what is a stroke and what causes them?

Answer 1

A "stroke" is a neurological disease of the brain. In medical lingo it is "a cerebrovascular accident" or "CVA".

What actually happens to the patient is that the brain/nerve function is interfered with and this causes a group of nerve functions to stop resulting in:
o Facial Droop
o Weakness of Arm or Leg (or Both)
o Difficulty speaking

This occurs at the brain level and so usually happens down one side of the body (rather than affecting both arms, for instance).

The wiki page is a good place to start in the search for information.

One of two things are usually the cause for this set of problems:

either - a clot (embolus) which comes from somewhere (heart or carotid arteries for instance) and blocks off blood supply to part of the brain - this is the most common understanding of the term "stroke"

or - a bleed inside the skull affecting the brain. This is sometimes called a "haemorrhagic stroke" (as opposed to ischaemic stroke - which better describes the previous condition)

Some authors prefer to reserve "stroke" for the former, and will describe the latter as a "bleed" or intracerebral haemorrhage or something like that.

Answer 2

A stroke is what results when the brain is deprived of blood flow. There are two basic types: embolic and hemorrhagic. Embolic is the most common and occurs when a plaque breaks loose activating the bodies platelets etc. A hemorrhagic stroke occurs from an aneurysm or arterovenous malformation rupturing or when someone has uncontrolled high blood pressure. The end result is some type of neurologic deficit or worse death.

Answer 3

a stroke is when one of the arteries in your brain gets clogged up and then the brain kind of breaks. it could be caused by tumors as well. always have anything different checked out by your doc. somtimes a stroke can be prevented it it is caught in time. sometimes it is just sudden and there is nothing you can do. eat good, exercise. de-stress your life as much as possible.