2019-11-01 People South Africa

PICS:

ADOBE

STOCK

BYANGELABEKIARIS

LIFESTYLE

HEALTH

Stroke

Awareness

KNOW

what

to look

out for

before

it’s too

late.

COURTESY OF WWW.WEBMD.COM, WWW.CDC.GOV AND WWW.GOV.ZA

Controllable Risk Factors

For Stroke:











Excessivealcoholintake

Obesity

Carotidorcoronaryarterydisease

Uncontrollable Risk Factors

For Stroke:

Age(>65)

Gender—menhavemorestrokes, but women have deadlier strokes.

Race

Familyhistoryofstroke.

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id

Yo

uKno

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 ABOUT 87 percent

of all strokes are ischemic

strokes.

 STROKE is a leading cause

of serious long-term disability.

 STROKE reduces mobility in

more than half of stroke

survivors age 65 and over.

 STROKE risk increases

with age, but strokes can

• and do – occur at
  any age.

Can It be Prevented?

EXPERTS say up to 50 percent of all strokes are

preventable if risk factors are controlled.

B

EVERLYHILLS 90210 fansmourned

lossofactorLukePerryearlierthis

afterhesuffereda massivestroke

Perry,otherwell-knownpersonalit

asBillPaxton, CharlesDickens,CaryGrant, Ri

Nixon,MargaretThatcher,WinstonChurchill

GeneKellyalsosuffereda strokebeforepassi

PoisonfrontmanBretMichaelsmaybeoneo

celebritiesbestknownfornottlettinga stroke

outofaction.In2010,Michaelssuffereda sev

whilefilmingDonaldTrump’sTheApprentice.

didhegoontowinthe show, but has worked

stayhealthysince.

KnowTheFacts

WORLDSTROKEDAY,October29,wasestab

raiseawarenessaboutthesymptomsofstrok

importanceoftakingtreatmentforrecovery.

totheHeartAndStrokeFoundationSouthAfr

claimnearly 70 livesdailyinSA;theyoccurwh

bloodsupplytopartofthebrainis cutoff,an

blood,whichcarriesoxygen,braincellswillbe

ordie.Dependingonwhichpartofthebraini

andhowquicklythepersonis treated,theeff

strokecanbedevastatingtoa person’sbody,

speech,aswellastohowtheythinkandfeel.

There AreTwo TypesOf Stroke

IschemicStroke:Thisis similartoa heartat

explainmedicalexperts,whoaddthatinthis

however,it occursinthebloodvesselsofthe

AccordingtoWebmd.com,‘clotscanformint

bloodvessels,inbloodvesselsleadingtotheb

eveninbloodvesselselsewhereinthebodya

traveltothebrain.Theseclotsblockbloodflo

brain’scells.Ischemicstrokecanalsooccurw

muchplaque(fattydepositsandcholesterol)

brain’sbloodvessels’.

HaemorrhagicStroke:Thisoccurswhena b

inthebrainbreaksorruptures,withtheresul

bloodseepingintothebraintissue,causingda

braincells.Themostcommoncausesofhaemorrhagic

strokearehighbloodpressureandbrain aneurysms.

SignsTo LookOutFor

KNOWINGthesignsofa strokeis thefirststeptosaving

someone’slife.Alsoknownasa ‘brainattack’,a stroke

occurswhenbloodflowtoanareainthebrainis cutoff.

Themostcommonsymptomsofa strokeare:

Weaknessornumbnessoftheface,arm,orlegon one

sideofthebody

Lossofvisionordimminginoneorbotheyes

Lossofspeech,difficultytalkingorunderstanding

whatothersaresaying

Sudden,severeheadachewithnoknowncause

Lossofbalanceorunstable walking, usually combined

with another symptom