First 3 Hours – After a Stroke

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First 3 Hours – After a Stroke
---Survival Guide------------

It’s a very scary experience to witness one of your family members getting a stroke. It's extra tough if the victim is either your Mom or Dad. Things will happen so fat and unless you know what to do you may waste time which is very critical for a patient’s recovery. Hence this is not a time to get panic or emotional.

Call an Ambulance or Emergency Service

Chances of recovering are high if you reach a hospital with the patient as soon as possible. A stroke patient should be taken to the hospital within the first two hours so that it leaves doctors with enough time to decide if the patient has an ischemic stroke or a hemorrhagic stroke.

CT scan

Usually, a CT scan is enough to decide between an ischemic stroke or a hemorrhagic stroke but if an MRI is possible that’s a better option. In most cases if you have an ischemic stroke you are lucky compared to a patient with hemorrhagic stroke.
If a blood clot is blocking the blood flow to a certain area of the brain eventually that part of the brain will die due to unavailability of oxygen, Scary, as it sounds this, can make the patient lose control of certain parts of the body. For example, they may lose control of the left arm and left leg making them paralyzed. So there is an important judgment call here to be made weather to give 
In certain cases, the CT scan may not show a blood clot in the report if it’s taken within the first 45 mins after the stroke.

tPA injection for ischemic stroke

Known as tissue plasminogen activator an IV based injection is the best medication available for stroke patients. But there is a condition this treatment should be done within 3 hours (Best case) or at least 4.5 hours from the stroke incident. So it's very important that a stroke patient is taken to the hospital with the first sign of symptoms as that would leave doctors with enough time to decide if the patient qualifies for tPA injection.

Once tPA is given it will dissolve any blood clots formed in the body and since its given within 3 hours your brain will have a great possibility of recovering from oxygen deprivation and will not have an infarction where you will lose part of your brain permanently.

But tPA injection could be lethal to some patients in case internal bleeding occurs so it’s known to be a highly beneficial high-risk solution to strokes.
But in most cases, it's best to take the tPA injection as it reduces the permanent damage. Doctors may ask the family members to decide if the injection should be given or not while being neutral. Doctors may not advise you weather to give the injection or not as per the policies stipulated by the administration to them.
From my experience I would always go with the injection without later regretting not giving the injection.

Handling Patient

If the patient is conscious assure that he will be ok and this is a short term issue which he will swiftly recover from. Keep talking to the patient until the patient is taken to hospital also slowly ask the patient to move limbs and check if He/She can feel the sensation of a light touch on arms and Body. Ensure the Patient is not going to enter panic mood as it will make things even more difficult.
You may want to ensure the patient’s neck and the head is securely held while taking to the hospital as some of the stroke patients get dizzy for a long time since the event of a stroke.

If you see the patient is recovering from the stroke it could be TIA Transient ischemic attack which is also known as Mini-Stroke. TIA’s will usually disappear within 24 hours completely returning the patient to normal condition.




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