Time Is Brain: Recognize The Signs of a Stroke
By Tufts Medical Center Staff
If you experience anyof the stroke symptoms below, Dr. Lester Leung. Director of the Comprehensive Stroke Center at Tufts Medical Center, recommends calling 9-1-1 immediately: EMS can contact the hospital while en route, so Neurology and Emergency Department staff can be ready to deliver treatment upon your arrival. These symptoms may be more subtle, gradual in onset, or less severe initially in young adults with stroke.
EMS can contact the hospital while en route, so Neurology and Emergency Department staff can be ready to deliver treatment upon your arrival.
These symptoms may be more subtle, gradual in onset, or less severe initially in young adults with stroke.
- Inability to speak
- Inability to understand others
- Loss of ability to move half of the body or face
- Loss of sensation on half of the body or face
- Loss of coordination on one side of body
- Loss of vision in one eye
- Poor speech articulation (slurred speech)
- Difficulty swallowing
- Double vision
- Loss of balance
- Vertigo (rotational spinning sensation)
"For every minute that a blood vessel is blocked, two million neurons die and millions of connections between cells are broken apart," said Dr. Leung. "Treatments to open up blocked blood vessels are most effective in the first few hours after symptoms begin; every minute counts. Time is brain."
The above content is provided for educational purposes by Tufts Medical Center. It is free for educational use. For information about your own health, contact your physician.
Posted March 2017
