High blood pressure: One should avoid high blood pressure causing factors and seek treatment as high blood pressure or hypertension when your blood pressure is constantly over 140/90 whereas normal blood pressure is at 120/80. Hypertension causes more blood pressure, which could deteriorate and damage the blood vessels, which could cause a stroke.

Diabetes: Diabetes is a common problem in adults with a high sugar level in their blood. High sugar levels in the blood also contract your blood vessel, causing a limited amount of blood flow to your brain.

Alcohol: People with an alcohol addiction have three times more chances of getting a stroke regardless of their age.

3. How common stroke occurs?

A Stroke is usually common in adults with diabetes or someone with high blood pressure where a person’s blood vessel is ruptured, causing no oxygen to reach the brain. As the stroke commonly occurs with adults, their age makes a huge difference and impacts their chances of having one. If you’re at an average age of 55, the probability of you having is stroke could go from 3% to 6%. As your age increases, your chances in the potential of having a stroke also increase, for example. People 65 or above have 8 to 11% of chances, and 75 or above have 13 to 18%. These percentages are considered an average healthy person with no smoking or drinking habits or any high cholesterol so if you have any of these things, then consider your percentage to be a bit higher.

4. What are the types of strokes?

A stroke falls into three main categories, namely Ischemic stroke, Transient Ischemic Attack, and Hemorrhagic stroke. There are further sub-categories in these, but let’s discuss these three main ones.

Ischemic stroke: This causes the blood supply arteries to narrow and block the blood flow. These blockages are caused by blood clots or severely reduced blood flow. Blood clots are formed by breaking atherosclerosis.

There are two types of Ischemic stroke, Thrombotic, and Embolic strokes. A Thrombotic stroke is caused when a clot is formed, and it travels through the veins and gets stuck in the brain arteries, thus stopping or restricting the blood flow. An Embolic stroke occurs when a person has any heart problems as Atrial Fibrillation. It is a condition where a person has an irregular heartbeat which causes blood clots to develop in the heart. These clots could travel through blood flow and later get stuck, causing a stroke.

Transient Ischemic Attack: Also known as TIA or a mini-stroke, it is where the symptoms causing a person to go through stroke resolve quickly; these are typically temporary and last only for an hour or even specific minutes. Please don’t get it mistaken with a non-threatening stroke; this could also be fatal and is a medical emergency. A person not receiving quick and proper medication could also die. It’s also known as a warning stroke, so one should immediately look into it. More than one-third of people experience TIA in their lifetime.

Hemorrhagic stroke: This is caused when there’s a leak in the arteries or if it breaks open and spills blood. The blood inside your skull creates pressure and swells it causing damage to your brain cells and tissues. There are two types of Hemorrhagic strokes, Intracerebral and Subarachnoid. An intracerebral stroke happens when the arteries burst open and fill the tissues surrounding the brain with blood, causing a stroke. This is the most common type of Hemorrhagic stroke. Subarachnoid stroke is caused by bleeding between the tissues and the brain. This is the least common stroke.

5. What are the symptoms of a stroke?

A stroke’s symptoms may vary depending upon your gender; even though most of the symptoms are common, there are some different symptoms between women and men. These are the most prominent symptoms within both genders.

• Weakness in arms and legs.
• Paralysis.
• Losing Consciousness.
• Trouble in speech.
• Sight loss.
• Loss of balance or vertigo.
• Severe headaches.
• Long-term disability.
• Death.

Let’s take a look at symptoms prominent in women. Even though women have fewer chances of getting a stroke, they do have a higher risk of dying, so they shouldn’t ignore the symptoms.

• Nausea.
• General pain.
• Hallucinations.
• Shortness of breath.
• Seizures.
• Agitation.    

Men have a higher chance of getting a stroke compared to women. These are the prominent symptoms between men.

• One side drooping of the face.
• Trouble in understanding speech and slurred speech.
• Muscle weakness in one side of the body.   

If you notice these symptoms, you immediately treat yourself or others with these symptoms.

6. What are the treatment options for a stroke?

An immediate and proper medical help for someone suffering from a stroke is significant as their lives depend upon it. If you see someone even with slight stroke symptoms, you should immediately call an ambulance and hospitalize the person. Due to modern medical advancements, it is possible to cure one’s stroke, but as they say, “Precaution is better than cure.”

• Antiplatelet and Anticoagulant drugs.

These are aspirins that are often given within twenty-four hours of the occurrence of the stroke. These are the first things given against the stroke.

•  Clot-breaking drugs.

As the name suggests, these drugs help break off the clots that block the blood flow. These drugs are usually given to an Ischemic stroke patient and are considered very helpful. This drug is supposed to be delivered within three to four hours of a stroke to perform as it is supposed to be.

• Mechanical Thrombectomy.

A catheter is being inserted into the blood vessels inside your head by a professional, and the clots are removed by pulling it out. This procedure is usually done within six to twenty-four hours since the occurrence.

• Surgery.

The doctor could perform surgery on your brain if all the other methods somehow didn’t work out. The doctor would remove the blood clots and plaques, which are blocking the blood flow.

7. Is there any emergency treatment for stroke?

Emergency treatments available for stroke include:

• Clot prevention drug.

These drugs dissolve the clots, which are preventing blood flow. These are usually given in an immediate effort to treat the patient.

• Antiplatelet and Anticoagulant drug.

These drugs are often given immediately as stroke is detected.

• Thrombolysis.

People suffering from an Ischemic stroke are often given the clot prevention drug to dissolve the clot and start the blood flow to the brain. The process of using this medication is known as Thrombolysis. Most of the people are treated with thrombolysis within four hours of the stroke. It has many benefits in regards to quick effect and showing immediate results. But its backdrop is that the more time is taken to give this medication the worse it will perform. Thrombolysis doesn’t entirely cure the person, they could have arteries leaking blood within seven days of the medication, and about one in twenty-four people suffer from this.

8. What is the role of rehabilitative physiotherapy in stroke?

There has been much talk about the benefits of physiotherapy in recent years. It is shown that physiotherapy helps in the recovery of lost movement in stroke survivors. Forty-five minutes of therapy at least four times a week has been recommended by various medical professionals. A person should continue in treatment as long as there are signs of improvement and benefits gained by it until they’re fully recovered from their post-stroke problems.It helps to improve mobility and regain motion after the stroke. The physiotherapy program also provides strengthen muscles and improving coordination.

The new person joining is given the primary tasks of waking up from the bed and walking around, which doesn’t stress their body and helps them gain movement. As people progress, their tasks are changed from walking to jogging or even running, and advanced assistance provides people with learning to walk after being most affected by the stroke. It is to be proved that long-term rehabilitation has helped reduce the risks of any future strokes.