Your good health
About the article
This is a digitised version of an article from The Cayman Compass's print archive. Occasionally, the digitisation process introduces transcription errors, or other problems.
See the article in its original context from June 1998.
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Sometimes a severe headache is not just headache. Sudden weakness in your arm or leg and dizziness may not just be due to the fact that you have been working hard. The numbness in your face may be a warning of an oncoming stroke.
Stroke is damage to part of the brain caused by interruption of the blood supply. There are a number of reasons why this may happen, but arteriosclerosis, the so-called "hardening of the arteries", and high blood pressure, are probably the two main causes.
Arteriosclerosis leads to a gradual narrowing of the blood vessel, and when that vessel finally closes, a stroke occurs. Strokes may also occur because of bleeding from a blood vessel in the brain. This is most often due to many years of pounding by high blood pressure. The blood vessel eventually weakens and finally gives way. The term stroke indicates the very sudden onset, and possibly catastrophic nature of the condition.
Stroke statistics should be a cause of concern for all. Consider the following rather frightening figures. Stroke is the third leading cause of death and the leading cause of disability in the U.S.A. It affects some 700,000 Americans annually. In the U.S. someone has a stroke every minute, and a person dies from it every three minutes. On the other side of the coin, the condition itself, together with its disabling complications, accounts for a staggering $40 billion in costs every year in the U.S.
Studies have shown that early recognition of the condition, together with accurate diagnosis by physicians, are essential for achieving more favourable outcomes. However, many patients fail to seek medical care. early, and in a timely fashion. There exists serious and substantial gaps in public awareness of warning symptoms for stroke and public knowledge of the risk factors. It is essential that education efforts must be repeatedly presented by the media, and in the offices, the clinics, and the hospitals of health care providers, regarding the warning signs of stroke.
Warning Signs of Stroke
A sudden severe headache with no obvious cause.
Unexplained dizziness, unsteadiness or sudden falls. Sudden dimness or loss of vision in one or the other eye. Sudden difficulty speaking. Sudden weakness or numbness of the face, the arm or leg on one side of the body.
Educating everyone, not just those at risk about these warning sings, is necessary to ensure that the affected person is recognised and immediately transported to the hospital. Risk Factors for Stroke (1) High blood pressure. You should know your blood pressure and have it checked at least twice a year if it is normal. If it is high, cooperate with your doctor in bringing it down, and keeping it under control.
(2) Smoking. What can I say, but 'quit'.
(3) Heart Disease.
(4) Diabetes
(5) High cholesterol
(b) Transient ischaemic attacks (TIA's) which are brief warning episodes of warning signs.
Two new risk factors have very recently been identified and this column brings them to you "hot - as it were - off the medical press".
There is now a proven link between stroke and low circulating levels in your body of vitamin B6 and folate. It has been demonstrated that heart disease and stroke are almost twice as likely to occur in people who have low levels of these vitamins. They are definitely protective factors against stroke. A good multivitamin tablet will assure one of adequate levels.
Another recently identified risk factor is the presence of chronic infection. Researchers have found an intriguing link in the evolution of stroke, and such persistent infections as chronic bronchitis, and periodontal disease. Stroke victims are more than twice as likely as others to have had peridontitis, or an infected tooth root. So the most important position of one's dentist in the hierarchy of health care providers is once again affirmed. Not only should dentists be regarded as the one who provides you with that brilliant smile, but they play a most relevant part in the prevention of heart disease and stroke.
At a recent International Conference on Stroke held at Orlando, Florida, it was stressed that many people are unfamiliar with the symptoms and signs of this condition and are unaware of the importance of early hospitalisation and treatment. This lack of knowledge cuts across education, gender and racial groups, although older people are less likely to have adequate knowledge about the condition than younger people, despite the greater risk of the former. Education must start at the most basic level so that people will understand that symptoms in the face, leg, or speech are related to a problem in the brain.
Most of us are aware of the emergency nature of a heart attack. We must now look upon a stroke as a "brain attack" - it happens in the brain, rather than the heart. It is an emergency, and quickly recognising the warning signs can increase the chances for recovery. Address your medical queries to Your Good Health, P.O. Box 30886, SMB.
