There’s a short window for clot breaking with strokes

Clot breaking with strokes:
There’s a short   window for clot breaking  when a person has experienced stroke symptoms.

Strokes caused by clots can, depending on your symptoms,  be managed with high doses of blood thinning medication.

So, learn how to screen for stroke like symptoms. 

Can the person smile, stick out their tongue, raise their arms above their head and hold them there a couple seconds?

Think of a one year old child who sees their parent. Young children will instinctively raise their arms to indicate they want to be picked up. And they engage in social smiling to encourage caregivers to interact.  Tongue sticking out is opening the mouth and shows ability to control facial movements.

So know the symptoms of strokes.

Know that persons who are experiencing stroke-like symptoms cannot think normally and need someone else to make decisions.

And get to emergency fast.

If you have a stroke due to clots and within short window of a few hours,  you may be given massive blood thinning IV which actually breaks up the clots.

And, with proper treatment, many or even all  of your  deficits from the stroke may disappear within hours. 

So, check out the hospitals in your area.  Do you have a hospital with specialized stroke treatment and therapy?  In Santa Cruz County, CA Dominican Hospital is the one hospital with specialized treatment and  a Acute Rehabilitation Unit (RHU) for on-going therapy.  Therapy provided includes Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy and Speech Therapy. 

By the way, the diagnosis and treatment of strokes done at Dominican Hospital is class A terrific.

DrCameronJackson@gmail.com