Watch Out for the Signs of a Whispering Stroke

[Guest guest]

Watch Out for the Signs of a " Whispering

Stroke "

A woman I know in her early 60s was leaving a

party when she suddenly passed out. It lasted only for a brief moment,

but when she came to she couldn't talk. Her inability to speak was brief,

also, though it lasted long enough for someone to call an ambulance. The

ER doctor implied it was probably an alcohol-related event, but my friend

knew that wasn't the case and demanded an MRI. It was a smart move on her

part -- she discovered that she had indeed had a mini stroke.

WHISPERING STROKES HINT AT TROUBLE AHEAD

For years the alarm has been sounded about the danger of transient

ischemic attack (TIA), which is a mini stroke with symptoms that mimic a

major stroke, but that usually lasts just a few minutes to an hour or so

and doesn't typically leave long-term physical impairment. The danger is

that a TIA indicates increased risk for a major stroke or for additional

TIAs in the weeks and months following. But according to some

researchers, there are strokes with symptoms even more subtle than a

TIA... making their name, " whispering strokes, " particularly

appropriate. George Howard, DrPH, chair of the department of

biostatistics, University of Alabama at Birmingham, has studied these

mini strokes in depth. He told me that some medical professionals have

called him alarmist, but he vehemently disagrees. Now he has a study that

gives evidence to back him up: In a group of nearly 22,000 men and women

over age 45, 18% said they had experienced subtle symptoms of stroke, and

only 58% had reported the incidents to their doctor. Dr. Howard

discovered that these seemingly insignificant strokes left these men and

women with slightly compromised quality of life in either physical

measures (such as lowered energy) or mental functioning (such as

decreased ability to express oneself verbally). Apparently these events

were not entirely insignificant.

Additionally, having a stroke even as minor as a whispering one puts

people at risk of a major stroke. Dr. Howard urges people to never ignore

what he calls the " suddens, " however brief they may be. Call

your doctor if you have any of these symptoms:

 

Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg, especially on

one side of the body. Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or difficulty understanding. Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes. Sudden severe headache with no known cause. Sudden trouble walking, dizziness or loss of balance or coordination

without a reasonable explanation for this, such as having gotten up

quickly.

Dr. Howard also points out that prevention is always preferable to

treatment. Don't smoke, do get treatment for high blood pressure and/or

diabetes and make sure you exercise at least moderately. And should you,

like my friend, have an unexplained event, see a doctor and insist on

appropriate tests right away to determine if there is a problem.

 

Source(s):

George Howard, DrPH, chair, department of biostatistics, University of

Alabama at Birmingham.