 |
 |
|
| |
Answering Service >
Call Center Resource >
Health and Fitness >
General Health >
Stroke No Age LimitationsStroke No Age Limitationsby Julie Sherman"Mom, I have a bad headache" My oldest son, age 21 complained of a bad headache so I gave him acetaminophen. The pain killer was not helping. I remember him telling me this was the worst headache he had ever had. He went in to a fast food restaurant to order and came out with nothing. He said he couldnt decide what he wanted. My other son and I wanted something other than what this restaurant provided so we drove across the street and placed our orders. Once again he could not decide what he wanted. I felt he should really try to eat something to see if that would help his headache and he agreed. He went inside the KFC and came out with only one thing. He said that the popcorn chicken was all he could think of to have. I figured that his thinking was affected by his bad headache but that he would be better after he ate something. After we got home he went to bed and slept for three hours. When he awakened he said he felt some better. We were eating pizza and drinking Pepsi. He was talking about the pizza but when he said "pizza" what actually came out of his mouth was "Pepsi". I was starting to get really concerned, but I still did not think that anything serious was going on. He seemed to be ok, but I continued to monitor his conversation, watching for any more word substitutions. I work in an Internal Medicine clinic as a Medical Assistant and my instincts were that something was definitely wrong. It did not occur to me that it could be something life threatening. The next morning I went in to check on him. He awakened as I entered the room, and seemed alert. His headache seemed better. He started to talk and his sentences came out all jumbled. At that moment I began to get frightened. I told him that we needed to take him for medical treatment, and he agreed. I called into work and told them I would not be in. We traveled the 20 minutes to the emergency room. During the assessment by the ER staff it became apparent to me that they felt he probably had taken some sort of drugs. That was ruled out as he does not even use alcohol, or drugs, and had not been anywhere but home. They then did a spinal tap to check for infection. Because of the headache they sent him for a CT scan of the brain. It showed some type of lesions that they were unsure of so they decided to send him to the hospital in the neighboring town. He had an MRI at this hospital. We waited what seemed like forever in the room without any assessment by anyone. Finally the door opened and a doctor walked in. I assumed he was the ER doctor. He had a somewhat perplexed and worrisome look on his face. He looked from my son to me, and back to my son. He said, "I have some bad news. It appears that you have had a stroke." At this point his symptoms made sense. The usual symptoms that people associate with stroke were not present. The doctor turned out to be a neurologist and he admitted my son to the hospital to determine the cause of the stroke. Stroke can be caused by blood clots blocking blood vessels or by a bleeding blood vessel. Either one can be life threatening. The next morning we met with the neurologist in the hospital room. My sons language skills had deteriorated over night, and his left side of his mouth was very slightly droopy. He did not have any paralysis or any outward signs other than these symptoms of having had a stroke. The neurologist stated that he did not understand why my son did not have any paralysis and that the extent of the stroke would have killed an older person. We were very grateful to God that the damage was not more severe. My son has recovered miraculously, and after several months of speech therapy and some occupational therapy, was able to return to college. Stroke can strike without warning, at any age, at any time. The Stroke Association has guidelines that people need to learn. Stroke is a medical emergency. Know these warning signs of stroke and teach them to others. Every second counts: Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination Sudden, severe headache with no known cause ( and that can mean the worst headache you have ever had) Call 9-1-1 immediately if you experience symptoms! Time lost is brain lost! We learned the hard way that not all symptoms have to be present to be having a stroke. Make sure the people you care about learn to recognize a stroke and act quickly. Visit www.strokeassociation.org for more information. This article was written by Julie Sherman Julie is a part time Medical Assistant, and a work at home mom of 4. Visit her website at http://www.infinitepossibilitiesteam.com/JS82675 |