Stroke, or brain attack, happens when a blood vessel that feeds the brain gets clogged or bursts. The blood supply to the brain is disrupted from the clogging or bursting and the brain cells can not get the oxygen and nutrients that they need. The cells become injured or die when they don’t get enough oxygen and nutrients. Then that part of the brain can not work and neither can the part of the body it controls.

Stroke is the third leading cause of death and the leading cause of disability for all Americans. Many people die from strokes and often times survivors of strokes are left with mental and physical disabilities. Your brain controls how you move think, feel and behave. A stroke can affect the ability to think clearly and can affect those muscles used in talking, swallowing and chewing. One or both sides of the mouth can lack feeling, thus increasing the risk of choking. A person with a stroke may have a changed perception of everyday objects. A loss of feeling or visual field may result in a loss of awareness, so stroke victims may forget or ignore their weaker side. Depression is a frequent occurrence with a stroke because the person perceives or thinks they are less than “whole”.

Strokes affect people in different ways. There can be severe losses in mental and bodily functions or even death. Rehabilitation can be extensive, expensive and very time consuming. Prevention of strokes and reducing your risk factors for a stroke are important to you and those who care about you.

The best way to prevent a stroke is to reduce the risk factors for a stroke by stopping smoking, keeping your B/P down, eating a low-fat, low-salt diet, taking off extra weight, getting regular exercise, following your doctor’s orders, taking your medicine and getting regular checkups.

There are 5 partly controllable risk factors, meaning that you can impact these risk factors to a degree.

High blood pressure or hypertension. It is the most important risk factor for a stroke. Although the actual cause for high blood pressure is unknown, it is easily detected and usually controllable. High blood pressure means that the heart is working harder than it should have to and therefore the arteries and the heart are under a greater strain. Having your blood pressure checked on a regular basis will help in the prevention of strokes. The important point to remember about the B/P is that the higher the number, the harder it is for the blood to flow. Blood pressure below 120 over 80 mmHg (millimeters of mercury) is considered optimal for adults. A systolic pressure of 120 to 139 mmHg or a diastolic pressure of 80 to 89 mmHg is considered "prehypertension" and needs to be watched carefully. A blood pressure reading of 140 over 90 or higher is considered elevated (high).

1. One out of every 4 people has high blood pressure, but with diagnosis, your doctor can help control your blood pressure which will reduce your risk of a stroke. Often B/P can be controlled by eating a healthier diet and maintaining a proper weight. There are also medications available to control the B/P. An untreated high B/P can lead to strokes, heart attacks, heart failure and kidney failure. The ways to lower your blood pressure are to limit the salt and fat in your diet, lose weight if you need to, increase your activity level, take your medications the way your doctor tells you to and let your doctor know when your blood pressure is not where it is supposed to be.

2. Heart disease is another partly controllable risk factor. A diseased heart increases the risk to twice that of a person with a normally functioning heart. The 4 major controllable risk factors for heart attacks are smoking of cigarettes or tobacco, high blood cholesterol (hypercholesterolemia), high B/P and physical inactivity.

3. Nicotine, which is found in cigarettes actually increases the B/P and causes carbon monoxide to get into the blood, causing a decrease in the amount of oxygen the blood can supply to the body. Smoking also causes the platelets in your blood to become sticky and cluster, shortens platelet survival, decreases clotting time and increases blood thickness.

4. A high red blood count is also a risk factor for stroke because an increased RBC thickens the blood and make clots more likely. There are medications and treatments to thin the blood.

5. TIA’s is an abbreviation for Transient Ischemic Attacks. Ischemic is a word that means a decrease in the blood supply. Oxygen is carried to your vital organs, like your heart and brain, by the blood and if oxygen can not get to those parts of your body, those areas die or become damaged. About ten percent of people experience TIA’s before actually having a stroke.

We cannot change certain risk factors for stroke. These unchangeable risk factors include:

There are some risk factors that indirectly increase stroke risk, especially when one has other risk factors. These are controllable factors. These include elevated blood cholesterol and lipids, physical activity and obesity. They are called secondary risk factors because they affect the risk of stroke indirectly by increasing the risk of heart disease (which is a primary risk factor for stroke).

WARNING SIGNALS OF A STROKE:
• Sudden weakness or numbness of the face, arm or leg on one side of the body.
• Sudden dimness or loss of vision, particularly in one eye.
• Loss of speech, or trouble talking or understanding speech.
• Sudden, severe headaches with no known cause.
• Unexplained dizziness, unsteadiness or sudden falls, especially along with any of the previous symptoms.

DON'T WAIT, CALL 911!

WARNING SIGNALS OF A HEART ATTACK:
• Uncomfortable pressure, fullness, squeezing or pain in the center of the chest that lasts more than a few minutes, or goes away and comes back.
• Pain that spreads to the shoulders, neck or arms (even the jaw).
• Chest discomfort with lightheadedness, fainting, sweating, nausea or SO
eating, nausea or SOB.

Not all of these signs occur but if they do, DON'T WAIT, CALL 911!

Remember, the best way to prevent a stroke is to reduce the risk factors for a stroke by stopping smoking, keeping your B/P down, eating a low-fat, low-salt diet, taking off extra weight, getting regular exercise, following your doctor's orders, taking your medicine and getting regular checkups.