As we enter the summer, there are few people who are hot, tired or have not slept well, but experts remind us that if there are strange symptoms of dizziness, blurred vision, numbness or weakness of the limbs that can be relieved by themselves after a short period of time, do not blame it on the heat or poor sleep, because these symptoms are likely to be the warning signs of stroke.
Especially for those who suffer from “three highs” and cerebral arteriosclerosis and other high-risk groups of stroke, but any of the above signs, not to explain themselves, it is recommended that early investigation, after a clear diagnosis of systemic treatment, in order to avoid a stroke or even a large brain infarction and other critical conditions.
”Hidden Stroke”
Fooled CT examination
Zhang Bo, who just celebrated his 65th birthday, has been found to have high blood pressure in recent years and has been taking medication, so his life has not been affected much. But recently the weather was hot and muggy, one day Zhang Bo woke up in the middle of the night and could not sleep, lying in bed listening to the radio until dawn, got up and found some numbness in the right side of the arms and legs, suspecting that the wind for too long may have a stroke, they went to the hospital to do a cranial CT examination, the results did not find any lesions. However, the doctor took into account his high blood pressure, said his limb numbness is likely to be caused by cerebral infarction, and recommended that he stay in the hospital, but Zhang Bo and his family think the test results are clear, the doctor’s advice is “trivial”, so they took the old man back.
Unexpectedly, the next day, Zhang Bo was again sent to the hospital emergency room, the corners of his mouth has been crooked, speech is slurred, the right limb apparently paralyzed. The family regretted not listening to the doctor’s advice at the time, but also expressed confusion: clearly the day before the CT did not find lesions, is the test results can not be trusted?
”You can’t just believe in the test results, like Zhang Bo’s case is actually a small stroke, sometimes it is true that no lesion can be detected, encounter this situation should be based on the symptoms of a comprehensive diagnosis.” Associate Professor Lin Xingdong, deputy director of the Department of Neurology at the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, said, “There are more and more such lamentable examples in the clinic.” He told the reporter that recently the Department of Neurology of the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine successfully rescued a patient with acute massive cerebral infarction. At present, although the patient’s consciousness turned clear, he still had significant limb hemiparesis. Lin Xingdong found during the consultation that the patient had had three transient ischemic attacks such as dizziness and hand numbness, which lasted for about a few minutes, a month before the onset of the disease. Both the patient and his family thought it was due to high blood pressure and did not take it seriously, but in fact it was already a precursor of a stroke, and if he had sought medical attention at that time, it was likely that the critical condition would have been avoided and the chance of limb movement restriction would have been significantly reduced.
Dizziness, limb numbness
Or brain “emergency” signal
”Many patients and their families have difficulty understanding a stroke that does not show an obvious lesion.” Lin Xingdong explained, “In fact, as long as careful observation, it is not difficult to find that most of the patients had different degrees of brain ’emergency’ symptoms before the onset of the disease.” He pointed out that the transient ischemic symptoms of dizziness, blurred vision, numbness or weakness of the limbs, which last for a short period of time and resolve on their own, are the warning signs of a stroke, which is also called mini-stroke or “hidden stroke” because of its inconspicuous symptoms. Especially now that it’s hot, most patients tend to justify these omens to themselves for reasons such as “being hot, tired, or not sleeping well,” resulting in big problems like Zhang’s.
Lin Xingdong pointed out that although small strokes do not cause sequelae, but once they occur, it already indicates that the degree of cerebrovascular damage has reached the edge of danger. Epidemiological surveys show that patients with transient ischemic attacks have a significantly higher chance of having a stroke than the general population, with an 8% chance of having a stroke within one month and a 12% chance of having a stroke within one year, 13 to 16 times higher than the general population. Especially for middle-aged people over 40 years old, they should be more alert if they often have symptoms such as headache, vertigo, light-headedness, numbness of the limbs and swelling of the tongue, and if they usually have hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, cerebral arteriosclerosis and other diseases.
In addition to hand numbness, there are several common precursors of stroke as follows.
1. sudden numbness and weakness on one side of the face or lower extremities, crookedness of the mouth, and drooling.
2. sudden difficulty speaking, or not being able to understand what others are saying.
3. transient visual impairment, transient black haze.
4. sudden vertigo, inability to stand, or fainting, which improves after a few seconds to a few minutes
5. unbearable headache, gradually aggravated by persistent symptoms or accompanied by nausea and vomiting.
Lin Xingdong reminded that the above symptoms usually last only for a short period of time and then show signs of improvement, but anyone who shows one of the above signs should be examined early, diagnosed clearly and treated systematically. If early detection and timely treatment can be made, it is possible to avoid the occurrence of stroke, and more likely to avoid the emergence of critical state.
Prevention
Don’t be dehydrated in high-risk groups
”Water deficiency is an important trigger for the occurrence of stroke.” Lin Xingdong pointed out that this is due to the fact that water shortage reduces blood volume and blood stickiness easily forms thrombus, which induces the occurrence of stroke. However, in daily life, many people are used to drink water only after they are thirsty, especially after middle age, the feeling of thirst will become less and less obvious with age; even more so in old age, even when there is an obvious lack of water, the demand for drinking water is not strong, this is because the thirst center of the elderly is not sensitive enough to the response to water shortage, and thus do not feel thirsty to take the initiative to drink water, making water shortage more and more obvious. Therefore, he recommends: middle-aged people should strengthen the concept of drinking water at any time to replenish, the elderly and people at high risk of stroke in the summer to develop the habit of drinking water in moderation even if they are not thirsty. The simplest way to give water is to drink more than 1,000 ml of urine per day to reduce the chance of stroke.
In addition to drinking water, Lin Xingdong believes that to prevent small strokes from becoming major strokes, the following aspects should be taken into account on a daily basis.
Prevention and treatment of primary diseases: effective control and prevention of primary diseases is the key to prevent the occurrence of stroke. For example: hypertension, the longer the history of vascular sclerosis, the more pronounced, very prone to stroke, so blood pressure should be tested regularly, adhere to the medication, as far as possible to control blood pressure within the normal range; diabetes will make the arterial wall hardening and blood viscosity increased. Both can induce a stroke. You should eat some snacks in the morning when you go shopping for food and exercise to prevent hypoglycemia and cerebral thrombosis.
To ease the mood: relaxed and happy mood can effectively prevent the aggravation of the primary disease such as hypertension. It is recommended to distract yourself by listening to music or talking to people on a daily basis. Do not watch tense and scary movies and videos, be calm and do not get angry when things go wrong, and do not hold your breath excessively when you have a bowel movement, so as not to increase the abdominal pressure and cerebral blood flow and cerebral hemorrhage occurs.
Eat less and more meals: diet should be light, eat more fresh vegetables and aquatic products, such as green vegetables, radish, seaweed, nori, etc., to keep the bowel movement smooth. It is advisable to eat less and more meals. To consume enough dietary fiber and laxative foods, try to avoid fatty meat and animal offal, and eat less stimulating onions, peppers, coffee and refined sugar, honey, fruit sugar, pastries and other foods. Limit the amount of salt to less than 4 grams per day to prevent water retention and reduce the burden on the heart. In addition, appropriate tea can enhance the elasticity and permeability of blood vessels, theophylline can play a diuretic sodium drainage to prevent hypertension; tea pigment is quite effective in preventing atherosclerosis. However, tea should not be too strong, tea contains caffeine, has enhanced neuroleptic effects, therefore, it is best not to drink a lot of tea after dinner to prevent insomnia.
Quit smoking and alcohol: smoking and alcohol abuse will further damage heart function, increase blood viscosity, increase blood lipids, and is very likely to induce a stroke.
Reasonable exercise: according to personal preferences and physical conditions can choose to play tai chi, walking, qigong and other appropriate sports long-term exercise to smooth the blood vessels, do not lie in bed all day, for a long time, it is easy to slow down the blood flow and produce ischemic stroke.