Strokes Kill - learn how to recognize symptoms

[marshlander]

I received this email today and thought I'd share. Please email this around your friends - you never know it may save a life.

They say if you e.mail this to ten people, you stand a chance of saving one life. Will you send this along? Blood Clots/Stroke - They Now Have a Fourth Indicator, the Tongue.

STROKE: Remember the 1st Three Letters..... S. T. R.

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)

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

T * 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.

A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this e-mail sends it to 10 people; you can bet that at least one life will be saved.

I have done my part. Will you?

[Jandra]

Didn't know about the tongue. Will keep that in mind.

[GeorgeSalt]

The UK Stroke Association promotes the acronym FAST (you may have seen the adverts)..
- FACIAL weakness: Can the person smile? Has their mouth or eye drooped?
- ARM weakness: Can the person raise both arms?
- SPEECH problems: Can the person speak clearly and understand what you say?
- TIME to call 999.


There's something about "pass this on to everyone you know" that always has me checking this type of email against Snopes or Hoaxslayer*. The email recieved by marshlander is mostly truthful, but "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" is misleading and not truthful. There are no certainties with a stroke.


* Remember these two websites. It's good practice to check any "forward to absolutely everyone you know" emails against this before forwarding. There are a lot of fals warning and false hope emails circulating. Some of them have been rolling around the web for years.

[marshlander]

Well, it came from someone I know well and trust & I never pass on 'chain letter' do it or die/good luck/bad luck emails. The info appears to have copied verbatim from The School of Medicine Department of Neurology at UAB University of Alabama in Birmingham USA.

I knew 'fast' but the info about the tongue is new to me.

It struck me as important info as my grandfather died from stroke.

Of course there are no certainties with strokes but to quote from another source 'getting fast medical treatment lowers your risk of disability or even death. That’s why it’s important to recognize the symptoms—and to get help right away'. According to the NHS website, getting treatment to thrombosis (blood clot) stroke patients is critical in the first four and a half hours after the onset of the stroke.

Anyway, if someone remembers any of this and their friend or loved one doesn't die, I don't really care about the hyperbole or over hopeful claims of said neurologist.





*http://medicine.uab.edu/neurology/DivsP ... SRC/72348/ and a fact sheet about heart attacks and strokes http://www.uab.edu/images/neurology/Neu ... heet05.pdf

[demi]

My gran's in hospital just now after suffering they think 2 strokes. She took a terrible headache 2 weeks ago and she couldnt get out of bed. After a few days they called the doctor and he sent her up to the hospital where they did a scan and saw she'd had a stroke and she had bleeding either on or right next to her spinal chord. She stablised and they thought she'd recover. Then after a few days she took another massive stroke and now they cant stop the bleeding. They've drained the fluid but cant stop where its coming from. We've been told to expect the worst and we're just waiting now to see what happens.
She was only 76 and so healthy, never smoked or drank, eat healthy, was going dancing up until my grampa had a stroke 2 years ago and she's been looking after him ever since washing him and feeding him because he cant do anything for himself now. Whats going to happen to him now. Even if she doesn't die just now the doctors have said shes not going to recover from this and she'll need constant care and probably not be able to get out the hospital.

[demi]

My gran past away this morning. She had a massive bleed in her brain and they couldn't stop it. I'm not even going to get to go to the funeral because im not in the country.

[marshlander]

So sorry for your loss, sending hugs and prayers.