Stroke

Symptoms of a stroke include your face dropping on one side, being unable to lift your arm and slurred speech.

A stroke is diagnosed in hospital. You'll have blood tests, CT scans and other tests to confirm a stroke and what caused it.

Treatment for a stroke depends on what type of stroke you've had. It can include taking medicine, surgery or therapy.

It can take days, weeks, months or years to recover from a stroke. Exercises, activities and therapy sessions can help you progress more quickly.

The risk of having a stroke is increased by having high blood pressure or diabetes, being over 50 and your ethnicity.

A stroke can happen to anyone at any age, but your risk may increase if:

• you're over 50 years old
• you're from a Black or South Asian background
• you have sickle cell disease (SCD)
• you have an unhealthy lifestyle
• you have migraines
• you take the combined contraceptive pill
• you're pregnant and have pre-eclampsia
• you've just had a baby

Certain conditions also increase the risk of stroke. These include:

• high blood pressure (hypertension)
• diabetes
• irregular and fast heartbeats (atrial fibrillation)
• high cholesterol
• a transient ischaemic attack (TIA or mini stroke)

If you have a stroke, or a transient ischaemic stroke (TIA, or mini-stroke), you're more at risk of having another stroke. But there are things you can do to lower the risk.

• quit smoking

• eat a balanced diet

• exercise

• cut down on alcohol

• do not forget to take medicines for any underlying conditions such as high blood pressure or diabetes – talk to a GP if you have any problems with your medicine

Having a stroke can affect your mental health. It can help to talk about how you're feeling.

You can get talking therapies for free on the NHS. These services can help you find ways to cope.

Help is available in person, by video, over the phone or as an online course.

You can get advice from charities such as:

• Different Strokes
• Stroke Association
• Brain and Spine Foundation: join a support group

The main symptoms of a stroke can happen suddenly. They may include:

• face weakness – one side of your face may droop (fall) and it might be hard to smile
• arm weakness – you may not be able to fully lift both arms and keep them there because of weakness or numbness in 1 arm
• speech problems – you may slur your words or sound confused

The easiest way to remember these symptoms is the word FAST. This stands for: face, arms, speech and time to call 999.

Other symptoms of a stroke

There are other signs that you or someone else is having a stroke. These include:

• weakness or numbness down 1 side of your body
• blurred vision or loss of sight in 1 or both eyes
• finding it difficult to speak or think of words
• confusion and memory loss
• feeling dizzy or falling over
• a severe headache
• feeling or being sick (nausea or vomiting)

Symptoms of a stroke can sometimes stop after a short time, so you may think you're OK. Even if this happens, get medical help straight away.

A stroke is more likely to happen if you're older, but it can happen at any age.

If you have a stroke, your treatment will depend on what type of stroke you've had.

In the first 24 hours after a stroke, your treatment may include:

• medicine to get rid of blood clots in the brain (thrombolysis)
• surgery to remove a blood clot (thrombectomy) or drain fluid from the brain
• a procedure to stop pressure building up inside the skull or brain

While you're in hospital, a healthcare team of doctors, specialists and therapists will help you start your recovery.

Medicines for a stroke

Treatments you may be given, often long term, include:

• anticoagulants to stop blood clots forming
• medicines to lower your blood pressure
• statins to lower your cholesterol

Strokes affect people in different ways. For some, it may take days or weeks to recover and there will be little impact on their life.

For others, recovery can take months or years and may mean making life changes. This can include things such as adapting your home to make it easier to move around. You may have to stop work for a while or long term.

Your recovery will depend on how much a stroke has affected you physically and mentally, and your rehabilitation plan. The exercises, activities and therapy sessions you do as part of your rehabilitation are often difficult, but it will help you make progress.

The plan given to you by your healthcare team will help you set goals. Getting family and friends involved can also help you get better.

If a doctor thinks you've had a stroke, they'll do tests such as:

• blood tests
• CT, MRI and ultrasound scans to check in and around your brain
• an electrocardiogram (ECG) to check your heart

These tests can show what type of stroke you've had. The different types of stroke include:

• an ischaemic stroke – this happens when a blood clot blocks blood flow to the brain. It's the most common type of stroke
• a haemorrhagic stroke – this happens when a blood vessel bursts
• a transient ischaemic attack (TIA or mini stroke) – this is when the symptoms of a stroke do not last very long (less than 24 hours)

A TIA should be treated as urgent. If you do not get immediate medical attention, you could be at risk of having a full stroke.