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Warning Signs & Symptoms of Stroke
Stroke is the fifth leading cause of death in the United States, and catching early warning signs is key to treatment. Stephanie Knewbow, Emergency Department Director/Clinical Coordinator, discusses strokes warning signs and symptoms.
Featuring:
Stephanie Knewbow, RN
Stephanie Knewbow is a Registered Nurse, Clinical Coordinator, and Director of the Emergency Department at Pullman Regional Hospital. Transcription:
Bill Klaproth (Host): Stroke is the fifth leading cause of death in the United States and getting treatment as soon as stroke occurs, can make a huge difference in survival and recovery. So, what are the warning signs and symptoms of stroke? And what do you need to know? Let’s find out with Stephanie Knewbow, a Registered Nurse, Clinical Coordinator and Director of the Emergency Department at Pullman Regional Hospital. Stephanie, thanks so much for your time. So, what is a stroke?
Stephanie Knewbow, RN (Guest): Okay so just as a heart attack is what happens when blood doesn’t get to your heart, the easiest way to think about a stroke is as a brain attack. So, stroke occurs when blood flow is interrupted or reduced to your brain.
Host: So, that’s an interesting way to think about it, brain attack instead of a heart attack. It really kind of does put it in perspective when you verbalize it that way. So, then what are the main causes of strokes?
Stephanie: Well the most common kind of a stroke is called an ischemic stroke and that occurs when a blood clot blocks blood flow to the brain. You can also have another type of stroke which is called a hemorrhagic stroke and that’s caused by a leaking or a burst blood vessel in your brain.
Host: So, Stephanie are there any warning signs or symptoms of strokes?
Stephanie: Yes. The most common signs of a stroke are sudden weakness or numbness in your face, arms or legs and it’s usually on one side of your body. You may have an abrupt loss of vision; your speech may go or some coordination trouble. A quick assessment that a family member can do on you is to use we call it the FAST assessment and it stands for face, and you look for numbness or paralysis, arms, can they raise them equally, check their speech, can you understand their speech and then T is for time, time is to call 9-1-1 and get the patient to the ER as soon as possible.
Host: Okay so face, arms, speech, time. So, always remember the acronym FAST.
Stephanie: Yes.
Host: And as you said, time, the last one, time is really, really important when it comes to stroke. Is that right?
Stephanie: Yes. We want you to call 9-1-1 or get to the emergency room as soon as possible. The time that the symptoms started should be noted and that’s the most important thing is just getting the treatment started as soon as possible and we like to say time is brain.
Host: So, you just mentioned a great tip. If you suspect you or a loved one is having a stroke, write that time down. One of the first things you should do. Also call 9-1-1. Make sure you don’t drive yourself to the emergency department. What else should someone do if they think they or someone they know is having a stroke?
Stephanie: The most important thing is just going to be calling 9-1-1 or getting them to the emergency room. And like you said, you don’t want to drive yourself because even though you may just be having speech trouble to start with, you may start having more trouble as you are driving to the hospital. So, make sure you have a family member or call 9-1-1. We really encourage calling 9-1-1 because the EMS crew can help call the ER and we will be ready for you when you arrive, and we’ll quickly start our stroke process.
Host: That’s such a good point about calling 9-1-1 because then they can call the hospital ahead of time and if you ask any EMT, they would rather come and have it not be a stroke than you not call and it being a stroke. So, if you suspect this at all, make that call as Stephanie says, call 9-1-1. So, then what does treatment of a stroke entail?
Stephanie: So, the treatment if you are having an ischemic stroke, we could use a clot busting or clot dissolving medication, but it must be started within four hours of the start of your symptoms and that’s why we want you to document when they start. If the patient is out of the window for the clot dissolving medication, we still could do clot retrieval. At Pullman Hospital, we use what’s called Telestroke and it’s a service through Sacred Heart. A neurologist can assess the patient over a video monitor and decide what treatment would be best for the patient. If the patient’s having any hemorrhagic stroke; the patient may need a surgical procedure to repair or remove the vessel.
Host: So, then what are the risk factors of stroke?
Stephanie: Some of the risk factors include high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and smoking. If you have all three of these, you definitely should get checked out regularly by your physician but also just keep an eye on your blood pressure. Most fire stations will do free blood pressure checks. You can mostly use the monitors at the stores. Just keep an eye on your blood pressure. Try to eat healthy if you can and definitely quit smoking.
Host: Really good advice and we hear physicians say all the time, know your numbers. Well that’s what they are talking about. Know your blood pressure numbers. Know your cholesterol numbers, know your blood sugar level numbers. All of those things are important because it will help you manage your health a lot better. And Stephanie as we wrap up, any other important info to know about strokes?
Stephanie: The most important thing we want you to remember is that we want you to call 9-1-1 and to get to a hospital quickly. If you call 9-1-1, we’ll start the stroke process right then and we will be waiting for you to arrive. Like I said before, time loss is brain loss so we just want you to get to the ER so we can start helping you and maybe give you that medication I talked about.
Host: Time loss is brain loss. Remember that. Stephanie, this has really been informative. Thank you so much for your time today.
Stephanie: Thank you.
Host: That’s Stephanie Knewbow. And to get hooked up with a provider, and to learn more information visit www.pullmanregional.org, that’s www.pullmanregional.org. And if you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels and check out the full podcast library for topics of interest to you. This is The Health Podcast from Pullman Regional. I’m Bill Klaproth. Thanks for listening.
Bill Klaproth (Host): Stroke is the fifth leading cause of death in the United States and getting treatment as soon as stroke occurs, can make a huge difference in survival and recovery. So, what are the warning signs and symptoms of stroke? And what do you need to know? Let’s find out with Stephanie Knewbow, a Registered Nurse, Clinical Coordinator and Director of the Emergency Department at Pullman Regional Hospital. Stephanie, thanks so much for your time. So, what is a stroke?
Stephanie Knewbow, RN (Guest): Okay so just as a heart attack is what happens when blood doesn’t get to your heart, the easiest way to think about a stroke is as a brain attack. So, stroke occurs when blood flow is interrupted or reduced to your brain.
Host: So, that’s an interesting way to think about it, brain attack instead of a heart attack. It really kind of does put it in perspective when you verbalize it that way. So, then what are the main causes of strokes?
Stephanie: Well the most common kind of a stroke is called an ischemic stroke and that occurs when a blood clot blocks blood flow to the brain. You can also have another type of stroke which is called a hemorrhagic stroke and that’s caused by a leaking or a burst blood vessel in your brain.
Host: So, Stephanie are there any warning signs or symptoms of strokes?
Stephanie: Yes. The most common signs of a stroke are sudden weakness or numbness in your face, arms or legs and it’s usually on one side of your body. You may have an abrupt loss of vision; your speech may go or some coordination trouble. A quick assessment that a family member can do on you is to use we call it the FAST assessment and it stands for face, and you look for numbness or paralysis, arms, can they raise them equally, check their speech, can you understand their speech and then T is for time, time is to call 9-1-1 and get the patient to the ER as soon as possible.
Host: Okay so face, arms, speech, time. So, always remember the acronym FAST.
Stephanie: Yes.
Host: And as you said, time, the last one, time is really, really important when it comes to stroke. Is that right?
Stephanie: Yes. We want you to call 9-1-1 or get to the emergency room as soon as possible. The time that the symptoms started should be noted and that’s the most important thing is just getting the treatment started as soon as possible and we like to say time is brain.
Host: So, you just mentioned a great tip. If you suspect you or a loved one is having a stroke, write that time down. One of the first things you should do. Also call 9-1-1. Make sure you don’t drive yourself to the emergency department. What else should someone do if they think they or someone they know is having a stroke?
Stephanie: The most important thing is just going to be calling 9-1-1 or getting them to the emergency room. And like you said, you don’t want to drive yourself because even though you may just be having speech trouble to start with, you may start having more trouble as you are driving to the hospital. So, make sure you have a family member or call 9-1-1. We really encourage calling 9-1-1 because the EMS crew can help call the ER and we will be ready for you when you arrive, and we’ll quickly start our stroke process.
Host: That’s such a good point about calling 9-1-1 because then they can call the hospital ahead of time and if you ask any EMT, they would rather come and have it not be a stroke than you not call and it being a stroke. So, if you suspect this at all, make that call as Stephanie says, call 9-1-1. So, then what does treatment of a stroke entail?
Stephanie: So, the treatment if you are having an ischemic stroke, we could use a clot busting or clot dissolving medication, but it must be started within four hours of the start of your symptoms and that’s why we want you to document when they start. If the patient is out of the window for the clot dissolving medication, we still could do clot retrieval. At Pullman Hospital, we use what’s called Telestroke and it’s a service through Sacred Heart. A neurologist can assess the patient over a video monitor and decide what treatment would be best for the patient. If the patient’s having any hemorrhagic stroke; the patient may need a surgical procedure to repair or remove the vessel.
Host: So, then what are the risk factors of stroke?
Stephanie: Some of the risk factors include high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and smoking. If you have all three of these, you definitely should get checked out regularly by your physician but also just keep an eye on your blood pressure. Most fire stations will do free blood pressure checks. You can mostly use the monitors at the stores. Just keep an eye on your blood pressure. Try to eat healthy if you can and definitely quit smoking.
Host: Really good advice and we hear physicians say all the time, know your numbers. Well that’s what they are talking about. Know your blood pressure numbers. Know your cholesterol numbers, know your blood sugar level numbers. All of those things are important because it will help you manage your health a lot better. And Stephanie as we wrap up, any other important info to know about strokes?
Stephanie: The most important thing we want you to remember is that we want you to call 9-1-1 and to get to a hospital quickly. If you call 9-1-1, we’ll start the stroke process right then and we will be waiting for you to arrive. Like I said before, time loss is brain loss so we just want you to get to the ER so we can start helping you and maybe give you that medication I talked about.
Host: Time loss is brain loss. Remember that. Stephanie, this has really been informative. Thank you so much for your time today.
Stephanie: Thank you.
Host: That’s Stephanie Knewbow. And to get hooked up with a provider, and to learn more information visit www.pullmanregional.org, that’s www.pullmanregional.org. And if you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels and check out the full podcast library for topics of interest to you. This is The Health Podcast from Pullman Regional. I’m Bill Klaproth. Thanks for listening.