Stroke: four hours to save a life

Psychologies: Why is your foundation working on the issue of stroke?

Daria Lisichenko: Because a stroke can happen to any of us and help is needed immediately. The disease is getting younger, it can be encountered even at 30 years old. It is also the second cause of death after a heart attack. Today, we consider one of our tasks to be the dissemination of information: the causes of a stroke, its signs, treatment, rehabilitation and a full life after. We are ready to help at any stage.

Infographics in the Moscow metro – signs of a stroke and first aid – which appeared several years ago, is this your work?

Ekaterina Milova: Yes. Stroke symptoms are truly life-saving information and improved stroke recovery. If you see that a person has become ill, ask him:

• smile: with a stroke, one corner of the mouth will be lowered.
• raise both hands: one will rise and quickly fall.
• give your name: speech will be slurred (because of this, a stroke can be easily confused with intoxication).

Call an ambulance: the main thing is to help the patient during the first 4,5 hours. Then the person will have fewer problems with recovery, since fewer brain cells will be affected. Today, more than 30% of people with stroke see a doctor within 24 hours.

And if, say, this happened to a man at home, where he was alone?

EM: You need to go to the mirror, smile and raise your hands. The main thing is to call the doctors. If it is difficult to do it yourself, ask neighbors for help.

Recovery after a stroke can be one hundred percent?

D. L .: It happens in different ways, a lot of options for the development of events. There are micro strokes, and there are extensive serious hemorrhages, and then everything depends on its location, on the age of the person, on how timely assistance was provided, how many brain cells were damaged.

Is there a way to prevent stroke?

D. L .: I will not say anything new: a healthy lifestyle, a reasonable attitude towards yourself and your life. Which does not mean at all that you need to give up everything and eat only steamed vegetables! Quite painlessly, you can remove from the diet products that are definitely not needed by an urban person today (for example, excess fats). Of course, quit smoking, dose alcohol. If parents have hypertension, after 45-50 years it is necessary to control their own pressure. To understand that diabetes, obesity, taking hormonal drugs in women, high cholesterol levels increase the risk. By the way, you can monitor your health and do the necessary research for free, in a polyclinic. All this protects, but does not guarantee that there will be no stroke.

What does the fund do for the rehabilitation of patients?

D. L .: We have a school for relatives. When a person gets home after a stroke, all the worries fall on the shoulders of loved ones who do not understand at all what to do. They either do nothing or begin to over-actively restore the patient, which also often leads to problems. In addition, it is difficult for them psychologically: they get tired, burn out. We did a school for relatives to tell them how to organize care, living space, food, where to get documents (and which ones). This gives very good results: most importantly, anxiety decreases in people.

EM: Some simple things just don’t come to mind, especially in a situation where everyone is scared and confused. For example, if a person cannot hold a spoon (fingers do not clench), you can wind a towel around a spoon: it will become much more voluminous, and it will become easier for the psychologically ill person. It is necessary to remove the carpets, disassemble the sills, put the bed so that it is convenient to approach it. There are other important skills: how to lift a person, transplant, so as not to hurt your back yourself. All of this can be learned.

How common is a recurrent stroke?

EM: If you do not take drugs, do not take care of yourself, do not measure blood pressure, the probability of a second stroke is one hundred percent. At the same time, he will be stronger than the first one, and rehabilitation will be harder and more hopeless. The main thing in treatment is to choose the right drugs so that the pressure is even. It is also important to understand the cause of the first stroke – if this happened due to an incorrect lifestyle, it is necessary to correct it. Another problem: it happens that people stop drinking the prescribed pills in order to “give the body a rest.” It is very dangerous.

What mental problems occur in patients?

Olga Marey: One of the main issues for a person who has had a stroke is to find a balance – to monitor health, but not to fall into hypochondria. I have patients who take their blood pressure every 15 minutes. Of course, this is already a neurotic reaction. And the further from a stroke, the more psychological help is needed. There is a fear of a second stroke – and this is a very big problem for socialization. Or vice versa, it seems to a person that everything that happens to him is not for long, that everything will end soon, and recovery is often very gradual. In addition, problems arise in relations with relatives that were before, but during illness they become aggravated. It can be difficult for all patients to come to terms with the disease, many do not want to understand that they will never be the same as they were before. Everyone remembers the fear: how it happened. The question is whether it interferes with life or not.

What about relatives?

O. M.: Relatives have a big problem with burnout. Which is quite understandable: no one can take care of a sick person for years and do it with a smile. It’s normal to be tired, annoyed. It is important to be able to restore strength, ask for help, go out at least for a few hours in order to switch off, change the situation. It is very important to contact a psychologist, not to refuse his help.