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Archive for the ‘Stroke’ Category

Prevention remains the best medicine for Cerebral Vascular Accident (CVA)

The most important treatable conditions linked to stroke are:

- High blood pressure.Treat! Eat a balanced diet, maintain a healthy weight, and exercise to lower blood pressure. There are also drugs.
- Smoking cigarettes.Stop smoking! There is medical help to help you stop smoking.
- Heart disease.Handle it! Your doctor can treat your heart disease and may prescribe medication to help prevent blood clots. If you are over 50, NINDS scientists believe you and your doctor should decide on aspirin therapy. Read the rest of this entry »

Intracerebral hemorrhage can affect anybody, but is more common in older individuals.

Hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage is caused by the effects of high blood pressure (hypertension) long. When blood pressure has remained high for a significant period of time, the walls of blood vessels change. The constant high blood pressure wears away at the vessel walls and can lead to blockage of the vessels and leakage of blood into the brain. Blood irritates the brain tissues, causing swelling (cerebral edema), and accumulates in a mass called a hematoma.

The brain tissue edema and intracerebral hematoma put increased pressure on the brain and can eventually destroy.

Bleeding may occur in the hollow spaces (ventricles) in the central part of the brain or into the subarachnoid space (the space between the brain and the membranes that cover it). Such bleeding can cause symptoms of meningitis. Read the rest of this entry »

The recovery time and the need for long-term treatment vary greatly from case to case. Physical therapy may be beneficial for some people and should encourage the patient to perform a certain activity within physical limitations. It is necessary to seek alternative forms of communication such as pictures, verbal cues, demonstration or others, depending on the type and extent of language deficit. Speech therapy and occupational and other interventions may increase the capacity of people to perform.

For control of incontinence may be required urinary catheterization or programs for the control of the bladder or intestines.

Should be considered safe environment where the patient, as some stroke victims do not seem to be aware of their surroundings on the affected side. Others show indifference or lack of trial, which increases the need for safety precautions.

They may have to resort to adult day care, boarding schools, nursing homes or home care to provide a safe environment, control aggressive or agitated behavior, and meet physiologic needs.

Therapies behavior modification may be helpful for some people in controlling unacceptable or dangerous behaviors. This consists of rewarding appropriate or positive behaviors and ignoring inappropriate behaviors (within the bounds of safety). The reinforcement of environmental or other repetitive signals to assist in the reality orientation may help reduce disorientation.

Family counseling may help in coping with the changes required in home care. Visiting nurses or aides, volunteer services, adult protective services and other community resources can be very useful.

It may be advisable to seek legal advice in the early stages of the disorder. The living wills, power of attorney and other legal actions may make it easier to make ethical decisions regarding the care of the person with hemorrhagic stroke.
Expectations (prognosis)

Stroke is the third leading cause of death in developed countries. About a quarter of people who have a stroke die because of it or its complications, about half have long-term disabilities and about one-forth recover most or all function.

Hemorrhagic stroke is less common but often more deadly than ischemic stroke.
Complications

* Decubitus Ulcers
* Loss of movement or sensation permanently in a body part
* Joint contractures
* Muscle Spasticity
* Permanent loss of cognitive or other brain functions (dementia)
* Interruption of communication, decreased social interaction
* Decreased ability to function or care for yourself
* Shortened life
* Urinary tract infections and respiratory

Situations requiring medical assistance

Should go to the emergency room or call the local emergency number (such as 112 in Spain) if symptoms of stroke, since it is a “brain attack” and minutes can make a significant difference in disability and mortality rates.

Emergency symptoms include seizures or breathing difficulties, loss of consciousness, sudden difficulties with movement or sensation, eating or swallowing difficulties, change or sudden loss of vision in one or both eyes, rapid onset of changes in speech and severe headache and sudden.

Call your doctor if the condition of a family member with stroke deteriorates to the point that the person can not be cared for at home.
Prevention

Most cases of hemorrhagic stroke are associated with specific risk factors like high blood pressure, smoking or using cocaine. The control of blood pressure and avoiding smoking and cocaine can reduce the chances of brain bleeding. Surgical correction of vascular abnormalities such as aneurysms or AVMs is sometimes advisable to prevent bleeding.

Treatment is ideally administered in an intensive care unit, where you can immediately detect complications. Medical personnel pay careful attention to breathing because, sometimes, people with brain hemorrhage develop very irregular breathing patterns or even stop breathing completely.

A person having a hemorrhagic stroke may be unable to protect the airway during coughing or sneezing because of impaired consciousness. Saliva or other secretions may go “down the wrong pipe,” which is a potentially serious and can cause lung problems such as aspiration pneumonia. In order to treat and prevent these breathing problems, may be necessary to place a tube through the mouth into the trachea to start mechanical ventilation.

Blood pressure may be too high or too low in patients with cerebral hemorrhage and this is something that must be addressed immediately by doctors. In addition, brain bleeding may cause swelling of surrounding brain tissue, which may require therapy with some drugs called hyperosmotic agents Read the rest of this entry »

The symptoms of a stroke are typically of sudden onset and may worsen quickly. The following is a list of problems are possible:

* Weakness or inability to move a body part
* Numbness or loss of sensation
* Decreased or lost vision (may be partial)
* Difficulty of the language
* Inability to recognize or identify familiar things
* Sudden headache
* Vertigo (feeling that the world revolves around)
* Dizziness
* Loss of coordination
* Difficulty swallowing
* Drowsiness, stupor, lethargy, comatose or unconscious Read the rest of this entry »

Hemorrhagic stroke involves bleeding within the brain, damaging nearby brain tissue
Alternative Names

Cerebral bleeding, cerebral hemorrhage, hemorrhagic stroke, bleeding in the brain
Causes and Risk Factors

Hemorrhagic stroke occurs when a blood vessel bursts inside the brain. The brain is very sensitive to bleeding and damage can occur very rapidly, either by the presence of the blood itself or because the fluid increases pressure on the brain and harms it by pressing it against the skull.

Bleeding irritates the brain tissues, causing swelling. The tissues surrounding the brain resist the expansion of the bleeding, which is finally contained by forming a mass (hematoma). Both swelling and hematoma will compress and displace normal brain tissue. Read the rest of this entry »

Recent research shows that soy may protect against strokes. People at least 300 grams of soy products per week using 77% less likely to have a stroke than people with less than 50 grams of soy products a week.

These findings come from studies in 838 Chinese men and women with an average age of 69 years. Of this group included 374 persons in the past had a stroke. The others were “healthy” people who formed the control group. Both groups were asked about how soy products such as soybeans, soy drinks and tofu used them weekly.

Can be concluded that one way to prevent stroke is to consume of soy and the form of soy milk, and the kind made from soy.