Health
Stroke signs, symptoms, recovery and preventative measures: Life changes a survivor may face
Strokes are the fifth leading cause of death in the United States and a leading cause of disability, according to the American Stroke Association.
“Stroke is injury to the brain from impairment of blood flow,” Dr. Sandeep Kumar, Department of Neurology, Stroke Division, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts, told Fox News Digital in an email.
“A normal blood supply is vital for the brain to function normally and for preservation of its structure. Interruption of the blood flow deprives the affected parts of the brain from receiving oxygen and other nutrients with the result that these tissues start disintegrating rapidly.”
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When a person suffers from a stroke, it can affect their ability to speak and comprehend, Dr. Kumar noted.
There can also be a loss of sensation in different parts of the body, loss of vision or an inability to walk or stand.
If you notice someone experiencing stroke symptoms, it’s vital to get them medical help right away. (iStock)
Read on to learn more about stroke symptoms, preventative measures you can take and the road to recovery.
- What are the different types of strokes?
- What are the main symptoms of a stroke?
- What can I do to prevent a stroke?
- What is the recovery process after having a stroke?
1. What are the different types of strokes?
There are two main types of strokes: ischemic and hemorrhagic.
Ischemic strokes are by far the most common, accounting for 87% of all strokes, according to the American Stroke Association.
“Blood flow to the brain can be compromised when the blood flowing to the brain in a cerebral artery is blocked off either by a blood clot or a plaque. This is called an ischemic stroke,” Dr. Kumar told Fox News Digital.
A less-common type of stroke is hemorrhagic. In those cases, “the blood vessel supplying the brain ruptures leading to bleeding within the brain tissue. Bleeding can directly damage brain cells or deprive the surrounding tissues from receiving adequate oxygen and nutrients,” Dr. Kumar said.
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There’s also a transient ischemic attack (TIA), which is called a “warning stroke” or a “mini-stroke,” according to the American Stroke Association.
This “warning stroke” is caused by a temporary blockage of blood flow to the brain. If you have this type of stroke, don’t disregard it. Call 911 right away.
There are several different types of strokes a person could face, but ischemic strokes are by far the most common. (iStock)
Strokes with an unidentifiable cause are labeled as cryptogenic strokes, according to the American Stroke Association.
2. What are the main symptoms of a stroke?
The following are common symptoms of TIA or a stroke, as highlighted by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
- Sudden confusion, trouble speaking, or trouble understanding speech
- Sudden numbness or weakness, especially on one side of the body
- Sudden severe headache with no known cause
- Sudden trouble seeing from one or both eyes
- Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, or loss of balance or coordination
The NIH notes that symptoms can occur rapidly, or slowly, developing over hours and sometimes even days.
An acronym important to remember is F.A.S.T. Below is how you can identify if someone is having a stroke, using the F.A.S.T acronym, as provided by the American Stroke Association.
F = Face Drooping: “Does one side of the face droop or is it numb? Ask the person to smile. Is the person’s smile uneven?”
A = “Arm Weakness: Is one arm weak or numb? Ask the person to raise both arms. Does one arm drift downward?”
S = “Speech Difficulty: Is speech slurred?”
T = “Stroke is an emergency. Every minute counts. Call 911 immediately. Note the time when any of the symptoms first appear.”
3. What can I do to prevent a stroke?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) sais that around 80% of strokes are preventable.
One thing you can do to prevent a stroke is to live a healthy lifestyle, filled with proper diet and adequate exercise. (iStock)
While the average age for a stroke is 65 and older, according to Lifespan, the average age is decreasing. In the United States, 10 percent of people who have a stroke are under the age of 45.
“People who develop strokes usually have underlying risk factors,” Dr. Kumar told Fox News Digital.
“The most important among these are high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, smoking, heart disease, especially a condition called atrial fibrillation.”
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Kumar noted the importance of screening for these underlying conditions with your doctor. Be sure you’re following advice from your doctor for testing, and follow instructions regarding medication that may be needed if these conditions are found.
Embracing a healthy lifestyle can also help reduce stroke risk.
Kumar noted the following as things you can do to promote a healthy lifestyle and reduce your risk:
- Get regular physical exercise
- Eat a balanced diet
- Ensure good sleep
- Avoid excess alcohol
- Manage stress
- Stop smoking
4. What is the recovery process after having a stroke?
The recovery after a stroke can be long and challenging. Some patients may not reach full recovery.
Not every patient’s road to recovery will look the same.
“Many stroke survivors are left with enduring disabilities that prevent them from getting back to their usual routines. These can include simple tasks like eating, dressing, toileting, bathing or other aspects of self-care,” Kumar wrote in an email to Fox News Digital.
“Others may find that they are unable to engage in other normal day-to-day activities like reading, writing, driving. Even those individuals who have recovered fully feel very vulnerable and cannot shake off the shadow of a stroke on their lives; they may end up curtailing things that they enjoyed, such as going on family vacation, fearful that a stroke may strike again.”
Because of these life-altering changes that stroke survivors endure, they will need support from those around them, including medical professionals and loved ones.
The exact needs that a stroke survivor requires in order to recover will vary, depending on each individual’s case. Factors like how severe the stroke was, which area of the brain was affected, how soon a patient received medical attention and the overall health of the patient can all play into the recovery process, according to Northwestern Medicine.
Stroke survivors will need support from those around them to help them get through their difficult recovery. (iStock)
“Needs of a stroke survivor for coping and adjustments are varied. A number of patients who have lingering impairments, such as limb weakness, walking difficulty, speech impairment, benefit greatly from rehabilitation,” Kumar said.
“Rehabilitation includes physical and occupational therapy that is targeted towards restoring the lost function, such as improving limb strength in a limb that was weakened from the stroke. In other instances, the loss of function cannot be completely regained; rehabilitation in such [a] situation can be helpful in developing compensatory adaptation strategies that can help an individual transition to independence. These may include the use of prosthetics or mobility devices.”
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Some patients also have cognitive impairments they deal with after a stroke, as well as other pragmatic issues, Kumar noted, such as those related to employment, finances and housing.
“Social workers and other community support can be essential to help navigate these challenges,” Kumar said.
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A new report by the American Heart Association (AHA) included some troubling predictions for the future of women’s health.
The forecast, published in the journal Circulation on Wednesday, projected increases in various comorbidities in American females by 2050.
More than 59% of women were predicted to have high blood pressure, up from less than 49% currently.
The review also projected that more than 25% of women will have diabetes, compared to about 15% today, and more than 61% will have obesity, compared to 44% currently.
As a result of these risk factors, the prevalence of cardiovascular disease and stroke is expected to rise to 14.4% from 10.7%.
The prevalence of cardiovascular disease and stroke in women is expected to rise to 14.4% from 10.7% by 2050. (iStock)
Not all trends were negative, as unhealthy cholesterol prevalence is expected to drop to about 22% from more than 42% today, the report stated.
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Dr. Elizabeth Klodas, a cardiologist and founder of Step One Foods in Minnesota, commented on these “jarring findings.”
“The fact that on our current trajectory, cardiometabolic disease is projected to explode in women within one generation should be a huge wake-up call,” she told Fox News Digital.
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“Hypertension, diabetes, obesity — these are all major risk factors for heart disease, and we are already seeing what those risks are driving. Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women, eclipsing all other causes of death, including breast cancer.”
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death for women in the U.S. and around the world. (iStock)
Klodas warned that heart disease starts early, progresses “stealthily,” and can present “out of the blue in devastating ways.”
The AHA published another study on Thursday revealing one million hospitalizations, showing that heart attack deaths are climbing among adults below the age of 55.
The more alarming finding, according to Klodas, is that young women were found more likely to die after their first heart attack than men of the same age.
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“This is all especially tragic since heart disease is almost entirely preventable,” she said. “The earlier you start, the better.”
Children can show early evidence of plaque deposition in their arteries, which can be reversed through lifestyle changes if “undertaken early enough and aggressively enough,” according to the expert.
Moving more is one part of protecting a healthy heart, according to experts. (iStock)
Klodas suggested that rising heart conditions are associated with traditional risk factors, like smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, obesity and a sedentary lifestyle.
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Doctors are also seeing higher rates of preeclampsia, or high blood pressure during pregnancy, as well as gestational diabetes. Klodas noted that these are sex-specific risk factors that don’t typically contribute to complications until after menopause.
The best way to protect a healthy heart is to “do the basics,” Klodas recommended, including the following lifestyle habits.
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Klodas especially emphasized making improvements to diet, as the food people eat affects “every single risk factor that the AHA’s report highlights.”
“High blood pressure, high blood sugar, high cholesterol, excess weight – these are all conditions that are driven in part or in whole by food,” she said. “We eat multiple times every single day, which means what we eat has profound cumulative effects over time.”
“Even a small improvement in dietary intake, when maintained, can have a massive positive impact on health,” a doctor said. (iStock)
“Even a small improvement in dietary intake, when maintained, can have a massive positive impact on health.”
The doctor also recommends changing out a few snacks per day for healthier choices, which has been proven to “yield medication-level cholesterol reductions” in a month.
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“Keep up that small change and, over the course of a year, you could also lose 20 pounds and reduce your sodium intake enough to avoid blood pressure-lowering medications,” Klodas added.
“Women should not view the AHA report as inevitable. We have power over our health destinies. We just need to use it.”
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Nearsightedness (myopia) is skyrocketing globally, with nearly half of the world’s population expected to be myopic by 2050, according to the World Health Organization.
Heavy use of smartphones and other devices is associated with an 80% higher risk of myopia when combined with excessive computer use, but a new study suggests that dim indoor lighting could also be a factor.
For years, scientists have been puzzled by the different ways myopia is triggered. In lab settings, it can be induced by blurring vision or using different lenses. Conversely, it can be slowed by something as simple as spending time outdoors, research suggests.
Nearsightedness occurs when the eyeball grows too long from front to back, according to the American Optometric Association (AOA). This physical elongation causes light to focus in front of the retina rather than directly on it, making distant objects appear blurry.
The study suggests that myopia isn’t caused by the digital devices themselves, but by the low-light environments where they are typically used. (iStock)
Researchers at the State University of New York (SUNY) College of Optometry identified a potential specific trigger for this growth. When someone looks at a phone or a book up close, the pupil naturally constricts.
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“In bright outdoor light, the pupil constricts to protect the eye while still allowing ample light to reach the retina,” Urusha Maharjan, a SUNY Optometry doctoral student who conducted the study, said in a press release.
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“When people focus on close objects indoors, such as phones, tablets or books, the pupil can also constrict — not because of brightness, but to sharpen the image,” she went on. “In dim lighting, this combination may significantly reduce retinal illumination.”
High-intensity natural light prevents myopia because it provides enough retinal stimulation to override the “stop growing” signal, even when pupils are constricted. (iStock)
The hypothesis suggests that when the retina is deprived of light during extended close-up work, it sends a signal for the eye to grow.
In a dim environment, the narrowed pupil allows so little light through that the retinal activity isn’t strong enough to signal the eye to stop growing, the researchers found.
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In contrast, being outdoors provides light levels much brighter than indoors. This ensures that even when the pupil narrows to focus on a nearby object, the retina still receives a strong signal, maintaining healthy eye development.
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The team noted some limitations of the study, including the small subject group and the inability to directly measure internal lens changes, as the bright backgrounds used to mimic the outdoors made pupils too small for standard equipment.
Researchers believe that increasing indoor brightness during close-up work could be a simple, testable way to slow the global nearsightedness epidemic. (iStock)
“This is not a final answer,” Jose-Manuel Alonso, MD, PhD, SUNY distinguished professor and senior author of the study, said in the release.
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“But the study offers a testable hypothesis that reframes how visual habits, lighting and eye focusing interact.”
The study was published in the journal Cell Reports.
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