REMMY NWEKE, in this report, highlights the essential warning signs capable of leading to mini-stroke as we thrive to use computerised devices the more.
A few days ago, I went into the computer village to buy a few items for my office use from a known seller, Semaj. Ordinarily, I had called to inform him that I was coming but as I could not get him on the phone, I decided to visit the village anyways.
On getting to his shop and was asking after him, a young man who resembled him, whom I learnt later is the younger brother, summoned the courage to tell me in a very low tone that Semaj had passed on and I retorted what happened and when? “Semaj died of a stroke, few months ago and has been buried,” he said.
For many Africans, especially the men, they rarely have health checks whereas the women could be checked during children visits to hospitals or antenatal care.
An associate professor of medicine and a consultant neurologist, Dr. Kolawole Wasiu Wahab, in The burden of strokes in Nigeria, published in the National Library of Medicine, noted that the current prevalence of stroke in Nigeria, for instance, is 1.14 per 1,000 while the 30-day case fatality rate is as high as 40 per cent. The management of the disease is largely conservative while there is little or no funding for high-quality research. Primary prevention, the expert said, is the key to reducing the burden of the disease in a country with such poor resources, which is seen across the continent.
Signs of a mini-stroke:
Experts have said that there are about 7-day signs before a stroke takes effect, including headache, difficulty speaking or understanding, difficulty walking, one-sided arm or leg weakness, dizziness, double vision or other vision problems, confusion, blurred vision, nausea and vomiting.If you have any of these, the best is to see your doctor ASAP.
Cause of a stroke:
Also, as said by experts, estimated 87 percent of strokes are ischemic, which is caused by the blockage in the brain, usually caused by a piece of plaque or a blood clot. If the blockage occurs locally in the brain, the condition is called thrombosis. If the blood clot travels from somewhere else in the body, it is called an embolism.
Can strokes be cured?
The answer is yes. Experts at California-based FlintRehab, affirmed that stroke could be cured, mostly using two stages. “First, doctors administer specific treatment to restore normal blood flow in the brain and stop further damage. Then, the patient participates in rehabilitation to cure the secondary effects that result from the stroke.”
For them, a stroke is considered a “brain attack.” Stroke, thus, occurs when the blood supply in the brain is compromised by either an obstructed artery known medically as ischemic stroke or burst artery also known as hemorrhagic stroke.
Prevention better than cure:
Knowledgeable experts on stroke treatment from the National Health System(NHS) emphasised that the best way to help prevent a stroke is to eat a healthy diet, exercise regularly, and avoid smoking and drinking too much alcohol.
These lifestyle changes, they posited, can reduce your risk of problems like arteries becoming clogged with fatty substances known as atherosclerosis, in other word, high blood pressure.
They recommended that even if one has already had a stroke, making these changes can help reduce risk of having another one in the future.
Equally a recovery plan if one is already diagnosed with a condition known to increase your risk of stroke, by ensuring the condition is well controlled is also important for helping prevent strokes.
Making the lifestyle changes described above could help control these conditions to a large degree, but you may also need to take regular medicine with professional attendance.
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