Do You Know The Five Warning Signs of Stroke?

Static crackled as the paramedics talked into a radio.

“We think you are having a stroke,” one said.

Of course I’m not having a stroke, I wanted to tell him. Strokes are for the elderly, for smokers, for overweight couch potatoes.  I’m forty-eight years old, fit and perfectly healthy.

Excerpt from A Stroke of Bad Luck

I was so sure stroke couldn’t happen to me that I didn’t believe the paramedics; I doubted the neurologist in the ER. Yet, I was clearly in the grip of two of the most commons signs of stroke: numbness and lack of control in my right arm, and severe confusion and trouble speaking.

I wasn’t alone. A 2008 study sponsored by the Center for Disease Control found that less than 17% of respondents could identify all five warning signs of stroke and knew to call 9-1-1.

It’s also important to note the time when symptoms started.

How many stroke symptoms can you name?

These are the five most common symptoms of stroke.

• SUDDEN numbness or weakness of face, arm or leg – especially on one side of the body.
• SUDDEN confusion, trouble speaking or understanding.
• SUDDEN trouble seeing in one or both eyes.
• SUDDEN trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination.
• SUDDEN severe headache with no known cause.

A stroke is an acute medical emergency. Know the 5 Warning Signs – Then Call 9-1-1

May is Stroke Awareness Month. Learn more about stroke and its signs and symptoms