This article is a transcribed edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in March of 2024. For the original video go to https://youtu.be/Jufby0_0re0
Brad: So when illness strikes you personally or your family members, it really opens your eyes up. For example, I just learned that one of my close family members had two TIAs. In other words, ministrokes. My mother was just in the emergency room with severe headaches. She was assessed specifically for stroke and myself. Recently, in the last two weeks, I went to urgent care with a severe one-sided headache. I wanted to make sure I was not having a stroke, everything going on. I thought we better make a video addressing strokes and some of the facts about it so that you can be comfortable and make sure that you are going to be okay.
Mike: Now, strokes are a very serious matter. They can be fatal or even crippling to some people. So we want to address the five signs of a stroke and discuss it more in depth so you know what to look for.
Brad: That's right.
Mike: But what we all really want to know is what happened to the three of you?
Brad: Well, fortunately, my brother had complete recoveries. He's okay. My mother, her headache was not a stroke. And the same with mine. There are some other details we won't get into, but again, luckily we're all fine. Make sure that you're going to be fine as well. This will be very helpful. First, let's define what a stroke is. Now in the medical community, everyone calls it a CVA. That stands for Cerebral Vascular Accident. There are two different types of CVAs. One is hemorrhagic, and that's where the vessel actually bursts. Now this happens in the brain itself, and blood is not allowed to get to the brain, giving it fresh blood, nutrients, oxygen, et cetera. The other type of CVA is ischemic, and that's where the vessel actually gets plugged up, blocking blood flow. And again, the brain does not get the blood flow that it needs, and you get symptoms. Now, typically what happens is it's ischemic and not hemorrhagic. They're more common. Mike, do you want to talk about a TIA?
Mike: A TIA is a Transient Ischemic Attack. This is kind of like a ministroke. Typically, these are shorter in duration, and most of the time people make a full recovery from those.
Brad: A lot of times people will have ministrokes. They don't even go to the doctor. They recover within a day or so, and they don't even know they had it. But if you do have some of the symptoms we're going to talk about later, make sure you do get to the doctor. We'll cover it in detail.
Mike: So if you possibly had one of those five signs, what should you do?
Brad: Well, actually, before we get into it, one way people can remember what those symptoms are is there's an acronym, it's known as FAST, F-A-S-T. It's popular, I actually saw it on billboards driving down the interstate. So what does the acronym stand for?
Mike: So "F" stands for face, which we talked about the face drooping.
Brad: "A" stands for arm and it could be the arm or the leg that's showing some signs of numbness, tingling, or weakness where it's flaccid, or the arm is dangling, or the leg is dragging.
Mike: "S" stands for speech. So oftentimes people have speech issues, maybe they cannot talk at all, or they may have slurred speech.
Brad: And "T" stands for time. So if you have any of those symptoms, what you'll need to do is get to the emergency room as soon as possible because they actually have a drug now that if it's administered within three to four hours of initial symptoms, it can greatly reduce the risk of your having long-term problems with it, so time is critical.
Mike: Now, the good news is, is 80% of CVAs can be preventable. And that is through proper medication use or lifestyle choices.
Brad: That's right, so here are some of the risk factors that can really increase the risks of strokes, and you can have some control over it. Luckily, with a little self-discipline in lifestyle changes, as Mike has mentioned. The first one, if you have high blood pressure, it's a big one. It's the big kahuna. You need to get it under control either by exercise, diet, or medications. Medications work quite well, but I know I can control mine so far, luckily with exercise and diet.
Mike: Now, the second risk factors are things like diet, cholesterol, and smoking, which can all have an effect on arteriosclerosis in the brain.
Brad: So that means the vein or the arteries in the brain are actually getting clogged up by either one of those factors. That's a big no-no, that can be corrected.
Mike: The third risk factor is being more sedentary. This is obviously correlational data, but typically people that are more active are typically healthier and have less risk of developing a CVA.
Brad: That's right, and history, or if your family has a history of strokes or arteriosclerosis, you really need to watch it. Now if you have a family history, your parents, aunts, uncles have had strokes or CVAs, that puts you more at risk as well.
Mike: And the last risk factor is if you're over the age of 65, obviously strokes can happen at younger ages than that, but typically atherosclerosis takes years to build upon. So they're more common with older age. So what are some things you can do to prevent a stroke from happening? And the first one is if you are a smoker to stop smoking,
Brad: Right, that's a big one. The next one is avoid salty foods, processed foods, a lot of sugar, everything that goes along with a good health-based diet.
Mike: The next tip is alcohol use. So obviously having some alcohol is okay, but overusing it on a consistent basis can increase your risk.
Brad: Right, so they're saying one, or two maximum drinks per day. And that's, as you know, recommended in Wisconsin. That's pretty normal.
Mike: One to two 12 packs.
Brad: I shouldn't joke about it, but the fact is a fact. Let's go on reduce stress. That's a big one. And that's where exercise can be a really big factor. If you can exercise off that stretch, go for a walk, go out in nature, get away from everything. Let your body relax, breathe naturally, whatever it takes for you to relax and feel good. So if you have one or more of the risk factors we just mentioned, I highly recommend you take action and take care of that.
Mike: If you want to check out more videos on stroke prevention, check out our video "The #1 Sign You Are About to Have a Stroke in the Next 12 Months + Risk Factors."
Brad: There you go. That's a nice video for more options.
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