Walking Therein

Recognize A Stroke

I hate forwarded emails, and I usually delete them. However, if they are credible and important, I will keep them and share the information. Grandma had a stroke almost fifteen years ago, and I did not undestand anything about it, nor had I ever known anyone who had ever had a stroke. The older you get, the more you realize the importance of knowing about these things. :))

Blood Clots and Stroke

STROKE: Remember The 1st Three Letters.... S.T.R. If everyone can remember something this simple, we could save some folks.

They Now Have a Fourth Indicator, the Tongue. 

Seriously Please read:

STROKE IDENTIFICATION: During a BBQ, a friend 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, Ingrid went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening. Ingrid's husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital - (at 6:00 PM Ingrid passed away.) She had suffered a stroke at the BBQ. Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps Ingrid 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 999/911 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.

I found the rest of this information on a site about the same email:

Diabetes 101 also has a drawn picture of a clogged artery and effects of a stroke on the brain, if you are interested.

Editors Note: Remember, a diabetic has 4 times the chances of having a stroke, as a non-diabetic.

To whoever put this together, we are sorry we can not credit you because we do not have the information, but do think this sounds like a very important message, and tests, our readers should know about.....immediately, thank you. 

Since this came from an unknown source and theire are so many wild invalid "warning" emails sent around we all get suckered into every now and then, we decided to check this out at a Hoax site. We went to http://www.hoax-slayer.com/identify-stroke.htm and here is what they said, in part about this apparently well known email being sent around.

Commentary:

The procedure for identifying a stroke that is getting released in this email forward is valid.

According to information available on the American Stroke Association's website, the three questions outlined in the email are a medically viable method for a layperson to ascertain if a person is presenting with stroke symptoms.

The procedure was originally outlined in a report to the American Stroke Association's 28th International Stroke Conference.

The report states that a bystander may be able to spot someone having a stroke by giving the person a simple, quick test to see if they can smile, raise both arms and keep them up, and speak a simple sentence coherently.

Certainly, the core information in the email is worth heeding. Knowing how to conduct this simple test could indeed save a person's life. The aforementioned report explains that if bystanders can relay results of this test to an emergency dispatcher, it could speed treatment to stroke patients. Time is crucial in treating stroke.

America's National Stroke Association lists the following as common symptoms of stroke:

• Sudden numbness or weakness of face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body
• Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding
• Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes
• Sudden trouble walking, dizziness,loss of balance or coordination
• Sudden severe headache with no known cause

Given this list of symptoms, it is easy to see how the simple three-question test could help identify a stroke.

However, there is an important point that needs to be considered. While the central information in the email is true, the absence of these symptoms does not necessarily indicate that a person is NOT having a stroke.

It could be extremely dangerous to reach the conclusion that a person did not require medical attention just because he or she could successfully carry out the three steps outlined in the test.

Editors Note: This means that the test can be helpful in diagnosis, of a stroke and the immediate need for treatment, However, complying with the test does not prove that the person has NOT had a stroke and you need to proceed as if they had, until proven differently by additional actions and means.

blessings!