What is a Stroke?

You must have heard about stroke as a medical condition. But have you ever wondered what it means and how severe it can be for human health and functioning? In medical terminology, a stroke is a cerebrovascular accident. In simple words, it is an attack on brain cells. A stroke happens when some disturbance in the body causes a blockage of blood supply to the brain or if some brain vessel bursts.

 You might be familiar with the fact that blood carries oxygen to the brain and other organs of the human body. Without a proper supply of oxygen, the organs cannot function properly the way they are required. This is what happens in a Stroke when the blood supply to the brain is blocked and the brain does not get the required oxygen supply and nutrients. Brain cells face serious damage or even die in absence of the required supply of oxygen and essential nutrients via blood flow. 

Signs of Stroke

Stroke does not have any special sign that will alert the person having the stroke or the people in the surroundings. The symptoms are different from person to person. The most common symptoms include

• Weakness in body
• Numbness in body organs
• Paralysis or difficulty in moving organs (like hand or leg)
• Severe headache without any reason
• Distorted vision 
• Difficulty in speaking and communicating
• Difficulty in understanding what others are saying, feeling kind of lost and numb
• Dizziness
• Loss of balance
• Lack of body coordination
• Slight memory loss
• Difficulty in muscle movement
• Problems in cognitive abilities

Different people experience different symptoms with varying severity. 

What should you do when you are having a Stroke?

If you feel any of the above-mentioned symptoms in your body or you sense such symptoms in people around you then urgently call for help. Be vigilant and waste no time and call an ambulance as soon as you can. Do not drive on your own or carry the other person yourself to the hospital because during a stroke, urgent medical help is required to control the severity of the stroke and can help with the stroke treatment afterwards. 

As you must know by now that a stroke happens when the brain doesn’t get enough oxygen supply so it is better to get urgent medical help who can give oxygen supply to the brain to control the damage of the stroke on your brain cells. The sooner you get an oxygen supply the better it is for you. Remember every second counts while you are having a stroke and with every passing second, the brain cells get damaged and even die. 

What can stroke possibly do to the human body?

Strokes can have mild to severe effects on the human body and it’s functioning. It can affect muscle movement and cognitive abilities and has the following mild to severe effects on the human body:

• Severe weakness
• Paralysis 
• Co-ordination issues
• Unable to balance the body
• Fatigued
• Difficulty in sleeping properly
• Tingling and busing sensations
• Numbness of one side of the body where you cant control movement of that side

And other such issues.