Symptoms of stroke

Know the warning signs
If you think that you or someone else is having a stroke, don’t waste your time. Fast diagnosis and treatment increases the patient’s chances of survival and lowers the risk of permanent disability. In order to help you memorize the typical symptoms, think FAST: face, arms, speech and time.
• Face — Does one side of the face drop when asked to smile?
• Arms — When raising both arms, does one arm drift downward?
• Speech — When trying to repeat a simple sentence, are the words slurred or incorrect?
• Time — Rush to emergency care immediately to get evaluated and treated.
If you’re at risk of a stroke, the best way to act is to learn both the typical signs and symptoms and those that affect only women. If you experience any symptoms that you think may be a stroke, consult your doctor to evaluate you for a stroke.

Stroke symptoms in women
The current scientific studies prove that women may show typical symptoms less frequently than men do, and it is more probable that they will experience and report an alternative symptom first. This discrepancy may lead women to a delay seeking for help. A woman visiting the emergency department with facial weakness is quickly sent off for brain imaging, but when the main issue is problem with breathing or fainting, it may be that neither the woman nor even emergency room personnel immediately suspect a stroke.
In addition to or instead of the typical stroke signs, a woman may experience:
• Loss of consciousness or fainting
• Problems with breathing
• Falls or accidents
• Sudden pain in the face, chest, arms or legs
• Seizure
• Sudden hiccups
• Sudden nausea
• Sudden tiredness
• Sudden pounding or racing heartbeat (palpitations)
Although this new studies are certainly important, the typical stroke symptoms still occur most frequently in both men and women. The new research results are a helpful reminder — to both a patient and her doctor — that women may show different symptoms than men.

Learning about the signs and symptoms of a stroke may enable you or someone you know to get a proper treatment in time. The signs and symptoms of stroke normally occur with no warning and often there’s more than one symptom.
 Signs and symptoms of a stroke include:
• Numbness, weakness, or paralysis of the face, arms or legs (Typically just on one side of the body)
• Problems with speaking or understanding speech (aphasia)
• Blurred, double or decreased vision
• Dizziness, loss of balance or loss of coordination
• A sudden, severe headache or an unusual headache, which may occur together with a stiff neck, facial pain, pain between the eyes, vomiting or altered consciousness
• Confusion, or problems with memory, spatial orientation or perception
In the majority of people there are no warning signs of a stroke. However, one possible symptom of an impending stroke is a transient ischemic attack (TIA). A TIA is a temporary disruptiom of blood flow to a part of the brain.
The symptoms of TIA are similar to those of a stroke, but they occur for a shorter period of time (a few minutes to 24 hours) and then disappear, without causing any visible permanent effects. A person may have more than one TIA, and the recurrent symptoms may be similar or differ.
A TIA is a sign of a serious underlying risk that a stroke may occur next. In case of people who have experienced a TIA the probability of having a stroke is much higher than in those who haven’t had a TIA.