It’s getting a hematoma. It is absorbed, but the endothelium lining the vessels is damaged and clots form there. When one of them breaks off, the vessels are clogged, i.e. an ischemic stroke.
The neurologist says that she had a patient who hit her neck with a barbell in the gym and it took a few days for her to start to get a headache. At the same time, her finger began to go numb. These were the first symptoms of a stroke.
Doctors emphasize that you cannot ignore any neurological symptoms such as:
- discrete facial and shoulder paresis,
- slight speech disorders,
- numbness of fingers or hand,
- weakness in one of the limbs.
Stroke: Don’t Ignore These Symptoms!
– You cannot underestimate the headaches as well – emphasizes prof. Nightingale. – In young people, it is one of the first and most common symptoms of stroke. Often a head hurts at the same time and someone feels that their hand is weaker or their finger is starting to go numb. In such cases, you should not take painkillers, but see a doctor as soon as possible.
Pregnant women and up to three months after having a baby are also mentioned among those at risk of stroke. – They can develop a venous stroke – says prof. Nightingale. – Pregnancy and the time immediately after it is the period when the woman is in the so-called the prothrombotic period. We don’t know exactly why, but at this time in women, risk factors for a cerebrovascular accident increase.
It is emphasized that in pregnant women, risk factors for stroke may include hormonal changes and an increase in the volume of blood and water in the pregnant woman’s body.
Stroke. Every minute is important!
Other risk factors for stroke include:
– arterial hypertension (if someone is diagnosed with hypertension, he must take medication and control the blood pressure regularly; other people are recommended preventive blood pressure monitoring at least every two years); a large selection of blood pressure monitors at good prices can be found at Medonet Market;
– atrial fibrillation (people with this condition are 5 to 7 times more likely to have a stroke than healthy people; if someone is diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, they should take anticoagulant medication);
– smoking (the risk of a stroke increases in proportion to the number of cigarettes smoked; it is also worth remembering that if someone has high blood pressure and smokes, then the effects of the therapy may be worse; if someone quits smoking, it may reduce the risk the occurrence of a stroke by up to 50%!)
– diabetes (in diabetics, treatment of arterial hypertension is necessary because maintaining blood pressure below 130/80 mmHg allows to reduce the risk of stroke by approx. 44%)
The most important thing is to react quickly! The occurrence of disturbing symptoms should provoke an ambulance call. The time of treatment initiation is one of the basic factors influencing the prognosis. Doctors have four and a half hours after the onset of the symptoms of a stroke to administer medicine to dissolve the clot that clots or constrict the vessels.
Treatment of a stroke is aimed at restoring blood flow in the ischemic area as soon as possible, counteracting adverse biochemical phenomena resulting from ischemia, and early detection and treatment of extra-cerebral complications.
Every patient with a stroke should be immediately and urgently referred to a hospital where there is a so-called percussion sub-unit. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. – It is important to organize care in such a way that all patients go to stroke units only, where they will have multidisciplinary, comprehensive treatment – says Prof. Nightingale.
It is important to start rehabilitation quickly after a stroke. Various home exercise accessories can also be helpful, for example the Set of 3 4FIZJO finger training rubbers.
Author: Agnieszka Pochrzęst-Motyczyńska, Zdrowie.pap.pl / Serwis Zdrowie.
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