The symptoms of a stroke depend on the part of the brain that has been damaged. Unfortunately, they often appear completely without warning and strike suddenly – during a conversation, work, everyday activities. Although they are quite characteristic, it is not easy to spot them and immediately associate them with a stroke. Damage to the cells of one of the brain centers can cause speech, movement or sensation disorders (which is why most people suddenly stumble or lose their balance), as well as paresis of the legs, arms or speech problems.
Some fall down, others speak indistinctly, others complain of visual impairment. It is important that if a stroke affects the right hemisphere, it will cause disorders on the left side of the body – and vice versa. The most common symptoms of a stroke include:
- Insecure, drunken gait,
- Weakness and numbness of the limbs on one side of the body
- Disturbances in the use of the speech apparatus or inability to pronounce words,
- Very slurred speech, gibberish,
- A strong, stabbing, sharp headache (much worse than usual)
- Vision problems, especially in one eye.
How do you know if it’s a stroke?
If we witness this type of behavior, we can check if we are dealing with a stroke with a simple test. When we notice any of these changes in the person with us, ask them to:
- Raised both hands above head (simultaneously) – if she cannot perform this simple activity, it means that the paresis covers half of the body.
- She smiled – then you will check if only one part of the mouth lifts – if a person only smiles with half of their face, you know which part has been affected.
- She repeated a simple sentence – for example, “it rained last night.” In a situation where we are dealing with a stroke, the person will not be able to get a word out or will be stammering, speaking slurred. Then call an ambulance as soon as possible.
Two types of strokes
In addition to these simple rules of dealing with a sick person, it is worth knowing that there are two types of stroke: hemorrhagic and ischemic. In the case of ischemic stroke, the first symptoms are dizziness and headaches, which are often accompanied by difficulty in speaking, hypersensitivity to touch, temporary paresis of the arms or legs. Symptoms develop over several hours or days if a blood clot forms in a cerebral vessel. The patient rarely loses consciousness, and when a stroke is the result of an embolus, there are often no initial symptoms.
In a situation where we are dealing with a hemorrhagic stroke, the symptoms are much more visible – it is usually preceded by a very strong headache, convulsions and vomiting, half of the patients lose consciousness. Sometimes there is a cardiac arrest, disturbance of consciousness, cerebral edema and breathing difficulties.