What is a stroke? This article will show you how to prevent

Stroke is the first killer of people's life and health. It has the characteristics of high morbidity, high fatality rate, high disability rate, high recurrence rate and high economic burden.

So what exactly is stroke? How did it come about? How can we prevent it correctly? This article takes you to understand in detail.

01 Correct understanding of stroke

In medicine, cerebrovascular diseases can be divided into acute and chronic diseases, among which acute cerebrovascular diseases are "stroke". We know that the heart pumps blood into the arteries of the brain, which gradually thin into small arteries and eventually become very thin blood vessels that supply oxygen and other nutrients to the brain.

But one day, a blockage or rupture occurs in one part of the vessel. Then, it will lead to insufficient blood supply to the brain tissue or brain tissue damage, resulting in the disease is stroke. Because this kind of disease comes on quickly, the force is fierce, like the wind is unpredictable, so it is also called "stroke" in daily life.

02 Rapid recognition of stroke

Because the typical symptoms of stroke are headache and vomiting, they are sometimes easily confused with other diseases and can BE quickly identified by "BE FAST". The specific contents are as follows:

B (Balance) : Balance, loss of Balance or coordination, sudden difficulty walking - can you (he) keep your body in Balance? Do you feel unsteady?

E (Eye) : Eyes, sudden changes in vision, difficulty seeing - can you (he) see normally? Did your vision suddenly blur?

F (Face) : Refers to the Face, the Face is asymmetrical, the Angle of the mouth is crooked -- can you (he) smile? Do you feel weakness or numbness on one side of your face?

A (Arm) : A sudden feeling of weakness or numbness in the Arm, usually on one side of the body - can you raise your hands smoothly? Do you feel weak or unable to lift a hand?

S (Speech) : Speech, slurred, inability to understand other people's Speech - can you (he) speak fluently? Do you have difficulty speaking or slurred speech?

 (Time) : refers to the Time, Time is life, the above symptoms suggest that stroke may occur, please dial the emergency number 120 immediately send a doctor!

In the meantime, before 120 comes, we should keep the following points in mind:

NO.1 Do not give patients drugs without authorization;

NO.2 Do not feed the patient with water or food;

NO.3 Do not move client at will, especially the head should not be moved easily. Keep client in supine position.

No.4 If there is dyspnea, the application of clothing placed under the shoulder and raise the shoulder, do not use pillows to raise the head to aggravate dyspnea or even suffocation;

NO.5 patient vomiting, then need to lateral position, to prevent vomiting caused suffocation, lateral position should be paralyzed side limb upward;

NO.6 Untie the patient's collar, tie, socks, belt, and remove watches, glasses, false teeth and other items;

No.7 Record the onset time, comfort the patient and relieve his tension;

No.8 Prepare the patient's medical insurance card, medication and previous medical records without delay.

03. How to prevent stroke

Stroke prevention includes primary prevention and secondary prevention.

The primary prevention of stroke refers to the active control of stroke risk factors before the occurrence of disease, including lifestyle adjustment and drug adjustment. Details are as follows:

1. Control blood pressure: People with high blood pressure should eat less salt, exercise more, sleep regularly and then take medicine on time to keep their blood pressure stable.

2. Blood sugar control: It is important to eat less sugar and exercise more to avoid excessive waist circumference and overweight. People with a family history should have their blood sugar checked regularly. Patients with diabetes should take medicine on time to ensure that fasting blood glucose, postprandial blood glucose and glycosylated hemoglobin meet the standards.

3. Avoid dyslipidemia: Eat a light diet, eat less high-fat, high-cholesterol and high-calorie diet, increase exercise, and regularly detect changes in blood lipid levels.

4. Prevention of atrial fibrillation: Atrial fibrillation is the most common persistent arrhythmia, which can increase the incidence rate of cerebral infarction by 2.2 times. Drinking alcohol, mental tension, water and electrolyte disorders, and serious infection may lead to atrial fibrillation, and coffee and smoking are also important causes of atrial fibrillation.

5. Get rid of tobacco and alcohol: smoking can damage the endothelium of arterial vessels and make the blood become sticky, thus prone to atherosclerosis. Regular smokers can increase the incidence rate of cerebral infarction by 2.5-5.6 times. Long-term heavy drinking can also cause a stroke.

6. Others: Improve bad eating habits and living habits, maintain a healthy lifestyle, etc.

Secondary prevention of stroke is to prevent the recurrence of stroke in patients with existing stroke symptoms or stroke, including anti-platelet drug therapy to reduce the risk of thrombosis, and surgical intervention for vascular stenosis, aneurysm, moyamoya disease, etc., to prevent the recurrence of stroke. In addition to the control of the above risk factors for primary prevention, secondary prevention is also needed for ischemic stroke: antiplatelet drugs, lipid-lowering and plaque stabilizing drugs should be taken regularly.

It is important to emphasize that the risk of stroke increases significantly with advanced age, prior stroke history or family history of stroke. Active control of risk factors in daily life is the fundamental measure to reduce the incidence of stroke.