Full Version: Stroke Warnings
From: Engravin' Dave (DATAKES) [#1]
12 Apr 2006
To: ALL
STROKE IDENTIFICATION: (remember those first three letters of the word, stroke
During a BBQ, a friend stumbled and took a little fall -- she assured everyone that she was fine (they offered to call paramedics) and 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. 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. To SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE Coherently)
(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 9-1-1 immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher. 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.
BE A FRIEND AND SHARE THIS ARTICLE WITH AS MANY FRIENDS AS POSSIBLE, You could save someone's life.
From: Harvey only (HARVEY-ONLY) [#2]
12 Apr 2006
To: Engravin' Dave (DATAKES) [#1] 12 Apr 2006
I have had two strokes, a TIA and a hemorrhagic stroke.
The first, the TIA, was simple to diagnose. My right side started to get numb and weak section by section. I was on the phone with the doctor before the leg went. I told him I thought I was having a stroke. He said to call an AMBULANCE immediately and wait by the open front door. Great advice. My wife came home as I hung up the phone and drove me five minutes to the Emergency room. BIG MISTAKE! The triage nurse diagnosed a stroke, and I waited 5 1/2 hours to be treated. Only when I said that I was feeling better and was leaving did I get seen. They were worried about lawsuits.
CALL AN AMBULANCE! It may take longer to get to the hospital but they see you immediately, that cannot be postponed if you come in by ambulance.
The second stroke was due to a medical mistake, blood pressure still not under control and they prescribed a full aspirin a day. The neurologist said that was the definite cause due to where the stroke occurred. The problem was also that doctors are not trained at all about vitamins. I am taking 800 UI a day of vitamin E to prevent recurring vitamin b-6 poisoning. That is a heavy blood thinner in that quantity, add aspirin and the triple whammo. Only the neurologist had the latest research that showed that anything from 50mg to 1500mg of aspirin had the same blood thinning qualities, but as you went up the chance of stroke increased rapidly. I did not sue, they were doing their best to keep me well and knowledge takes a while to filter through.
The critical point is that I did not know I was having that second stroke. Wifey came home and said that my speech was slightly different, it sounded normal to me. Because of the first stroke I did not fight her when she took me to the, (different), hospital. They had a CAT scan done in 15 minutes and identified it. They finally let me out of the hospital three of four days later, I was going nuts because I felt fine the entire time.
I have been very lucky, the only residuals is a loss of my migraines and some memory problems that are more probably due to age.
From: Dee (DEENA-ONLY) [#3]
12 Apr 2006
To: Harvey only (HARVEY-ONLY) [#2] 12 Apr 2006
What Harv didn't say was that when I came home and found his speech "off" he insisted on walking up a full flight of stairs and combing his hair before he was willing to get in the car. All the way there he was telling me he was humoring me - that there was nothing wrong. He truly believed that he was fine and I was over reacting.
Dee