I Survived a Stroke and You Can Too

Photo byNguyễn HiệponUnsplash

I recently had a stroke. I didn’t realize it in the moment, but I suspected, and felt wrong enough to take myself to the emergency room of the nearest hospital. Luckily, it’s a highly rated hospital for stroke patients. They took one look at my drooping face and I was plopped into a wheelchair and whisked into triage so fast it felt like a carnival ride. That’s important, because the quicker a stroke patient is diagnosed and treated, the likelier a positive outcome results. Good emergency departments respond to strokes with lightning speed.

According to the Stroke Awareness Foundation, 795,00 people have a stroke every year, and 140,000 die from them. 2/3 of the millions of stroke survivors are disabled. So the sooner treatment is started, the better.

Of course the only way to get fast treatment is to recognize a stroke is happening in the first place. I had sudden weakness on my left side, and couldn’t use my left hand properly. My head felt tingly, I was unreasonably fatigued and I just felt wrong. Those are kind of vague symptoms but some fall into the warning signs of a stroke, which are easy to memorize with an acronym: BE FAST.

B – Balance. Loss of coordination or leaning to one side

E – Eyesight. Seeing double, blurred vision, loss of vision

F – Face. Drooping on one side

A – Arm. Weakness, numbness. Unable to use hand

S – Speech. Slurring, difficulty speaking

T – Terrible headache that starts suddenly

You want to BE FAST in recognizing those symptoms in yourself and others and calling 911.

Most of us know the warning signs of a heart attack. A stroke is a brain attack and millions of brain cells die during one. With an ischemic stroke – the most common type and what I had – a blood vessel in the brain is blocked by a blood clot. A hemorrhagic stroke occurs when an aneurism bursts and causes bleeding in the brain. This is a much more dangerous type of stroke. But both can and do respond to rapid treatment.

If you think someone is having a stroke, ask them basic questions, like their name and where they are to assess speech difficulties and cognitive abilities. Ask about their vision or if they can walk a straight line. Look closely at their face. Call 911 even if you’re in doubt. For yourself, pay attention to what your body is telling you and don’t dismiss warning signs. We often tend to think we’ll be fine and get over it, but that’s not helpful with a stroke.

Lastly, 80% of strokes don’t have to happen. Check out this fact sheet on how to prevent strokes and make whatever lifestyle changes are needed to avoid a trip to the emergency room and months of recovery. It currently takes me hours to type an article, which is devastating for a writer. But the good news is that we grow new brain cells all the time, so eventually my brain and left hand will be in sync again. I didn’t have a major stroke so I will completely heal in a few months and in the meantime will be urging as many people as possible to learn more about strokes, and do things to help prevent them. Let’s save some lives!