Staff Reports

According to the CDC, every 40 seconds someone in the United States has a stroke.  In 2008 alone, more than 133,000 Americans died from a stroke, which equates to one person every four minutes-making it the fourth leading cause of death in the United States.  Strokes can affect people of all ages and backgrounds.

Strokes are sometimes called brain attacks.  Strokes happen when a blockage stops the flow of blood to the brain or when a blood vessel in or around the brain bursts. There are two main types of strokes: ischemic and hemorraghic.  Ischemic strokes are caused by blood clots and hemorraghic strokes are caused by bleeds.  The American Heart Association says that ischemic strokes account for 87 percent of all strokes and are usually caused by uncontrolled high blood pressure.

You can lower your risk for stroke, regardless of your background.  Family history, age, sex and ethnicity all play a role in an individual’s stroke risk, but there are still things you can do to help keep yourself healthy.  One of the best preventative measures is to not smoke cigarettes.  Cigarette smoking and exposure to second-hand smoke can thicken the blood and make it more likely to clot, according to the CDC.  Thicker blood flow can lead to increased plaque buildup in your arteries and can damage the blood vessels leading to the brain.
Controlling your blood pressure is also extremely important.  High blood pressure, also called hypertension, increases your risk of stroke and heart attack by weakening and thinning blood vessels, making them more prone to rupture.  More than half of the world’s stroke deaths are caused by elevated blood pressure levels.

Some other proactive measures that you can take to help lower your stroke risk include exercising regularly, eating a healthy diet low in sodium, maintaining a healthy weight and preventing or controlling diabetes.

Stroke.org says there are several treatment options for stroke, depending on the cause of your stroke.  If you are having an ischemic stroke or a stroke that is caused by a blood clot, your doctor may recommend drug treatment that will help dissolve the clot and improve blood flow to your brain.  Another way your doctor may treat your stroke is to use a small mechanical device that removes or breaks-up the clot.  A surgeon will insert the device into the blocked artery using a thin tube. Once inside, the tool traps the clot, and either breaks it up or the surgeon pulls it out of the brain, reopening the blocked blood vessel in the process.

A hemorrhagic stroke (sometimes called a bleed) occurs if an artery in your brain leaks blood or ruptures (breaks open). The first steps in treating a hemorrhagic stroke are to find the cause of bleeding in the brain and then control it. Some of the options for treatments include surgical clips or coils inserted in aneurisms (weaknesses in the blood vessel wall), controlling high blood pressure, and surgery to remove the bleeding vessel and blood that has spilled into the brain.

Medical advances have greatly improved survival rates and recovery from stroke during the last decade. Your chances of survival and recovery outcomes are even better if the stroke is identified and treated immediately.

If you think you are having a stroke, every minute counts. The sooner a patient receives medical treatment, the lower the risk for death or disability. If you or someone you know exhibits the following signs or symptoms, call 9-1-1 immediately:

• Numbness or weakness of the face, arm, or leg, especially on one side of the body.
• Confusion, trouble speaking, or difficulty understanding.
• Trouble seeing in one or both eyes.
• Trouble walking, dizziness, or loss of balance and coordination.
• Severe headache with no known cause.
• Remember, getting immediate medical attention for stroke is crucial to preventing disability and death.