How do you know if you are having a STROKE?

* Sudden numbness or weakness of the 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

Certain parts of your body is starting to paralyse. USUALLY, the person suffering from stroke had half his body paralysed.

www.webmd.com

Smile into the mirror. If one side is crooked, its a stroke. There is an acronym for the symptoms i'd google. The smile test is almost sure thing though.

u start having a numbing tingling feeling on one half of your body or face

If you even think its a possibility call 911, not yahoo answers. Strokes are very serious and can kill.

Believe me, you will know. Half your face will start to sag, or you will forget how to talk, or you will start to walk funny.

One side of your body starts to tingle...

But if you have to ask us cyber wierdos like me...

you might be having one.

get to a doctor for crying out loud

Stand if front of a mirror with both arms by your side. Raise them at the same time and see if the both go up at the same rate.

Smile into the mirror. Is your mouth shape even?
The FAST test is an easy way to recognise and remember the signs of stroke or a TIA. Using the FAST test involves asking three simple questions. If the person has a problem with any of these functions, dial triple zero (000) for an ambulance immediately.

FAST stands for:
Facial weakness 鈥?can the person smile; have their mouth or eyes drooped?
Arm weakness 鈥?can the person raise both arms?
Speech difficulty 鈥?can the person speak clearly and understand what you say?
Time to act 鈥?act FAST and call 000 immediately.

* Can you raise your arms and keep them up?
* Can you smile?
* Can you speak a simple sentence?

My friend sent this and encouraged me to post it and spread the word. I agree.

If everyone can remember something this simple, we could save some folks. Seriously..

Please read:

STROKE IDENTIFICATION:
During a BBQ, a friend stumbled and took a little fall - she assured everyone that she was fine (they offered to call paramedics).....she said she had just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes.

They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food. While she appeared a bit shaken up, Ingrid went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening.

Ingrid's husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital - (at 6:00 PM Ingrid passed away.) She had suffered a stroke at the BBQ. Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps Ingrid would be with us today. Some don't die.... they end up in a helpless, hopeless condition instead.

It only takes a minute to read this...
A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke... totally. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough.

RECOGNIZING A STROKE
Thank God for the sense to remember the '3' steps, STaR. Read and Learn!

Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke.

Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:
S * Ask the individual to SMILE;
T * Ask the person to TALK and Coherently SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE
(e.g. It is sunny out today);
AND

R * Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.
If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call 999/911 immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.

New Sign of a Stroke -------- Stick out Your Tongue

NOTE: Ask the person to 'stick' out his tongue.. If the tongue is 'crooked', if it goes to one side or the other, that is also an indication of a stroke.
A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this e-mail sends it to 10 people; you can bet that at least one life will be saved.
You too can be a STaR!!!!!!!

A stroke can be caused by several conditions. One is called cerebrovascular embolism, which occurs when a blood clot formed elsewhere in the body (usually in the heart or in one of the carotid arteries in the neck) lodges itself in an artery in the brain or leading to the brain. Interruption of blood flow also occurs when a clot is formed in the arteries that supply blood to the brain, usually due to atherosclerosis (clogging of the arteries).

Stroke can also be caused by cerebral hemorrhage, in which a diseased artery in the brain bursts, depriving the cells that are normally nourished by that artery and flooding the surrounding tissue with blood. This accumulation of blood forms a clot, which displaces and compresses brain tissue and thus interferes with brain function. This type of stroke often afflicts people who have both hypertension (high blood pressure) and atherosclerosis.

A third condition that can lead to stroke is rupture of an aneurysm (a bulge in an artery because of a defect in its wall), which interrupts blood flow to one area of the brain while flooding the area of the aneurysm with blood. The formation of aneurysms is sometimes associated with hypertension. Congenital (present at birth) aneurysms are often the cause of cerebral hemorrhage in young people.