What is a stroke?What are the warning signs of stroke?

Answer 1

A stroke is sometimes called a "brain attack." A stroke can injure the brain like a heart attack can injure the heart. Stroke is the result of cerebrovascular disease - disease of the blood vessels in the brain.
There are two types of stroke:
*Ischemic stroke, the most common type of stroke. This type of stroke happens when there is a sudden lack of blood flow to some part of the brain, usually due to a blood clot blocking an artery or blood vessel. Often the artery is already clogged with fatty deposits (atherosclerosis).
*Hemorrhagic stroke. Bleeding in the brain from a broken or leaking blood vessel causes this type of stroke. A hemorrhagic stroke may be due to an aneurysm—a thin or weak spot in an artery that balloons out and can burst.
Either type of stroke can cause brain cells to die. This brain damage may cause a person to lose control of certain functions, such as speech, movement, and memory. Like a heart attack, a stroke is an emergency and should be treated as quickly as possible.
Know that not everyone gets all of the following warning signs of stroke. And, sometimes these signs can go away and return. Treatments are most effective if given within one hour of when the attack begins. If you have any of these symptoms, call 911 right away!

*Sudden numbness or weakness of face, arm, or leg, especially on one side of the body.
*Sudden confusion or trouble speaking or understanding speech.
*Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, or loss of balance or coordination.
*Sudden severe headache with no known cause.
*Blurred or double vision, drowsiness, and nausea or vomiting

Answer 2

A stroke, sometimes called a "brain attack," occurs when blood flow to the brain is interrupted. When a stroke occurs, brain cells in the immediate area begin to die because they stop getting the oxygen and nutrients they need to function.

Because stroke injures the brain, you may not realize that you are having a stroke. To a bystander, someone having a stroke may just look unaware or confused. Stroke victims have the best chance if someone around them recognizes the symptoms and acts quickly.

The symptoms of stroke are distinct because they happen quickly:

Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm, or leg (especially on one side of the body)
Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding speech
Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes
Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination
Sudden severe headache with no known cause

Answer 3

the opinions above are correct... not enough blood flow travels to the brain so the certain part of the brain is affected.

let's say the obstruction or clot is located on the righter part of the brain... here are some warning signs:
1. muscle weakness or numbness on the LEFT part of the body (works oppositely) numbness of the left arm, leg, everything.
2. left side of the mouth drooping and possibly even drooling
3. ask a person to give you his/her "biggest ear-to-ear smile" and you would see that only one side of the mouth moves. -- this is one big indication or test you can do
4. confusion
5. the person speaks "muffled" or hard to understand.
6. loss of balance (because of the weakness of one side of the body)

if you sense that somebody has a stroke, listen to your gut feeling and call 911, every second counts.

Answer 4

stroke, cerebrovascular accident,CVA is the term commonly applied to the clinical syndromes the accompany either Ischemic( insufficient cerebral circurlation) or hemorrhagic( bleeding into the brain tissue or meningeal spaces) lesions. signs and symptoms reflect the area of the brain that is damaged and not necessarly the artery affected. There are a number of disorders under this disease. check out the wed site listed for an understandable chart.

Answer 5

It's like a heart attack for the brain. Blood gets cut off to a certain part of the brain and so it dies. Effects can be mild to serious depending on what part of the brain suffers the stroke.

Signs can range from numbness in limbs, incohernt thinking or speech, dizziness, auditory or visual disturbances... like I said, it depends what part of the brain suffers.

Answer 6

here is Web MDs Site on stroke

http://www.webmd.com/hw/stroke/hw224641.asp