Stroke - A Public Service Announcement

Paul Steinberg

PCS Life Member President
Staff member
Super Site Supporter
STROKE IDENTIFICATION:


During a BBQ, a woman stumbled and took a little fall - she assured everyone that she was fine (they offered to call paramedics). She said she had just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes.


They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food... While she appeared a bit shaken up, Jane went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening


Jane's husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital - at 6:00 pm Jane passed away. She had suffered a stroke at the BBQ. Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps Jane would be with us today. Some don't die. They end up in a helpless, hopeless condition instead.


It only takes a minute to read this...


A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke,totally. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough.


RECOGNIZING A STROKE


Thank God for the sense to remember the '3' steps, STR. Read and Learn!


Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke.


Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by
asking three simple questions:


S *Ask the individual to SMILE.

T *Ask the person to TALK and SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently).

(i.e. It is sunny out today.)

R *Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.


If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call emergency number immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.


New Sign of a Stroke - Stick out Your Tongue


NOTE: Another 'sign' of a stroke is this: Ask the person to 'stick' out his tongue... If the tongue is 'crooked', if it goes to one side or the other,that is also an indication of a stroke.

School of Biological Sciences, University of California, Irvine
 
Thanks, Paul, for the reminder to all of us. It is serious business. I know.

At 47, exactly 4 years ago this week, I had a stroke. I was lucky, I have no obvious physical symptoms, but there are some psychological symptoms that linger even after months and months of therapy. For instance, multi-tasking is nearly impossible. I guess I now have a one-track mind! There are some other minor symptoms that most people (hopefully!) don't notice.

But I survived and, as I often say, "Better vertical than horizontal!"

So, S.T.R. and stick out your tongue.

dlg
 
Paul, you could well have saved a life by taking the time to post this today. Thank you for that! Lives are saved when ordinary people become aware and know how to recognize potential problems

When dealing with strokes, and their cousins, the heart attacks, the Number One Symptom is "DENIAL" (e.g. "I just tripped on a crack in my new shoes" or "I'm fine. It's just heart-burn").

If you suspect someone is having a stroke and they deny it, take a moment to push the point. Ask them to humour you by going through the simple S.T.R. tests, if only for "your own peace of mine". They might be thinking "Well, I'll do these stupid tests, but just to get Harry to stop pestering me". Their temporary annoyance with you will quickly turn to gratitude if it turns out that it IS a stroke.

Again, Paul....thanks! :respect:
 
Maybe 2 years ago now, I was asked to do those three things myself.

I had finished working the midnight shift at the mill and I was getting dressed to go home. I realized that my face didn't feel right. I looked in the mirror and realised that the one side of my face just didn't look correct. I went to the gentleman at the mill that is in charge of contacting the ambulance if needed and he had me do exactly what Paul just mentioned. I could not smile, I had trouble talking properly, but I still had the even movement on both sides of my body (lifting the arms). I would say that within 30 minutes of me noticing the first effect, I was in an ambulance headed to the hospital. I am currently 38 years old, so this happened when I was around 36, so age is not even a factor. If you have any of these symptoms or see anyone else with them, please get it checked out!

In my case, it was an ailment called Bells Palsy where a nerve in one side of the face is pinched and it brings on symptoms similar to a stroke. A couple of months for that nerve to regenerate and I was back to normal (normal for me anyway). I would consider myself lucky that it was not a stroke, but until I had the diagnosis, there was never a moment that I took it lightly. Most of us know the signs of a stroke and we need to keep them in mind. I did and always do!
 
Paul, A huge thanks for this message to everyone. Like Dennis, I had two this past year & I was blessed with the paramedics who responded (they had just done a fire inspection on my business one week before & remembered me. They also stopped by the office a week later to check on me). They got me to the ER quickly after the first one and got treatment. Finally found out the strokes were not caused by any of the "usual" causes (diet, BP, strress, etc.) but rather chemical exposure many years ago. I'm under long term treatment but getting better. Long story short, I tried to brush them off, that is, until they found me uncouncious in my office. So EVEYONE!! needs to heed your message, male & female, young and "more experienced" alike. Ya just never know!!

Sad part is that I've been in medicine for over 40 yrs and should have know better. But then we make the worst patients. That plus I have a 20+ yr old mind trapped in a 60+ yr old body:D

The part that gets me is that I just can't work on the cars like I want to. That part sucks. So listen up everyone.

:thankyou2:
 
When Dad had his stroke in late-2000, it was similar to the first part of the story. He came in from raking leaves and told me, "I'm woozy and my feet feel heavy." He could still smile, hold his arms up, and speak clearly. But I checked his blood pressure, which was very high.

By the time he was in the ambulance (+10 minutes), he couldn't remember a phone number (and he was always a numbers-guy). By the time he was at the ER (+30 minutes), he could no longer hold his right arm up, speaking coherently was difficult, and he couldn't even understand to try to smile. Quick treatment at the ER (+40 minutes) brought his BP down and stemmed the bleeding in his brain. After a helicopter ride to a specialty hospital (+2.5 hours), he could not speak or remember anything and was barely conscious. The next day (+24 hours), he still couldn't speak or recognize anything. The second day (+48 hours), I walked into his room in the morning and he said, "Good morning, Steve." And he recovered from there.

And the first symptom was that he was woozy and his feet felt heavy. Thank goodness for rapid recognition (it pays to have your own paramedic around) and rapid care by our little county ER. Had he been home alone, he probably would have gone in to lay down, and never woken up.

So the public service announcement is always welcome. :applause:
 
When Dad had his stroke in late-2000, it was similar to the first part of the story. He came in from raking leaves and told me, "I'm woozy and my feet feel heavy." He could still smile, hold his arms up, and speak clearly. But I checked his blood pressure, which was very high.

By the time he was in the ambulance (+10 minutes), he couldn't remember a phone number (and he was always a numbers-guy). By the time he was at the ER (+30 minutes), he could no longer hold his right arm up, speaking coherently was difficult, and he couldn't even understand to try to smile. Quick treatment at the ER (+40 minutes) brought his BP down and stemmed the bleeding in his brain. After a helicopter ride to a specialty hospital (+2.5 hours), he could not speak or remember anything and was barely conscious. The next day (+24 hours), he still couldn't speak or recognize anything. The second day (+48 hours), I walked into his room in the morning and he said, "Good morning, Steve." And he recovered from there.

And the first symptom was that he was woozy and his feet felt heavy. Thank goodness for rapid recognition (it pays to have your own paramedic around) and rapid care by our little county ER. Had he been home alone, he probably would have gone in to lay down, and never woken up.

So the public service announcement is always welcome. :applause:

Good thing he had a son like you around.
 
I was reminded of this post today, when I read it on Facebook. Thought that it was time to give this post another round for all the "new" people since 2010. Hard to believe that I posted this 7 years ago, and still remembered it.
 
Thanks

Thankfully my wife read a post like this somewhere at some point. June 25 she was able to put it into practice. Had I not landed in the emergency room at the point I did I likely wouldn't be here now.
 
Brady,

It was nice seeing you the other day. May you continue your recovery.

Paul,

Thanks for the post. I had a stroke in 2013 as I was driving to the NFDA convention in Austin, Texas. I was planning to find a hotel and get some rest and continue to Austin the next morning. I checked in the hotel and everything was fine. I went out to the parking lot to move my car. I parked it, was able to open the door and got out. As I closed the door I fell to the pavement. I couldn't stand nor crawl. as I lost all strength on my left side. Some patrons from the lobby came out and helped me into the lobby and called EMS. When they arrived, after checking me out they told me I had a stroke and if I didn't get to a hospital I would be dead the next morning. The hotel was in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee. I was airlifted to St. Thomas Heart and Stroke center in Nashville. I spent 2 1/2 weeks there in therapy. After Nashville I went to a rehab center near my home for a month and a half. I was lucky that the EMS decided to airlift me to Nashville. As you are aware of there is a window of opportunity to start treatment. The doctors told me that the stroke was caused by A-Fib. As I was driving, I never had any indications that something was wrong. I was lucky that it didn't happen while I was driving. The results would not have been good.
 
How far we've come

My dad died of a stroke brought on by under-treated hypertension (he hated doctors). He collapsed alone on the kitchen floor and, by the time he was found and medical aid arrived, it was too late and he passed away in the hospital hooked up to IVs, with kidney failure making the "heroic" treatments just an exercise in how bloated and fluid-filled you can make a man endure before he dies. Maybe he had good reason to hate doctors after all.

I've personally never had a stroke, but I did get migraines that mimicked a CVA,with partial blindness, inability to speak coherently, odd aural manifestations like other voices seeming to come from inside a tunnel and feeling tingling in my fingertips and loss of grips. If I was in public when it happened, people would look at me like I was crazy and steer clear of me even though I was obviously in neurological distress.

In my day as an ambulance EMT, I was continually shocked how ER MDs during the 1970s discounted the severity of strokes. I would be chided for rolling code-3 with a patient who was, "only having a stroke." For all the trouble we spent getting the patient to definitive care quickly, they were usually pushed back as low priority cases in the far corner of the ER.

It's far better today, with PSAs and posts such as Paul's showing that physical damage from strokes can be greatly mitigated when rapid treatment and/or transportation can mean the difference between living a full life or dying with complications of a CVA in a convalescent hospital, after the devastation of the family's finances.

It's good to take time and think about real life implications that we all feel from time-to-time when we're focused on the details of old ambulances and devote a little time thinking about those who unfortunately had to ride in these rigs as a matter of life and death.
 
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