Stroke - Symptoms

Symptoms

Stroke symptoms vary in their severity depending on the area of the brain affected.

Shortage of oxygenated blood to the brain prevents the normal functioning of the affected area. This leads to a range of symptoms. The type of symptoms and their severity depends on the area affected.

Strokes that are devoid of glaring symptoms are known as silent strokes.

Five major symptoms include-

• Numbness on one side of the body involving the face, arms or leg. There may be an associated tingling sensation in the affected area
• Sudden confusion in speech / comprehension
• Sudden problems in vision
• Sudden loss of balance /lack of coordination
• Sudden onslaught of severe headache

Other associated symptoms include-

• Slurred speech
• Problems in swallowing
• Immobility
• Lung infection
• Pneumonia

Complications may arise from a stroke episode.

Sometimes a stroke patient can suffer from heart attack too and it is not unusual for the condition of a stroke victim to worsen despite getting timely medical aid.

Strokes often result in immobility; therefore clots tend to develop in a vein of the patient's leg (deep vein thrombosis) which may travel upwards and get lodged in the lungs, causing pulmonary embolism, a life -threatening situation.

Lying in an immobilized state for a prolonged period can cause pressure sores in a patient. This, of course, can be prevented by continuously repositioning the patient.