Stroke Idenfication - please please read this!

Quasar

I have posted this also in the Arns, but please do accept this post here also.

This is the text of an email I received from a friend:


My nurse friend sent this and encouraged me to post it and spread the word.
I agree. If everyone can remember something this simple,
we could save some folks. 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.


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.

Ted_Hutchinson

Snope's Urban Legends take on this email.

Quasar

Thanks for that Ted. However I have heard long ago that stroke victims are unable to perform the simple tasks outlined above, when asked. So....

cazziebo

If you read through the page on that link, then it contradicts itself and says there is some value in the three tests.

I believe it's also true that the sooner a stroke victim receives medical attention, the better the chance of recovery so for that info alone the information is valuable.

thanks OP,

sillyvixen

i took my grandfather into a&e several time both in my car and following an ambulance i knew he was having tia's (i trained as a nurse- but it was not for me) i got the feeling i was wasting their time. i was supposed to be taking my grandfather round to my parents after church for sunday lunch, i phoned to say i was on my way but no reply..i called in to my mums house to explain problem and collect keys..we found him collapsed and unconcious!! after 10 days on the he died without regaining conciousness - i knew he was having mini strokes his dr and A&E felt i was wasting time .. its not the post that creates problrms it is the system that does not believe relatives stories and recolections of events!!

Nile

Hello Quasar:T

Thanks for posting this thread. I have been at the bedside of a relative who was rushed into hospital after a suspected stroke. The patient was surrounded by doctors and one of the initial tests was asking the patient to raise both his arms.;)

If your thread helps only one person to get their friend/partner/family member to hospital urgently...................you'll have potentially helped a stroke patient to get the essential urgent treatment they need.

My relative was lucky, he was rushed by ambulance into hospital........thanks to his spouse and the guidance of NHS Direct...............and he's made a good recovery.

Kind Regards

Nile

zebidee1

My Father had several strokes.

He took a turn in the middle of a city centre one Saturday afternoon and slid down a wall as he was disorientated. He sat on the pavement for a while, most people passed him, they assumed he was drunk. A couple did stop but because he was slurring his words and not making sense, they too thought he was drunk.

A young man stopped, phoned for an ambulance and stayed with him until it came.

It was a stroke Dad had had and things would have been worse if he had been left on the pavement much longer.

I know there's a fine line between knowing when to interfere and when to leave well alone....but at least if you interfere and are wrong, that's better than the alternative.

sillyvixen

zebidee1 wrote: »

.

I know there's a fine line between knowing when to interfere and when to leave well alone....but at least if you interfere and are wrong, that's better than the alternative.

very fine line!! but if you interfer it should be taken seriously

Nile

As well as being asked to raise both his arms, (the right arm just flopped back down again)..............the patients' legs were also tested.

The doctors asked the patient to lift his left leg (the good leg;) ) and place the heel of the left leg on the shin of the right leg and move it up and down the leg................no problem.

When the patient was asked to repeat the test using his right leg............he could barely lift it up.;)

Another test he was asked to perform was to touch his nose with a finger of his (bad) right hand............he couldn't do it.;)

These are some of the tests I remember witnessing, which confirmed that the patients' right side was affected by a stroke.

nappentass

http://www.stroke.org.uk/campaigns/current_campaigns/stroke_is_a_medical_emergency/act_fast.html

My mother died after a stoke many years ago, it wasn't her first
We had a series of 'heavy breathing' phone calls at work that we dismissed as a crank - I found out much later that actually my mother had a strokeand was trying to get my help, but she couldn't speak and couldn't understand what was happening, she told me this after she had recovered from that stroke and had re-learned how to communicate (she wasn't paralysed in one side) - perhaps if I'd have known about this I might have realised and been able to get help to her sooner.
Even if it helps one other person then it's worth spreading the word.

J

johnroberts07

My Mum got taken to hospital, as she had been found on a bench looking dazed in the shopping centre. The Hospital said it was sunstroke and sent her home. The next day she had a massive stroke. and died after 3 weeks in hospital. The "sunstroke" was a stroke, and she may have lived if they had diagnosed it.