The Coffee House Philosopher

Follow-up on strokes

 

January 8, 2017



Due to the number of questions we received concerning the insidious nature of staggering strokes, we felt that further comments on the matter were warranted. The reader might remember, from our previous article (Dec. 18, 2016) that staggering strokes come on gradually with minor symptoms as contrasted to a sudden full-blown debilitating stroke.

Understandably, the reader might get unduly concerned if he tried to analyze every little twinge or tingle that one might experience during a day, not knowing if it’s a prelude to something really dangerous.

In our previous article Patti Kilbourne was present the morning when Randy complained that he had some heaviness in his right arm, and had minor difficulty filling out a check at a restaurant. What she recalled recently (that at the time triggered an alarm about a possible stroke) was that Randy also mentioned that he had just read a page of a newspaper – and couldn’t remember a single thing from having done so.

Other people experiencing staggering strokes have mentioned that the key symptom in their cases was that they became confused. One woman said that she was putting on her shoes, and realized that she could not remember how to do it. Another man couldn’t figure out how to start his car. So if in these admittedly limited situations – a person develops relatively minor symptoms, AND in addition has significant confusion – he had better act quickly to head off a possible stroke.

In such a case, a person should not drive himself to the ER, because a stroke might suddenly incapacitate him without warning. According to CBS News, 2,000,000 brain cells die each minute during a stroke. In the U.S., a person dies every four minutes from a stroke, and many more are left paralyzed on one side, blind, and/or unable to speak.

Although strokes tend to occur in persons middle aged and older, they also occur in younger victims. We have heard of one case involving a 2-week-old girl. And once a person has experienced one stroke, he is more likely than the average population to have another one.

Doctors treating a stroke need to determine whether it’s ischemic or hemorrhagic in nature. Ischemic types are caused by blood clots forming in arteries of the brain. Treatment involves dissolving them with blood thinners or surgical removal. Hemorrhagic strokes are caused by ruptures and resultant bleeding in blood vessels of the brain, which will also causes damage to surrounding tissues. Remedial treatment will likely be quite different.

Another type of stroke is called a TIA (a type of temporary stroke) and tends to pass fairly quickly. People may have several TIAs without noticeable lasting effects. A person we knew had one (later had several more), and seemed “not to be fully conscious,” just sitting and staring for several seconds, but seemed quite normal afterward.

Some strokes involve severe head pain, while others involve no pain at all. But strokes of all types should be checked by a qualified medical professional.

 

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